Their demands will be met of course, and this government will move on to the next great idea, without an apology or an explanation, predicts Aakar Patel.

The standard line that is used for anyone -- academics, minorities, farmers, dissident industrialists -- who points out that what the government is doing is wrong is being anti-national and separatists, reveals Aakar Patel.

We have no standard processes in place to address the more serious public health hazard of our lifetime, observes Aakar Patel.

Power is held to effect change. Modi has shown himself incapable of affecting it in the positive sense. On the economy, on the border, on employment, on the epidemic, observes Aakar Patel.

Events in America have strengthened the hand of those leaders there who wish India well, but think of India as being a collection of Indians.
If Indians are mistreated, they will object, asserts Aakar Patel.

It is hard to tell whether the prime minister is unable to confront the reality or so supremely confident in his abilities that he can convince the rest of us that the reality is different from our perception of it, observes Aakar Patel.

India needs to examine some way in which, assuming that there is either no vaccine or a delay in administering it to everyone, voting can be made safer, notes Aakar Patel.

Now we must first compete with Bangladesh. This is not what we had been promised, notes Aakar Patel.

The problem is major, and the problem affects hundreds of millions of people. Ignoring it must have a sound reason. Ignoring it must in some way be more important than addressing it, notes Aakar Patel.

The expectation is that the government will not abuse its authority and that a political party not misuse the State. What we are seeing today is the clear evidence that this is not enough, argues Aakar Patel.

Even with more power against the individual than any other modern democratic nation, the Indian government seeks more. Such laws do not exist elsewhere in the civilised world, observes Aakar Patel.

'What Jaishankar says is simplistic.' 'The past does not matter that much.' 'If we think that it does it is because we are not good enough at running the nation competently today and are searching for excuses why,' argues Aakar Patel.

'It is astonishing that such a serious issue be handled in so casual and cavalier a fashion, but this has become what is expected of this government,' observes Aakar Patel.

'India is the only large nation along with Argentina whose numbers have continuously and without a break risen from March,' observes Aakar Patel.

'I cannot remember a time in my life when we had such economic strife, such levels of unemployment, a national epidemic and the enemy inside our house and such little interest in these and a focus on Bollywood and temples and such things,' notes Aakar Patel.

'He spoke about 20 jawans in Ladakh, but he couldn't even name China.' 'He said the world had seen what had been achieved, even though we Indians don't know because Modi has himself said that nothing had happened and nobody had come,' points out Aakar Patel.

'A decade ago, even though the sentiment might have been felt in large parts of the media, it was not expressed.' 'There was a reserve and there was a culture that adhered to the principles expressed in the Constitution,' observes Aakar Patel.

Aakar Patel looks forward to Prime Minister Modi's speech at the bhoomi pujan for the Ram temple in Ayodhya next week. It will be entertaining and stirring, predicts Aakar, and make lots of promises that he most likely won't be able to keep.

'It won't be easy to undo the damage that has been done to the economy by the lockdown and the solution will not come from two minute presentations,' observes Aakar Patel.

We have a full blown epidemic, an economic recession with the highest unemployment in Indian history, and a powerful enemy whose aggressive and offensive actions we did not anticipate, states Aakar Patel.

'Even those who do not like him will rally to his call if he says that the country's sovereignty is being threatened by China,' notes Aakar Patel.

'The BJP's constitution promises allegiance to India's secularism and socialism.' 'This is the oath that it makes all its members sign,' observes Aakar Patel.

'Modi has not taken India into confidence over what is happening and what has happened.' 'We have not even officially been told what the position is with respect to the land lost between Fingers 4 to 8,' observes Aakar Patel.

'All parties and the government acknowledge that there we are in trouble and there is more trouble ahead,' observes Aakar Patel.

What is a migrant going through today on the walk home? What is it like to be a Muslim and watch the news on television every night in India? Is there a bureaucrat who is noting down the absurdity of what is announced and what is actually happening in her domain? A medical resident who has gone through three weeks of 12-hour shifts while her seniors abstain from coming to the Covid hospital? They may be our everyday experiences, but they are how history will understand what happened to us all in this strange and surreal time, points out Aakar Patel.

'"We have lost our jobs, we have lost our savings, we have been beaten up for being on the streets, we have walked for a thousand kilometres, we have seen our children starve or die because nobody came to help us".' 'For such people, the relationship with the government has gone,' notes Aakar Patel.

'There are many questions that come to mind as we consider the reality of India and what Indians will be expected to do from the time this lockdown is opened up,' notes Aakar Patel.

'Money must be produced constantly.' 'This need is driving people to find work, and for many of them, it is working for a living for the first time in their lives,' observes Aakar Patel.

'Two consecutive quarters of negative growth are the technical definition of an economic recession, and for the first time in this generation's memory, we may be staring at one,' observes Aakar Patel.

'The Union government does not have much of a governance function other than to send orders.' 'But even the sending down of orders it cannot do properly,' observes Aakar Patel.

'One hopes that it is for the better that this disaster alters our reality from the morning of May 4,' notes Aakar Patel.

India is going into the longest lockdown in the world, with the least amount of notice given to its people and the least preparation by its government.

The answer cannot be that we will beat the disease at the end of the 21 days. And the answer cannot be that it is to halt the spread because the spread is going to happen anyway, notes Aakar Patel.

One third of all Indians live in one room. Another one third lives in 2 rooms. They cannot self quarantine or isolate and if infected they will pass it on to others. It is impossible for India to control an epidemic, warns Aakar Patel.

No nation is fully sovereign to do what it wants to do in the face of opposition from others, points out Aakar Patel.

'Modi has presided over an ultra-nationalism that has stunted India's growth, been unable to change the country's external situation, brought foreign intervention into Indian affairs,' explains Aakar Patel.

'Are we too close as well-off Indians, all with servants and drivers and tuition teachers ourselves, to be able to understand why it is all so awful?', asks Aakar Patel.

'The government has given up its focus on economic growth because it it not something Modi has been able to fully understand.' 'This explains the extraordinary focus on divisive politics by the BJP even at a time when the world's most important man in visiting India,' notes Aakar Patel.

'Modi's strategy to redesign India's economy was Make in India, but that has flopped,' says Aakar Patel.

'He is wily and has everything that a political leader needs to succeed at that level.' 'He would be outstanding as a counter to Modi in the Lok Sabha, if he had the Opposition benches behind him,' says Aakar Patel.