Hunger, Misery, Chaos, Brutality, and Humiliation: The Nightmare That Is India’s Lockdown
There hasn't been a government that plunged so many of its people into such misery since the Khmer Rouge
टूटा #MigrantWorkers के सब्र का बांध, बैरिकेड तोड़कर @myogiadityanath उप्र की सीमा में किया प्रवेश @ndtvindia @ndtv #lockdown #COVID19Pandemic #Lockdown3 #MigrantLabour #CoronaUpdatesInIndia pic.twitter.com/i9bKmkqk6b
— Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) May 17, 2020
IIM flyover area where 250 to 300 workers lost their patience and went on a rampage, early in the day today, demanding permission to travel back home. https://t.co/F1Eslfjvvj pic.twitter.com/vy6r4h4E3A
— satish jha. (@satishjha) May 18, 2020
Stampede like situation at Ramleela ground in Ghaziabad where thousands of migrant labourers have turned up to get themselves registered for special trains bound east UP and Bihar. People trying to get on top of each other to reach the registration desk.
Video via @lokeshrai83 pic.twitter.com/YB00byEsGa
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) May 18, 2020
Who r u trying to kill, Corona or humans? Migrant labourers and their families were forced to take bath in chemical solution upon their entry in Bareilly. @Uppolice@bareillytraffic @Benarasiyaa @shaileshNBT pic.twitter.com/JVGSvGqONm
— Kanwardeep singh (@KanwardeepsTOI) March 30, 2020
In UP's Hapur district, cops ask two men to roll on the road in the scorching heat near a railway crossing, dangerously close to railway tracks. This was the punishment for not wearing mask. @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/4fbGA4Q0b8
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) May 19, 2020
Andhra Pradesh: Dad on 1,300km trek with two kids on shoulder pole gets help from cops
The photographs of the father and children had gone viral on social media
READ: https://t.co/TAKDYwwOUH via @TOICitiesNews pic.twitter.com/TvZlzQBmQa
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) May 18, 2020
#Migrants #labourers set carts on #fire, #blocked #nationalhighway2 in #Farah due to no proper arrangements by @UPGovt. @timesofindia pic.twitter.com/oYtMp3GJWr
— Anuja Jaiswal (@Anuja_Jaiswal11) May 17, 2020
Heart-wrenching visuals of a little boy who was too exhausted with all the walking and fell asleep on the trolley bag his mother was seen dragging as she crossed Agra. Walking all the way from Punjab she has to reach Mahoba in UP.
Video via @arvindcTOI pic.twitter.com/joMTCYqCVe
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) May 14, 2020
Migrant worker from Madhya Pradesh dies near Thane after 60km walk on empty stomach https://t.co/xrHe2Ppj0J via @TOICitiesNews
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) April 26, 2020
Another casualty of migrant crisis and grim reality of present times. A labourer Ramji Mahto started from Delhi to his hometown in Begusarai but died midway in Varanasi. This pic of Mahto soon after his death tells us how his struggle ended. RIP brother. https://t.co/BXRE9vNMZH pic.twitter.com/jNiTg4yusg
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) April 22, 2020
1/3 Short thread: Hunger strikes again in Jharkhand (Hesatu village, Latehar): Dalit family, no land, no ration card, no food in the house. Eight children, all famished – one of them, Nimani (right), fell unconscious and died last evening. pic.twitter.com/JC1ALH3Pe5
— Road Scholarz (@roadscholarz) May 17, 2020
2/3 Nimani's mother, Lalawati, was struggling to feed her children in the last 2 months, when her husband Jaglal Bhuiyan was trapped in a brick kiln in Latehar. pic.twitter.com/EsgALVGg8d
— Road Scholarz (@roadscholarz) May 17, 2020
3/3 Jaglal Bhuiyan was getting food at the brick kiln, but his wages were being held until the end of the season. He was unable to send any money home. pic.twitter.com/MwJB970hB4
— Road Scholarz (@roadscholarz) May 17, 2020
13 year old Jyoti cycled 1200 kms, from Gurgaon in NCR to Darbhanga in Bihar, in seven days, carrying her injured father as pillion.
Her courage, determination and strength must be saluted, with welled eyes. #NariShakti pic.twitter.com/224qOT6MX7— Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) May 19, 2020
I am in Dharavi right now. Close to three thousand migrant workers standing in queue. They say it is difficult to survive a day more in this big city. Starvation is killing them. I have not seen a more disturbing sight in a long time pic.twitter.com/qwx4LkS5kt
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 14, 2020
It is close to midnight and I am on the street with the migrant workers who are waiting to go home. They tell me that the pro-rich govt is terrorising the poor. He wants to know if the images of the dead migrants and children is reaching the Prime Minister pic.twitter.com/Zuq1jmzpma
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 17, 2020
These adivasi women in Palghar tell me that they were given rice for 4 people two months ago and then the govt disappeared. They rely on relief groups and NGO's to give them ration, to survive. 'We are not going to beg, do not take our self respect' pic.twitter.com/600aCFlri2
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 18, 2020
You see these people. The poorest of the poor, migrants,daily wage workers. They are planning to sit here all night waiting for some transport to take them home else they will walk the distance. They tell me they would rather be killed on the road than die of starvation. pic.twitter.com/9CTdEy5dG5
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 17, 2020
Give us food or kill us NOW is what 2000+ daily wagers & families told us in #Ahmedabad #Gujarat yesterday.They said they hadn’t had a morsel since 4 days.They have moved to footpaths now. No they are not migrants.They are locals.And yes they were Muslims.nb: they were fed today. pic.twitter.com/96l8n5mH4P
— Deepal.Trivedi (@DeepalTrevedie) May 11, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-60, India; So far, the police have been beating people ruthlessly, across the country. 100s of millions have been starving and virtually in prison, in desperate conditions. Now, they are fighting back. It was the police who taught the rules of the game. pic.twitter.com/hETZMubi4v
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 19, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-60, India; In major cities, the lockdown seems to have broken. The government has lost control. Hunger and desperation have trumped the fear of the police. Despite that Indian cases are going up exponentially, many cities are opening, for they cannot enforce it. pic.twitter.com/6MMVQ7txmA
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 19, 2020
Chaos in Mumbai and Delhi today, with desperate migrants wanting to go home. pic.twitter.com/DopyABspxT
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 18, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-59; The police has been extraordinarily brutal. The frustration of poor people continues to increase. Soon they will gang up and go against the police. That rebellion will be even more irrational. The blame goes to Modi for destroying the institutions. pic.twitter.com/2CgCFL4uaS
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 18, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-58, India; Everywhere migrant workers, who have been taken for granted by the government and the Middle-Class is ganging up and revolting. How long can the police stop them from leaving using the fear of the baton? pic.twitter.com/2G74eyMFT3
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 17, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-58; One should be assured that there is no judiciary in India, else state-inflicted savagery would not happen with such impunity. People don't fight back because the police will not take them to court, but will pull their nails out. pic.twitter.com/ilVyTxrGCL
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/JayantBhandari5/status/1261592821980712960
Hunger Games, Day-57, India; Migrants workers keep dying. There was a massive migration in 1947 after Indo-Pak separation, but the current one is bigger. There is no transportation. You either walk on dark roads or hide in trucks etc. Here is just one story of 24 people dead. pic.twitter.com/nRqDqkL6oR
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 16, 2020
Here is a migrant woman, walking with her son, giving birth. And there is no help. pic.twitter.com/q0kvwcbwqm
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 16, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-57, India; Just another day is Malthusian India. No ambulance, no taxi, no help from the police. A poor kid died, waiting for some help. No big deal for an apathetic society. Modi has destroyed all remaining institutions. India is in the hands of Malthus. pic.twitter.com/nW5H0cphVK
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 15, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-56, India; Air India now wants restrictions on air travel so that it can run expensive chartered flights. Hotels want unnecessary quarantine so that they can be occupied. Well-connected taxi companies want restrictions so that they can charge a fortune. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/oH0A8N8NuY
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 15, 2020
2/2 Taxi is now $150 to go to Delhi airport from Noida, which should cost no more than $15. A massive mafia has emerged to get you e-Visas, approvals, passes, train tickets, alcohol, etc. This mafia will get entrenched and ensure that restrictions stay.
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 15, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-56, India; These were hard-working men. They had never thought of begging or fighting for food. In the last two months, that shame is gone. Where are the women? I guess human-trafficking has ramped up sharply. We will know soon. pic.twitter.com/q4cnmdJtmG
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 14, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-55, India; Everywhere you see, the lockdown is failing & the chaos worse than ever. Modi and his gang have empty words. Now they can't go back or know what to do next. Run by morons and sadists, India is a mess. Groups will emerge to deal with police brutalities pic.twitter.com/foPPj5j6iZ
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 14, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-54, India; This is a man to look up to. He is moving his pregnant wife and a 2-year-old son on this very basic cart, walking 800 km to his village. This is the humanitarian crisis that Modi and his gang have inflicted on the poor. pic.twitter.com/ldRyM95OcF
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 14, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-52; In 1975, emergency, a rule by decree, was declared in India. Those days, the police became extremely corrupt and stayed corrupt. Today, the nationwide curfew has been far worse. Now, the police have also got a taste and experience of how to deal with people. pic.twitter.com/fYH9EBQw7k
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 11, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-51, India; As no train, or other public transportation is running, people must walk 100s of km, sometimes >1,000 km. The police brutalize those who walk on the road, so they walk on train tracks. Here is a policeman collecting bribes from these wretched poor. pic.twitter.com/UkgGJtw7yp
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 11, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-49, India; If u are poor, u are brutalized. If u are in the Middle Class, u are apathetic, although you will soon find out that you have no job. One must ask what was wrong with keeping the British in India. If I must have a ruler, at least he should be sane. pic.twitter.com/immNZhyHOU
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 9, 2020
— Naveen Sodem (@nisar_naveen) May 8, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-47, India; Modi had no planning when he enforced a curfew. In a part of India, you can now move with an eVisa, which requires a medical certificate. Everyone knows you can buy one for $5. But for the poor, watch their desperation: pic.twitter.com/3pwJCTofAo
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 7, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-46; Trying to appreciate the incompetency of the Indian government is baffling. The country has been in a curfew for 45 days, to organize. They couldn't even run quarantine. Here are those from a quarantine center in Delhi running away. pic.twitter.com/7MQcgBBGlg
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 6, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-45; As India ease up the lockdown jobless, hungry, depressed, utterly frustrated, sick people are slowly emerging out. Crazy things will happen over the next few days. India is entering a precarious future. Here a guy who went crazy is eating a live snake pic.twitter.com/PWYPPKQ5Tl
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 6, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-43; In 45 C, without food/water, this girl is walking home to her village. Despite this ruthless curfew, India's coronavirus cases continue to grow rapidly. The reason is the Indian govt. is all piss & wind, only talk & no walk. Is Modi trying to outdo Mao? pic.twitter.com/D22lr0QHcI
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 3, 2020
Modi allowed migrants to go home by bus. A schoolkid could have told that this wasn't going to work. So they switched to a few, one-off trains. About 1,000 migrant workers move on one such train. There are >50,000,000 migrant workers. Does he do any math? https://t.co/yBMLodDh1h
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 2, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-42, India; The temperature is 45 Celsius. After 42 days of getting brutalized, being hungry, and homeless they are behaving worse than how refugees do.pic.twitter.com/PxhcO6Hi2v
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 2, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-41; The games have been so much fun that its duration has been increased by another two weeks. This is tropical summer, reaching 45 celsius already. Migrant workers, who have been stuck, hungry, and brutalized for 40 days, are moving again. pic.twitter.com/WwC4f0y7nv
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 1, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-40; Forget what is happening in slums, rural places, to migrants, and those who are usually starved. This is a scene from a quarantine center. India has perfected the art of running the Hunger Games.pic.twitter.com/7AP1lCMIMl
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 1, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-40; Just another day in the Police State of India. pic.twitter.com/LdYz9da4lA
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) May 1, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-39; India has only 150 police officers per 100,000 people, 1/3rd of what is expected were they adequately equipped. Indian police are equipped with nothing else than sticks. They are untrained and uneducated. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ZeXeRTpZUK
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 30, 2020
No food left. Go home. For the greater cause learn to be hungry for a few days. If it is 42 celsius, what is the big deal? The so-called educate Indian Middle Class is proud of you. pic.twitter.com/OrWQQKqvhd
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 28, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-36: India hardly has many people in government-run quarantine centers. But that does not stop them from being horribly run. People in those centers are starving and they must fight with others to get access to some water and the rarely-offered food. pic.twitter.com/q42IL0l8X9
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 27, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-35: Migrant workers are still walking 100s of kilometers in the heat to get home. 100s of millions of Indians are starving. The stupid Indian government has no clue. Hunger trumps social distancing. Here are once proud people waiting for their turn for food. pic.twitter.com/OJNWaO44t2
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 26, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-34, India: A pregnant woman on her way to the hospital is being asked to get off and walk. The "taxi" guy us being shouted at, for he is not allowed to ferry people. When you are born in India you get a treatment worse than the cockroach gets. Same when you die. pic.twitter.com/9t9tI9yhDs
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 25, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-33, India: The police beat up his son so badly that he died. He had gone out to get food. The dad is begging the police to investigate and to get him justice. In a police state, investigators, legislature and the judiciary are the same. This is the new India. pic.twitter.com/WzS2kyLmaY
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 24, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-30, India: Doctors are getting beaten up. All strangers are being shunned. People are realizing that the police are cowardly. The veneer of stability is disappearing. Villagers are lynching strangers who are passing by. India has been reset to its medieval past. pic.twitter.com/hBAPF2YhXM
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 22, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-29, India; Is the police turning against itself now? And what can you expect? When you apply cruel policies, don't expect the one you allow to be cruel to limit the arena of his cruelty. Moreover, people have taken a lesson. They are lynching they dislike. pic.twitter.com/QmSWoOaSEI
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 21, 2020
Hunger Games; Day-27 (b). This is a food distribution center in Delhi. After the crowd rushed in, they find apathetic government officials who don't move a finger, who get a guaranteed salary. I will leave you to imagine what is happening elsewhere in India. pic.twitter.com/r0VfQeOarr
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 19, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-26: The Indian police think of itself as the occupying enemy. It now considers its job to rape and pillage. If you might get corona-virus, they will kill you beforehand to keep the numbers low for the Supreme Leader to show off to the world. pic.twitter.com/cND2SDmG5s
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 18, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-24; Those dying because of lack of medical care in India is a non-issue for the Supreme Leader. Here a sick person, who was being transported home, was asked to walk back home. India's Hungry Games is becoming ruthless. pic.twitter.com/us1Lw2Ta9z
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 16, 2020
For those who need a backup from mainstream media: https://t.co/0EaUoCPNHu
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 16, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-22; These scenes of people arriving dead in India are now commonplace. Hospitals refuse to accept patients and make you run around. Of course, there is no transportation, so you must somehow get a sick person to a hospital. pic.twitter.com/kmdIMnJong
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 15, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-21; Migrant workers in Mumbai, tired of false promises, are desperately trying to get home, now that the lockdown is extended by 18 days. Another march is beginning. pic.twitter.com/L4zef0vWpP
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 14, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-17; On an average day, it is impossible to get an ambulance in India, and govt hospitals are death-traps, littered on floors and driveways with sick, hungry, unattended poor. Now, there is no private transport. Many pvt. doctors are shut. A woman with a dead son pic.twitter.com/DRCrRQIvrl
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 12, 2020
Hunger Games, Day-15; Groceries were asked to reduce their hours. Then, vegetables were to be supplied only by Indian government, which came for a day or two and then disappeared. They had killed the supply chain by stopping road traffic. 100's of millions are starving. pic.twitter.com/6OhLv7YMmT
— Jayant Bhandari (@JayantBhandari5) April 10, 2020
Caption contest pic.twitter.com/iPzP52dgMv
— Shivam Vij (@DilliDurAst) May 12, 2020
India’s working class are largely uneducated, their daily bread is earned on daily basis. No money no food for none of them. Grave diggers and pire torchers may be well off right now but millions upon millions who work as coolies, rickshaw pullers, fast food sellers, owner of small store or stall on the corner of the streets number in millions. They along with their families are perishing in India. You simply can’t lock up a population who’s very existence depends on cheap labor that are paid after the hard day of work. This is absolutely heart breaking to see a cruel government doing as it pleases while the mass is helpless.
Thank you, Bill Gates!
His OPERATION COVID is a success…
I am so sick and tired of the mealy mouthed western media who feign sympathy and compassion for these Indians but do absolutely nothing to hold New Delhi accountable. I am really disgusted of Indians who claim that they live in a Democracy and then watch their fellow men role on the ground because a sadistic policeman made them do it.
Indians get the government they deserve. New Delhi is an alien capital and as alien to a good deal of Indians as London was. All that “independence”did was transfer power from London to New Delhi and Karachi back in 1947.
If this shutdown does not prove to Indians the autocratic nature of New Delhi and the need for India to dismantle and form new nations then nothing will. The heavy foot of New Delhi will be on their necks for the rest of their lives. i have no sympathy for people who will not fight for their own rights and dignity.