In Photos: The Events Which Shook India's National Capital in 2020
As Delhi entered the year 2020 with citywide agitations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the northeast of the city witnessed communal violence that shook it to its very core in February, leaving several dead, injured and homeless.
Then, while the world was learning about a new virus, in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the most stringent nationwide lockdown, with four hours' notice, putting the life of many migrants in limbo. The virus took its toll not just on patients but on the essential workers who kept things running at one of the most collectively difficult times this year.
A few months later, the Centre hastily passed three agricultural laws amid the pandemic, which brought the country's farmers to the streets, leading to one of the largest protests in the world at Delhi's borders.
The Wire encapsulates in ten images what the National Capital witnessed in 2020.
Women hold an anti-CAA poster against Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Demonstrators hold the national flag at Jama Masjid during a protest against CAA and NRC. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Bilkis Dadi along with other women sitting at the Shaheen Bagh protest site. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Desecration of Islamic holy books at a mosque allegedly by Hindutva mob during the Delhi riots. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Delhi was in the thick of protests against the CAA and NRC. While the city was still reeling from the burden of human losses and damage caused by the northeast riots, a virus changed it for the worse.
Deserted Connaught Place in the mid-noon during the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Migrant workers hitchhiking towards Bihar from Uttar Pradesh, after a nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with only four hours notice. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Every apartment in Gurgaon and Noida deployed the security guards with thermal scanners to take the body temperatures of people entering the premises. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
A patient named Ali, who succumbed to SARS CoV-2, is being put to rest by a health worker in New Delhi. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Soon, a new protest gained ground at the city's borders. This time, farmers set up camps on blocked highways leading to the city, demanding the repeal of three controversial laws affecting them.
A photo taken during the farmers' protest at one of the Delhi borders. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
Protesting farmers stay put amid Delhi's harsh winters. Photo: Shome Basu/The Wire
All images by Shome Basu.
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