Pandemic Polarizations and the Contradictions of Indian Capitalism

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed much about the nature and contradictions of Indian capitalism and its social context. At the same time, the pandemic has accentuated some key polarizations that were already evident but have become much sharper and more intense. Thus, there is the economic polarization reflected in growing asset and income inequality, increased power imbalance between capital and labour, and between ‘modern’ industry and services and agriculture and lowvalue services that account for the bulk of the Indian labour force. Within that, there is even an economic polarization within private capital, with a few crony capitalists benefiting even in a period of economic crisis, while other businesses stagnate or decline, and the majority of medium and small enterprises struggle and fail. There is the polarization reflected in access to health infrastructure, health services, and amenities like housing conditions and water. There is the social polarization that has led to already marginalized groups like Dalits, tribals, and Muslims – and women across all social groups – being disproportionately affected by both the pandemic and the inadequate policy responses. There is the polarization between central and state governments, putting significant strains on India’s federal polity. There is the political polarization between supporters of the ruling BJP and those who explicitly oppose it politically as well as other dissenters, made worse by the regime’s blatant focus on pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda rather than on what are usually seen as essential tasks of governance. Finally, all of these have also brought to the fore an inherent tension: the contradiction between neoliberalism and democracy. While the rise in inequalities has been a global phenomenon, expressed most sharply in vaccine distribution and differential fiscal responses, the Indian experience still stands out because of the extent of the economic collapse and the massive impact it has had on the lives of people, bringing possibly hundreds of millions of people to the point of absolute destitution and creating much greater economic insecurity for the majority of workers, which is likely to persist for several years. This in turn has serious implications for the proposed path of capitalist accumulation in the medium term, such that the pandemic could become a watershed of directional change for the Indian economy: no longer necessarily one of the ‘emerging markets’ so attractive to global investors, but a potential drag, even within the Asian region