It has now become difficult to be a somewhat well-known citizen in India and be critical of the government. The government’s crackdown on critique is becoming more and more suffocating, vice-like. I often wonder what this means for us, political citizens, who work as activists or work as professionals in the third sector. The questions I frequently have are:

  1. How can one engage with the system if the system retaliates even at the slightest of provocations?
  2. How does one do successful ground work, if it cannot go against popular narratives?
  3. What is the right thing to in these times; Losing our socioeconomic mobilities means being unable to do important work. What do we privilege, countering the popular imagination or doing quiet ground work?
  4. Not countering popular imagination also means losing alternative narratives. Can we afford to do that?
  5. If yes, how will we assess and undo the damage that will be wrought upon the country and its citizens due to the horrific fascist policies and narratives that this government is meting out?
  6. How can we resist the depoliticisation of our work in the development space?

For the last question, as someone who wants to work in the climate space, I do not think that a fascist government that cosies up with billionaires of its country can lead any meaningful environmental or climate-friendly policies. For our country to climate crisis, we will have to tackle the fascist elephant in the room. If climate/environmental justice in this country have to have any meaning, we have to fight fascism.

That being said, people are suffering now. We cannot wait for fascism to end to take action and fight for basic minimum adaptation policies that protect the most vulnerable citizens of the country. Which also means we must stick it out for the long run.

I do not have all the answers, but what I am slowly figuring out is that while how one resists is a personal choice, we must pick and choose our battles according to our socioeconomic loci. Not everyone is afforded the same level of safety nets. It is necessary to not get arrested and flagged if one wants to do long-term ground work.

But sticking out in the long run cannot mean losing a critical lens. Because depolicised development work can very well be subsumed and co-opted by the fascist regime.

I don’t know what this means for the future of mine or the thousand other well-meaning activists or development professionals. All I know is that dark times are upon us. They are here to stay for a long, long time.