Trump has 20 days left to plot another four years at the helm or he will have to walk into the sunset on January 20, 2021. No such prospect, luck, here for the likes of NDTV, and likeminded channels. In this, our neck of the world – India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be around till 2024, minimum. By then Bhagwan only knows what’ll be the ‘State of the Union.’

Then, again, 2024 is so far away, it’s a waste of time to even think that far in this ever-changing Covid-ravaged world! For now, let’s just hope better sense prevails. And the farmers are given sound reason to return to the fields with heads held high. The daily drama being played out is not funny. India’s image has taken a hit. Modi will have to either relent, or let go. Nobody wants the next US Vice President, Kamala Harris, and US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of some progressive caucus to “teach” India how to treat her valued farmers!

And, while on valued citizens, will, during 2021, the Government of India and the political parties come to an accord on the status of the minorities on citizenship? True, the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) does not in itself discriminate but, read along with the “NRC”, it does hold out something scary, impending – doom!

For, deny as much as we can, the fact is for millions and millions of minorities – Muslims, Christians, even Sikhs – it’s like waiting for Judgement Day. And not just because of Aamir Khan who debuted with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and whose wife panicked. The direct and immediate fallout of NRC in Assam and CAA India-wide was Shaheen Bagh. Slogan-shouting. Unrest in varsities.

The riots that followed in northeast Delhi were almost as if certainty. The Delhi Police has filed its charge-sheet in court and it is like elements in the Muslim minority are solely to blame.. This has developed a siege mentality in Muslims. The Delhi Police will have to provide solid and irrefutable proof to justify its case or back off. Only that will help settle matters between “them and us” in 2021.

While on Hindu-Muslim, let's hope 2021 does not see Mathura and Kashi develop into full-fledged 'Mandir-Masjid' like Ayodhya did. The momentum is already being pushed by the Hindus of Mathura and all it needs is a court ruling, any ruling, to take things to unreturnable heights. Some things are scary and dangerous to even think about.

On another front, it’s not as if come 2021 India will be out of the Covid-19 woods. Why, we even have the new by far more corrosive strain of the coronavirus among us. That should worry all of us. But there’s the vaccine. Several of them, in fact. The question is how effective and competent will the Modi Government be in rolling out the vaccine and whether or not only the privileged sections will get it?

Will the Great Unwashed – the common man and woman – get the vaccine for free? We can only wish and hope, fret and fume. This Government, the Modi Government, is infamous for being tight-lipped. It’s top-solitary, so to speak. The Prime Minister in his weekly-radio ‘Man Ki Baat’ talks in riddles and metaphors. Only those who know the language Hindi good-enough can make head or tail of what he’s talking and what he has been upto?

Maybe 2021 will deliver unto Modi and his Hindi-heartland BJP party the message loud and clear that Hindi is not the ‘national language’ of India not by a long shot and that down below (in the bottom half of the subcontinent) and in the nooks and crannies all over, India speaks in dozens and multi-dozens of mother tongues and dialects. It would do good for all and sundry and for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party if translations of Modi’s ‘Man Ki Baat’ are made available in all common lingos spoken.

To be frank, except for the BJP IT-Cell sort, people are getting tired of Modi’s rendition of ‘Vande..Vande..Vande’ at his rallies and Amit Shah’s poor imitation of His Master’s Voice at his rallies. But then, Modi and the BJP, can go ahead and be like whatever and do whatever they want to because there’s no alternative to them. Will 2021 bring about a Great Reset, a version of which is already being implemented on a global scale, in Indian politics? Will the Opposition regrow its spine; does the vertebrae regenerate?

You don’t have to love the Nehru-Gandhi family to hope (and wish) for a rejuvenation of the Grand Old Party? But, then, questions loom: Can the Gandhi Family take a backseat for the time being? If not, will the 50-year-old Gandhi scion make a New Year promise from his abode abroad that for the rest of the entirety of 2021, he will not take another vacation abroad and will sit in India and work his base off to pull his party up by the socks to greater heights?

People would like that. Enough number of Indians will want a strong and self-sufficient Opposition to take on the Modi Government and the BJP in 2021. Time is running out for many aging stalwarts in the Opposition and it’s for parties to build up second and third rung leadership to continue to remain relevant. The Congress, especially.

Finally, Indians will like the Indian economy to bounce back from the bottoms it’s in because of Covid-19 lockdowns and poor economic supervision. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman doesn’t inspire. Will Modi do a reset of his cabinet before the 2021-22 Budget is unveiled? Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ has a rough ride ahead. His ‘Make-in-India’ lion did not roar to any noticeable success. India’s manufacturing sector will have to climb a couple of Everest highs to be anywhere close to the Chinese Zhumulangma (Tibetan Chumolangma). Besides, with President Joe Biden most likely to restore US-China trade ties to less hostile levels, 2021 will most definitely see China boss India around in all spheres – business, military, even media. Hope India will be able to hold its own with China on all fronts including at the LAC! (IPA Service)