India’s Stay-at-Home Order Created a Migration Crisis

The 1947 Partition remains the bloodiest, most defining event of modern Indian history. As British India gained independence and was severed in two, tens of millions of people who’d had homes for generations in the areas that became India and Pakistan found themselves desperately fleeing to the other country, largely along religious lines. About 15 million people were displaced, many of whom never made it to their new home: Sickening, horrific sectarian violence abounded during the journeys and left up to 2 million people dead.
So, comparisons to this historic tragedy are not to be made lightly. And if it’s true, as some are noting, that the current migration crisis in India is its biggest and worst since the Partition, it deserves due attention and action. This crisis is one of the deadliest consequences of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the country, and likely a portent not only for India but perhaps the rest of the world.