COVID-19 devastated the entire globe and shook the best of sectors in 2020. From US presidential elections to Justin Trudeau extending his support to the farmers' protest, this year was full of political controversies. We are going to discuss the political changes in 2020.
1) The year started with a piece of good news for the citizens of Illinois when the state legislature legalised marijuana for medical and recreational use. Illinois became the 11th state in the US to legalise the recreational use of Marijuana.
2) General Qasem Soleimani, who was said to be the most powerful military commander, was killed in an airstrike in Iraq on the orders of former US President, Donald Trump. The killing of Soleimani escalated tensions between Washington and Tehran. Donald Trump claimed that the general was "directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions of people".
3) Arvind Kejriwal once again won the Delhi legislative assembly elections by securing 62 out of 70 seats.
4) Impeachment of Donal Trump: The 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump, was impeached on charges concerning abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The impeachment process moved in the trial phase in February.
5) Benjamin Griveaux, President Marcon's candidate for Mayor of Paris, had to withdraw his name just 48 hours prior to the elections because of a sex video scandal.
6) The US and China accuse each other of coronavirus fear-mongering. Director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, tweeted that the patient zero came from America and not Wuhan.
7) Many countries went under lockdown in March due to the novel coronavirus, whereas China was the only one that ended the lockdown in March.
8) Four Indian men who were prime accuse in the Delhi gang-rape case in 2012, were hanged to death just three days before India went under a nationwide lockdown.
9) North Korea shot two short-range 'ballistic missiles' into the Japanese Sea. Japan's Ministry of Defense claimed that the projectiles did not enter Japanese territory or exclusive economic zone.
10) British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, tested positive for coronavirus and self-isolated himself. He said that over the past 24 hours he had mild symptoms such as fever and cough and he will continue to lead the government.
11) Liberal party of South Korea won the parliamentary elections with the highest turnout in nearly three decades. This happened despite social distancing norms being followed in the fear of coronavirus.
12) Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, went missing for weeks since April 15, when he was supposed to attend an important event, his grandfather's birth anniversary celebrations. The rumours aired that he was dead, but later the rumours were put to rest when he inaugurated a fertilizer factory after disappearing for 20 days.
13) A 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, was killed by a policeman while getting arrested. This incident shook the world and protests and unrest rocked Minneapolis and many other cities in the world.
14) India standoff with China at the Galwan valley. India lost about 22 soldiers in this fight and in retaliation, banned a few Chinese apps and stopped some imports from China.
15) Russia in a landmark judgment, allowed Vladimir Putin to run for president twice more, possibly extending his rule by 2036. Approximately 78 per cent voted in favour, compared to 21 per cent. Approximate turnout was about 65 per cent.
16) On August 4, 2020, in the city of Beirut, ammonium nitrate stored at the port exploded. The explosion killed at least 204, injured about 6,500 people and damaged property worth $15 billion, leaving an estimated 3,00,000 people homeless. Following this, the Lebanon government declared a state of emergency for two weeks.
17) Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the US presidential elections and became 46th President of the United States.
18) Thousands of farmers started a 'Delhi Challo' march, showing their disagreement against the new farm bills that were passed by the India parliament in September 2020.
19) New strain of Coronavirus found in the UK. Many countries immediately stopped flights from the UK and put harder restrictions on people coming from Europe.
20) The United Kingdom left the European Union and entered a transitional period. If the Brexit deal is implemented, the transition period will expire.
21) Indian government passed a very controversial bill, Citizen (Amendment) Bill, in December 2019. It shook the Indian people and protests took over the national capital of Delhi.
22) A year of headline drama began with the exit of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from "senior royal" duties, apart from COVID bringing chaos to the royal family.
23) Alexei Navalny, a leading Russian opposition activist, blamed President Vladimir Putin for poisoning him.
This year has been full of political controversies. But with COVID-19 stealing the headlines, all these controversies took a back seat. If there would have been no COVID-19, perhaps it would have gone down in history as the year of politics.
