I was in Noida recently to meet striking workers. I wanted to listen to them, understand their anxieties, and express solidarity with their struggle. What stayed with me after the visit was not merely the suffering of the workers, but, in fact, the silence of our mainstream politicians. I did not find the BJP leaders there. I did not see the leaders of Congress there either. For parties obsessed with appearing “industry-friendly”, workers often seem to exist only as statistical abstractions, those invisible hands powering economic growth, but undeserving of political attention. This is the tragedy of contemporary India: Unseeable poverty amidst celebrated plenty. As the country celebrates stock market highs, unicorns, and the arrival of global capital, millions who actually keep the economy running continue to survive on fragile wages, informal contracts, and so on.…