“I am sorry to say Sir, this time your vision has failed”-
Kamal Hassan to Modi
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Chennai April 7, 2020: Tamil actor turned politician Kamal Hassan has written a long letter to the Prime Minister Narandra Modi criticizing
him profusely for the handling of the Corona virus crisis.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam supremo and the lead actor of the
movie ‘Hey Ram” came down heavily on the ‘JSR’ mascot blaming him the way he had announced the 21
days of lock down in the country.
Kamal Haasan had penned this open letter to Narendra Modi on Monday
April 6, 2020. Here are some of the excerpts of his letter with
minor changes to make nuanced presentation.
‘By early February,
the entire world knew that the Corona virus is going to wreak havoc of an
unprecedented kind but you were in deep sleep. When you woke up, sometime after
mid-April, you ordered an entire nation of 1.4 bn people to shut down within 4
hours. A mere 4 hour notice period for the people, when you had a 4 month
notice period Sir!’
‘The immediate lock down was done in almost in demonetization
style. I had chosen to trust you when you announced demonetization but time has
proved I was wrong. My biggest fear is that the same mistake of demonetization
is being repeated albeit at a much bigger scale. While demonetization led to
loss of savings and livelihood of the poorest, this ill-planned lockdown is
leading us to a fatal combination of loss of both life and livelihood.’
‘COVID-19 will continue to find more victims but you are
creating a fertile playground for Hunger (H), Exhaustion (E) and Deprivation (D)
of the poor. HED ’20 is a malady that is smaller in profile but far deadlier
compared to COVID-19. Its impact will be felt long after COVID-19 has vanished.’
‘I am sure you don’t want to be a balcony government only for
the balcony people by completely ignoring the poor who are biggest constituent
of our society, our support system and the foundation on which the
middle-class, the well-to-do and the rich build their lives.’
‘This is the first crisis, the first epidemic that the top of
the society has inflicted upon the bottom. And the topmost, i.e, you sir seem
interested in bailing out everybody but those at the bottom. History has proven
that any efforts to destroy the bottom have led to the toppling of the top.’
‘Long into the epidemic, when the entire country’s law and
order system had been primed, your system failed to stop congregations of
ignorant and foolish people in different parts of the country. These have
become the biggest hubs for the spread of the epidemic in India. Who is
responsible for all the lives lost due to this negligence?’
‘You seem to be securing only an already well-built
middle-class fortress. It appears you are comfortable outsourcing responsible behavior
to the common people and transparency to the State governments. The common populace cannot be blamed for being
ill-prepared for a crisis of this magnitude but you can be and shall be blamed
for this. The government is appointed and paid by the people to keep their
lives normal and safe.’
‘Events of such magnitude (Covid 19) get etched in history
for two reasons, one being the devastation (illness and death) that they cause
due to their core nature. The second being the long term impact of what they
teach humans to priorities and the kind of socio-cultural changes they bring about.
I am extremely saddened to see our society plagued by an outbreak that is far
more dangerous and longer lasting that any virus that nature has ever hurled at
us.’
‘I am sorry to say that sir, this time your vision has
failed.’
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be
contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
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