Covid 19- Unfolding Myriad
Soap Operas in India
Syed Ali Mujtaba
As we chug along from one lock down to other, there are myriad
themes running parallel to the Covid- 19 that are unfolding before us like
great Indian soap opera.
The first theme is the futility of the lock down to handle the
rising Covid 19 cases. After the end of
lock down 4.0, now it is clear that this measure has totally failed to serve any
purpose. The government effort through the lock down was to ensure the pandemic
remains suppressed but never gave any thought how to control it in foreseeable
future when the lock down ends.
Basically, what the government did was to put a pause button
on the spread of Crona through tactics of lock down. It was not backed up by any
sensible long-term measures to contain it. So it is expected that when the lock
down is removed pandemic is bound bounce back and scale to its original peak trajectory
and the government has not made any preparation using the lock down period.
The government has
claimed the lock down had saved between 1.2 to 2.1 lakh lives therefore its
importance cannot be undermined. However, such claims have to be verified because
it’s based on mathematical modeling which is more a guess work. Such figures
are not accurate and are little reflection to ascertain the veracity of the
lock down logic. The general assumption is when the pandemic gets over; the
human toll maybe the same as it would have been without the lock down.
This implies that the government has squandered the precious
time it gained from the lockdown to increase the health care infrastructure in
the country. In our country except for Kerala, no other state is in a position
to handle the worst case scenario of Covid-19 and in terms of preparation
country is at same place where it was on March 25, the first day of lock down.
What was expected was the government should have utilized the
lock down period for rapidly testing infected individuals, quarantine the
suspects and trace and isolate their contacts to prevent the infection spreading
further in the country.
However, even after fifty days government is ill prepared to
face the pandemic head on. The Prime Minister on May 12 mentioned that our domestic
source is manufacturing about “two lakh N-95 masks” per day. However, he did
not mention whether it would be sufficient for the size of India’s population. Similarly
he did not made public how much self-sufficient he has made the country in
terms of personal protective equipment, testing kits, beds, ventilators oxygen
etc. The fact is this government has placed India in an appalling
situation which is heading towards a definite catastrophe.
The second theme is, lock down has not only battered the Indian
economy but virtually pull down from where it stood in 2014 and it will be hard
to rise up again to that level.
The government move of the lock down has created an economic
and humanitarian crisis in the country. The livelihood and economic security of
millions of people have been lost due to the lock down. More than a hundred million jobs are lost during
the period and it’s still counting. The government has provided little direct
relief to those who have lost the job. About 90% of migrant workers have
received no pay from their employers and the government has provided little rations
for them to survive.
Those at the helm of affairs have shown no signs how to deal
with the socio economic crisis which has occurred to due to lock down. The government
seems to have no clue to prioritize the issues that are related to Covid-19.
Their tall claims made by the government while announcing the lock down, stare
at its face it’s all round failure glares with many looking at it in disdain.
The third theme is that the lockdown has created the migrant
worker problem in the country. It is estimated that there are about five to six
crore migrant laborers engaged in various works in different parts of India. The lock down has left them in the lurch and they are forced
to return back to their places with uncertain future. Their reverse migration
is a story laced with poverty, economic hardship and denial of dignity of life all
because of government hasty measure of lock down.
The images of a man eating raw meat of a dead animal at a
national highway, a man using his bare hand to drink split milk on the road
while a dog was licking the same, a toddler playing with her dead mothers
corpse on a railway platform are grim reminder how deep the rich-poor divide in
exists in India.
These migrant workers are in need of a national register for a
meaningful socio-economic interventions but the government has no will to do
any such exercise. The net result is the miseries of the migrant workers are increasing
many folds under Covid-19. They are treated as rubbish by the people and the
government alike and both are indifferent towards their sufferings.
The fourth theme is the spread of communal hatred against
Muslims in India under the shadow Covid 19. This intensified after the lock down was
announced in March and some members of the Tablighi Jamaat at its Markaz in
Nizamuddin Delhi, tested positive for Covid 19.
Since then, Islamophopbic rant dominated the Indian new
channels for several weeks. The various social media platforms were flooded
with anti-Muslim, anti-Islam messages.
There were number of statements made by the BJP leaders accusing Muslims
spreading Carona virus. Among them, the
most repugnant was from a BJP minister calling ‘Ramzade’ to Hindus and ‘Haramzade’
to Muslims. A BJP MLA in UP publically
announced not to buy vegetables from any Muslim vendors.
The fall out of these comments was; some Muslim vendors and
delivery boys were chased from the Hindu localities. Some Hindus even refused
to take essentials from Muslim delivery boys accusing them of spreading corona
virus. Now even after two months of the call
by the PM for "unity," he bigots have not stopped spreading hatred
against the Muslims.
The fifth theme is the arrest of the anti CAA protesters
under the shadow of Covid-19. So far 1082 arrests have been made of those earlier
engaged in anti-government protests. Many are booked under sedition laws for doing
anti national activities. Among them,
there are students from Jamia, JNU and AMU universities besides other social
activists. Many are women protesters that had organized peaceful protest
against the CAA/NPR/NRC etc.
The police had taken advantage of the lock down situation and
arrested some of these protesters in an unconstitutional way. Those arrested are
not getting any legal aid because courts across the country are not fully functional.
The communal politics behind these arrests are also blatant, as many of those
booked during the lock down are Muslims.
The sixth in India’s myriad soap Operas under Covid 19 is
China’s intrusion into Ladakh. About 15,000 PLA soldiers are inside Ladakh, infringing
on India’s sovereignty at different locations. The Chinese troops are in the
Galwan River valley, the Pangong Lake sector, and at the Demchok region. They have
taken over the so-called Finger Heights and for the first time, a Chinese flag
is flying on the hill features overlooking the Pangong Lake.
The negotiations to defuse the situation have totally frozen,
with the Chinese side rebuffing India’s call for meetings to resolve the
situation. Indian troops are deployed in the vicinity and it’s in eye ball to
eye ball confrontation position.
Retired Lt Gen H S Panag PVSM, AVSM who served in the Indian
Army for 40 years in an article has said,
‘the country must hold the Narendra Modi government and the military
accountable for the intelligence failure and the loss of territory, if any,
that has taken place.’
In sum, the pandemic control effort of the government is a total
failure. The central government instead of solving the problems has increased
the threats exponentially due to lock down. The government’s callous approach
to deal with the Covid 19 is reflected in its short term approach of containment
without doing much for handling its long term fall out.
As India’s myriad soap operas under Covid 19 lock down is
still unfolding it is certain that whether we survive or die is no one’s
business and the government only believes in retaining its grip on power by doing
false propaganda and without addressing the core health care issues.
The lockdown has taught us the lesson that till the pandemic leaves
us, as individuals we have to take extra care and caution to avoid any
infection as the government policies to control the pandemic is thoroughly insufficient.
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be
contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
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