Playing politics will not help in saving people from the pandemic

I normally avoid writing on controversial issues especially the one that involves dirty politics. But today I am saddened to see the way our cabinet ministers are playing politics. Dr. Harshvardhan, our health minister is willing to attack anybody who criticizes the government on the current handling of the covid situation. Then we have a Home Minister who is busy attending election rallies. It seems his role is to win elections rather than helping people suffering from the virus.

The country has recorded more than 2,75,000 cases in a single day. Soon it will cross 3 lakhs. Recently the former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh made a few suggestions to PM Narendra Modi on how to tackle the crisis. In all honesty Dr. Singh was not playing politics. Instead he was thinking about the welfare of the nation. Dr. Harshvardhan who a month back was seen in the company of Baba Ramdev, endorsing his immunity booster Coronil made a mockery of the entire letter.

In a democracy, healthy criticism is always welcome as it keeps the ruling party in check. But if the ruling party starts taking every criticism to heart then it’s difficult for the country to move in the right direction. Dr. Harshvardhan’s sarcastic reply to Dr. Manmohan Singh clearly showed the intention of the present government. Playing politics will always score over constructive politics.

When the country became complacent

It was January 2021 when the country started seeing a declining curve. The health workers heaved a sigh of relief! On the other hand, the government started patting its back for winning the war over coronavirus. The bureaucrats got into action to put the country back on track.

Nobody thought that the virus will make a comeback. People were back in shopping malls and market places. Social gatherings and marriages were in full swing as if to make up for the lost time. The pubs and the restaurants were filled with people eager to get out of the home. Desperate souls working from home and drained out by zoom meetings wanted to connect with their office colleagues. The offices were back in action and so was the traffic on the road.

The overall complacency both at the government as well as at the ordinary citizen level is what led to the surge in the virus. The time the government could have utilized ramping up the medical services got lost in addressing the farmer’s issue. Govt could have utilized the time to add new beds in the hospitals as well as creating additional covid wings. The local authorities failed to create more crematoriums stocked up with supplies to ensure a peaceful last rite to departed souls.

However the government was busy playing politics. Very smartly it passed the farm laws during the lockdown without any debates in the parliament. On the other hand, it made the Delhi government redundant by taking away whatever powers it had. The Lt Governor became more powerful than an elected chief minister. Accountability to the people of Delhi went for a toss.

Playing politics in election rallies led to a surge in the virus

The BJP government desperately wanted to conquer the last bastion of East India. On the other hand, the ruling party in West Bengal was not willing to leave the throne so easily. The dirty politics led to a “Khela hobe” war that led to huge election rallies. The social distancing norms and the masking protocol were thrown to the wind by huge crowds that assembled.

Somewhere the short-sightedness of both the central and the state government led to a huge Kumbh Mela congregation. A religious festival that happens once in 12 years, takes a year of planning at least. It was the sheer complacency of the government that led to such a huge gathering. The government could have easily cancelled it in mid-March after seeing the surge in a covid wave. If the government could cancel the Class Xth board, then why not the Kumbh.

Playing Politics on Vaccination

Adar Poonawalla created one of the largest vaccine developing facilities in the world. His Serum Institute is the world’s largest vaccine-producing pharma company. Serum Institute under license from Astra-Zeneca invested heavily in capacity building some 9 months back. Thanks to his vision, today Indians have easy access to the vaccine.

But even such a planned vaccine development programme got infected by dirty politics. The government initially agreed to supply vaccines to the UN under its Covaxin programme where even the poorest country of the world gets its share of the vaccine. Later the government developed cold feet and went back on its commitment. The repercussion is that Astra-Zeneca, the founder of Covishield is threatening to sue Serum Institute.

Poor planning and a lack of vision have resulted in India now importing the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia.

We need a compassionate government

These are difficult times and we need a government that has a human face and that cares for us. Instead of playing politics, the cabinet ministers should be at the forefront supporting the state chief ministers in providing facilities to suffering people. Whether it is an oxygen cylinder or an ICU bed or whether it is Remdesivir or Vaccine, these ministers should ensure a smooth availability.

Complete lockdown is to be avoided. Instead, highly contaminated zones should be identified and quarantined. A special team of local authorities should be formed in all major metros to oversee the needs of migrant labour being met; from food to shelter and from monetary compensation to healthcare. If anybody is seen playing politics then he or she should be sacked immediately.

The government also has to ensure that the curfews in every city during the night don’t affect the smooth transportation of essential goods and commodities. People while at home should not face a shortage of daily supplies of grocery, milk, eggs, vegetables, medicines, etc.

To conclude we need a PM with a vision and not a PM on television. We don’t need a 400 crore stadium in Gujarat but what we need is a 400 crore hospital in every state of India.

Click on following links to read more such stories:

Mask: the protective shield that stands between you and the virus

The Quarantine story of the author infected by the coronavirus

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