“The incumbent rulers of this country feel proud propagating that they strive to transform it to a global captain. They go all out in diverse ways to implement their old dream of attaining the best seat on the world podium. Let them do according to their taste and commercial intellect. But should countless people literally die daily in the capital of such a country?
There are no testing facilities to check whether a patient is infected by covid-19; no medical opportunity if anyone is sick; no oxygen for those who suffer from respiratory problems; no bed is available in the hospital even for the moribund patients; relatives of the deceased are to wait for hours to cremate them; being failed to get space in the designated crematorium, relatives cremate some of them in the undesignated place, or even in the parking lot. Those who could not arrange such spaces left the corpses in rows of the crematorium attaching a written paper with a humble request to cremate those dead bodies. Stray dogs were seen tearing and eating the flesh of such dead bodies.”
The above paragraphs are neither a part of a fairy tale nor a nightmare. They are a part of an editorial in the Anandabazar Patrika (May 3, 2021), a Bengali language daily from Kolkata, India. Conscious people around the world stunningly observed horrific scenes on TV screens.
The daily wrote that what is happening in the third decades of the 21st century in and adjoining areas of Delhi, the capital of the great country India, are horrific and embarrassing. Due to the irresponsibility and negligence of the rulers of this great state, many cities are being tormented and devastated from the pandemic, but the miseries of its capital Delhi are particularly unbelievably pathetic. This horrendous pandemic of today will become a part of history tomorrow and history will not pardon Narendra Modi or Arvind Kejriwal.
The Anandabazar Partika (on April 30) stated that the international media was again critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accelerating the terrible COVID 19 situation in India. It stated that the France newspaper, Le Monde on an April 28 editorial, blamed Modi for the grievous problem that occurred due to his “arrogance, imprudence, and lust for popularity.”
In early February when COVID-19 in India was fairly under control, Modi under so-called vaccine diplomacy sent vaccines to various countries to project “India as world drug store,” the French newspaper said. “The attitude was that India could export millions of vaccines abroad having adequate vaccines for itself. Within three months that pride turned to a nightmare.”
According to the same media outlet, neither the virus nor the variant can be held responsible for the current disarray and collapse of India’s health system. It opined that the responsibility cannot be ascribed on viruses or variants alone. Narendra Modi’s lack of prudence and keen desire to brighten his image and arrogance pushed India into such an awkward situation that even compelled arrogant Modi to welcome aid even from the poorest countries.
The crisis was made worse by a slow response from the central government. Though some state ministers and local authorities began taking action since February, there appears to have been a vacuum of leadership within the central government, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi staying largely silent on the situation until recent weeks.
Consequently “… the real impact could be much worse than official figures suggest, experts say, citing a serious underreporting issue.”
“Only about 34% of deaths are happening in hospitals and facilities“, said Dr. Hemant D. Shewade, a doctor specializing in community medicine — meaning many fatalities that occur at home or elsewhere may be missed in the official count,” CNN quoted.
Failing to tackle the situation, Modi and his flatterers, including Home Minister Amit Shah, are helpless. Apprehending public outrage, the Modi government only lamented for those who died in the hospitals, but those who were outside hospitals or at homes were excluded.
“India, home to the world’s worst ongoing outbreak, has reported more than 17.6 million cases since the pandemic began last year,” CNN reported on April 28. “But the real number, experts fear, could be up to 30 times higher — meaning more than half a billion cases.”
A day may come when Modi and his associates face trial for causing death to millions of documented and undocumented Indians, launching election campaigns amid a pandemic and aggravating it. In West Bengal, Modi held 18 massive public rallies while Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Yogi Adityanath also addressed hundreds of meetings or road shows targeting the same vision. There are no statistics on how many hundreds, even thousands of meetings, rallies or processions were organized by the local leaders and activists of different political parties from rural to urban areas, which rapidly spread the virus like wildfire. So, the uncontrolled pandemic and cruel death of Indians are indirectly manmade. The concerned perpetrators, particularly Modi, deserve to be persecuted for their irresponsible race for power that devastated a superpower such as India.
India’s higher courts already inaugurated such routes. The Uttar Pradesh High Court, says CNN, asked the state authorities to take “immediate remedial measures,” pointing to specific instances of patients dying due to oxygen shortages.
“Death of Covid patients just for non-supplying of oxygen to the hospitals is a criminal act and not less than a genocide by those who have been entrusted the task to ensure continuous procurement and supply chain of liquid medical oxygen,” the court said on May 4, 2021.
Modi cannot avoid his accountability of committing a “criminal act”, one which is no “less than a genocide.” To prevent the spread of COVID-19, instead of providing modern medication and dedicated equipment, Modi suggested to his countrymen to light wax candles, to beat dishes and plates and eat cow dung or drink cow urine and take showers in cow-dung reservoirs. Many Indians silently followed his strange prescription in the 21st century.
Very recently, he allowed and encouraged to hold the Kumbh Mela amid the pandemic, in which hundreds of thousands of Hindus participated, spreading the virus to the remote villages where there is little facility to treat such a fatal disease.
Most of the Indian media outlets spoke against the Kumbh Mela. NDTV branded it as the “Spreader” of Covid-19 while Times Now (May 2, 2021) and National Herald (May 4, 2021) categorically mentioned Madhya Pradesh. According to NDTV, “99 percent Kumbh Mela returnees from Haridwar have tested positive for the coronavirus. Out of 61 returnees, at least 60 pilgrims have been tested and found to be infected.
The folly of Modi was that when COVID-19 vaccines came in the market, Modi, instead of preserving them for his country, donated and sold them to other countries to show that India emerged as a superpower, as if it is self-reliant in all respects. Such an overambitious and suicidal leadership has sunk India and drowned Modi as well. Modi’s role coincides with the ancient story of Roman Emperor Nero playing the flute while Rome was burning.
*The writer is an American journalist of Bangladeshi origin and a researcher.
May 8, 2021
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
