Who would have expected, barely a year ago, that the people of India, under the strong man’s leadership, with an unprecedented chest of 56 inch, would be dyeing like flies? Who would have imagined, that a country seeking the permanent seat in the Security Council of United Nation, would be presenting a pitiable spectacle to the world community of the entire nation being transformed into a graveyard?
The Second World War was raging. Adolf Hitler, the fascist ruler of Germany, had already launched an attack on France, which had caused a deep apprehension in Britain, as it feared an imminent attack on its mainland, from the fascist forces. Significantly, the pall of gloom had already set in the corridors of power in Britain. Halifax, the then Prime Minister, who, unlike his colleagues in his own party and members in opposition, had placed a premium on his own conviction, that weaning Mussolini, the then fascist ruler of Italy, away from Hitler, or somehow persuading Mussolini to persuade Hitler to withdraw from France and abandon launching an attack on Britain, failed drastically to enthuse anyone. Small wonder then the war raging in the backyard, indecisive Halifax, especially in the context of an impending catastrophe brought about by Hitler’s hegemonism, was bluntly asked to resign. ‘ Go Halifax, for the heaven sake, please go!’ The strong demand for Halifax’ resignation staunchly resonated with majority members, prompting Halifax to resign, thus Chamberlain paved the way for Winston Churchill to become the next Prime Minister. The morale of this whole episode is this: When the strategic national interest was involved, the nation was unanimous in its decision.
Significantly, the Covid 19, a pandemic of stupendous proportion lashed out the world community, inviting a disaster all-around of cataclysmic proportion. The deadly virus emanating from Wuhan, from China, after devastating Wuhan, engulfed Europe and USA in its octopus like grip. No wonder the massive death and destruction that Europe, particularly Italy, Spain, Germany and Britain had witnessed, shook the conscience of the entire world. Corona Virus became the new tumult for the world: a contagion, which had no cure. Apparently, the aftermath impacts of the devastation in USA and Europe, where the healthcare system of the world, severely came under stress: The speculation was rife in India that, with an advanced living standard, if Europeans and USA, despite its technological superiority, were unable to cope with the virus, what about the lesser nations like India? Significantly, Narendra Modi had a simple remedy; in fact, a panacea for the cure of Contagion: First, by banging thalis and lighting wicks to scare away the deadly virus; second, the unceremonious lockdown to break the chain of contagion.
Evidently, while the world jostled with the inadequate health infrastructure, Indian Prime Minister, by virtue of a simple masterstroke, sought to strangle the contagion by his simple prescription. Nation, in absolute jest and enthusiasm, celebrated it prematurely: by banging thalis and lighting wicks. Further, an unceremonious lockdown brought about by a short notice of few hours, unexpectedly triggered a humongous crises for those at the bottom of the pyramid. The pitiable and pathetic sight of tens of thousands of workers walking down the road famished, traversing thousands of kilometers, without anyone lending any help, shrivelled the national conscience. Moreover, the lockdown resulted in devastating the economy, with millions losing their jobs in no time. Yet, the Prime Minister proved to be a magician for his country; a demi-god whose transgressions were treated as aberrations, purportedly designed to serve the larger national interest. Ironically, the electorate in Bihar irrefutably established the above fact when Nitish Kumar was severely punished for his blatant insensitivity towards his people when his total number of seats almost halved, yet that of BJP, inscrutablly though, saw an upswing.
In the meanwhile, riding high in his popularity, Prime Minister, who had already tamed the anti-CAA Movement and withstood another turbulent farmer’s movement, set upon his national conquest by setting in motion his Ashwamedha in the upcoming election in West Bengal and Kerala in particular and other three states in general. No wonder Modi-Shah picked up their gauntlet against Mamata Banerjee and made it their avowed mission to decimate her at the hustings. No wonder the entire BJP machinery, including the Cabinet ministers, spent more time commuting between West Bengal and Delhi, rather than attending to their ministerial responsibilities. Regrettably, Prime Minister himself had held more than 50 rallies with the mammoth gathering. Worse still, in flagrant violation of the warning already issued, and with the mutant version of Covid contagion already found to be far more virulent in Brazil, Indian Prime Minister, ever in state of complacency brought about by the hubris of invincibility, put the nation to its gravest of hazards hitherto unknown.
The latest transformation of India as the hotbed of Corona Virus, with the death and destruction everywhere, is attributed to Modi’s humongous dereliction of his responsibilities as the head of the nation. Not only the Prime Minister patted his back while addressing a mammoth gathering in Asansole, in West Bengal when he had infamously said, ‘ Mera yah saubhagya hai’. Paradoxically, Prime Minister, in course of his scores of pontification, especially through his monologue of Man ki baat, had cautioned the people to maintain distance, wear mask, emphasing on ‘ Jab tak dabai nahi, tab tak dhilai nahi’, would himself be inordinately callous enough to blow into smithereens his own public prescription by participating and encouraging mammoth gathering, was the worst form of hypocrisy that the nation has been witnessing for last several years.
Significantly, India has never been exposed to such a despicable state of human degradation as she finds herself today: while the hospitals, across India, have been pathetically reduced to the travesty of the sub-standard health care, the crematori too are falling short for burying the corpses. Regrettably, the stupendous problem of scarcity of oxygen has degenerated India’s overall health care facilities to that of the medieval times when the people would dye for bare minimum of heath care treatment. No wonder India today stands at the heath care infrastructural bottom of its south Asian neighbours. Worse still, the astronomical sum of money invested for elections, if added together, could have resulted into building up of thousands of oxygen plants and manufacturing of scores of ventilators. Regrettably, the priority of the republic appears flawed, with prima facie focus being given to conduct elections, even at the cost of the lives of the multitude, indicts India’s incumbent leadership along with the constitutional office of that of the Election Commission.
Unequivocally, this is the high time for the nation to go for the self-introspection. The moot question that nation needs to ponder is this: Are the elections meant for the people or it is other way round? For the nation appears to be governed by the whims and fancy of few people who are seeking to control the destiny of 1.40 billion people. Evidently, the pathetic state of India today is far more worse than that of Pakistan and Bangladesh-the exhortation of Sohaib Akhtar, a Pakistani cricketer to appeal the international community for help-stands India in an unprecedented poor light. Worse still, RSS, ever evincing nationalistic pride in Hindu Rashtra, inexplicably appears to be at a loss to find any solution to this humongous crisis. Moreover, the international media, very legitimately, blaming Modi government for engendering this cataclysmic crisis, even though resonates with the citizens of India and the world, BJP and its IT cell, hell bent upon running an alternate narrative, has discovered its own logic and rationale in falsifying all that stand irrefutably in the public domain. Further, with Corona already doing Tandav over our head, Modi government’s green signal to organising Kumbh Mela, which should have been logically held in 2022, astrologically advanced by one year, ought to have been deferred by a year. The fact that Tabllighi Jamaat was blamed in the first phase for being a spreader, the contribution of Kumbh Mela of being a super spreader stands vindicated. In hindsight, the crisis in Britain in 1940, when members sought a resignation of Halifax in the national interest, will there be even a single bold and audacious MP and minister in Modi government who may have the moral and intellectual audacity to boldly proclaim : ‘ Go Modi go, we already have had enough of you-a divided society, a far depleted economy, and a reigning uncertainty everwhere–leave the position for someone more competent, will be the best service you can do to the nation’. In the meanwhile, the nation needs to seriously ponder: where as a republic we have so grievously floundered.
