Yesterday, the 23rd of December 2021, I, and perhaps millions
of citizens of India, had been eagerly waiting for the emergency meet by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on COVID-19 situation in view of the fast-spreading
Omicron scare, expecting some major steps; however, nearly the whole day the honorable PM had been busy addressing
rallies in the poll-bound state of Uttar Pradesh with thousands of citizens or
voters cheering him in mostly mask-less fascination, while the social
distancing was reduced to an absurdity as always. And then, in the evening the
PM, back in the capital, found the time to chair the important meeting, and
sounded a pan-India alert announcing the precautions to be taken. We have no
option but to wonder: why doesn’t the beloved leader of millions lead by
examples like bringing the mass rallies into the ambit of the restrictions.
During the second wave early this year too we witnessed the same cardinal
mistake of going ahead with the assembly elections, and we all know what happened
later with almost every Indian family losing at least one dear one—closely or
distantly related—to COVID-19, led by Delta that time. There is a proverbial
saying that ‘one should learn from mistakes’, but in India the saying is no
longer valid.
As inevitably as ever, the courts had to step in. The Allahabad High
Court yesterday, asked the Prime Minister and the Election Commission of India
(ECI) directly to postpone the Uttar Pradesh (UP) elections saying that if mass
political rallies are allowed to continue the third wave would be worse than
the second. The message is loud and clear; but what would be the next step by
the Government is near predictable, like we avoid saying anything about it. In fact,
the ECI on the merit of being an independent constitutional authority can also assert
its powers to postpone the elections. Meanwhile, following Madhya Pradesh, the
UP government has also imposed night curfew with effect from the 25th
of this month and restricting wedding parties to a maximum of 200 invitees.
Very good. But pray! What about the election rallies? Do they enjoy special
free passes? The opposition political parties hardly object on this point;
obviously because, they too need to go on cultivating their ‘voter interest’
with possibly more rallies than their rivals.
The inimitable Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is back with his
enthusiastic googlies: only he knows with conviction that the Omicron
infections would be less severe than the Delta while informing the media that
his government is ready to handle over hundred thousand infections a day should
that materialize. Very good indeed, if he is also able to prevent the pressure
on the medical infra and deaths. Do we need to say that he has also been too
busy building up his ‘national’ image in recent times, inroading into several
states? Of course, with more and more rallies, ranging from Punjab to Goa.
Mamata Banerjee, after her landslide victory over BJP earlier this year—during
the time when supposedly hundreds of thousands of Indiana were succumbing to
the pandemic—has been showered kudos by all political parties and more or less has
been accepted as the PM face of the opposition alliance which, obviously led to
her party’s strategic distance from the Congress—the oldest party that cannot sidetrack
its dynastic PM faces. So then, the essential point being she has also been too
busy campaigning for her ‘national’ image from the north-east to the north and
the west, so far. Of course, with more and more political rallies.
The extreme importance of ‘leading by examples’ applies everywhere—in all
aspects of a good governance. Horrible things have been happening in the
country in the past few days: a renewal of the saga of political murders in
Kerala; lynching cases in Punjab due to alleged sacrilege; the bomb blast in a
Punjab district court yesterday; the attacks on Churches in Karnataka amid the passing
the controversial anti-conversion bill by the state assembly and in Christmas
times; and the most horrible incident, crossing all boundaries of tolerance, happening in Haridwar—one of the most important
pilgrimages for the majority religion (we prefer to not mention any religion by
name here, because we believe strongly that the people who can kill in the name
of their ‘religion’ actually have no religion, and are plain criminals).
Top defence-security experts including ex-servicemen and retired police
chiefs have been terming the Haridwar incident as a national security threat. In
a ‘religious’ congregation in that town some supposed ‘saints’ of the majority
religion openly asked their ‘devotees’ to arm themselves and get ready to kill
or get killed as there are no other options available, they added. This is
creating a national outrage at the moment inviting international shame unless
the government take appropriate action. The inaction of the Uttarakhand police also
came under heavy criticism across news channels and social media thanks to
which, perhaps, the police registered an FIR late evening yesterday, but naming
only one accused. Again here, for the final ‘justice’ the courts will have to
step in, and the saner Indians have no other options but to depend on the
judgements thus delivered. The judiciary
also has its own problems like pending cases, endless appeals and the will of
the executive authorities in enforce the verdicts in true spirit and on the
actual field.
High time the Government start following the idealism of ‘leading by examples’
and inspire all the state governments in tackling all nasty crimes/events irrespective
of the political idealisms involved; overcoming all ‘voter interest’ or ‘vote-bank’
conflicts; and to punish the culprits in all such cases in quick time
irrespective of their religion/caste/creed. The mixing of religion with
politics must be stopped. Bigots are just bigots, and they must be brought to
book whatever be the religions they claim to represent and preach. There has
been a huge upsurge in the number of young voters and the ideal of ‘leading by
examples’ is sure to enthuse them to vote, thus creating new ‘vote banks’ for
the concerned ruling parties. Ironies are bound to exist in a democracy;
however, efforts must be made to iron these out amicably—a difficult job
indeed, but immensely possible.
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