Suddenly India looks very vulnerable in the face of corona. The general feeling was that the virus had been tackled in India and it emerged as a “hero ‘to its people. While infection rates soared in the rest of the world, India was relatively safe. On top of that India was also exporting vaccines, a major achievement. It claimed that India had won the vaccine diplomacy war with China which was cheered by the West too. India had looked good.
As it’s now known, it was the nature of the virus that made the scene look good rather than intent. And what followed was both inevitable and catastrophic. Precautions and guards were dropped, life was assumed to have become normal, lifestyle and social events returned that led to large crowds. Barring IPL which was an event played to empty stadiums, crowds in India became common again.
Where the crowds gathered most were of course political events and India’s elite who use politics to continue being in power and sometimes justify all sorts of action in the name of electoral democracy, merrily went about, as if politics was more important than life. The result has been devastating and India has gained the dubious title of being the corona hotspot of the world.
It was shocking to see how quickly, the health system collapsed under pressure. India’s claim to be part of the more advanced countries health services capacity was shattered. Data and scenes show that India is under a shadow which makes it look quite inefficient.
Perhaps the situation would have gathered more sympathy had India amidst all this had not been investing so much time and resources after chasing politics and holding elections. The kind of attention paid to electoral democracy was strangely cruel as its celebration amidst this crisis seemed a strange sight to behold. If anything, holding of votes with rallies and meetings that have significantly contributed to the spreading shows how distant the elite are from the people. Meanwhile, the money elite are fleeing the country and the rest are left behind to face the deadly music.
Indians have been at odds with China, allying with the West while presenting itself as a case for democracy and freedom of press etc. Yet India has sided with the Myanmar military regime in a bid to compete with China’s influence there. This is understandable given national priorities.
What is less understandable is that India chose its elite’s priorities over that of its ordinary people. Chasing international objectives is not what common people want but health and security. And that has not been delivered right now shows. As an example, India is becoming a risky one to follow. Its current corona crisis has done worse damage to its image and reality than a losing war with China would have. India should have known that enemies are many and the one without may not be the worst, its own ruling class priorities could hurt it much more.
Hoping things get better in India very quickly.