Open
Forum
New Delhi, 6 May 2021
Inevitable Blame
Game
CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE
By DrS.Saraswathi
(Former Director,
ICSSR, New Delhi)
When
COVID-19 is at its peak, the nationis also in the midst of a worst blame
game never witnessed before.
The Delhi High Court and Madras High Court,
hearing separate cases on 29th April, questioned the Centre’s
actions during the second wave of the pandemic. The Centre was blamed for short supply of oxygen to Delhi, and lack
of planned and informed action in Tamil Nadu by the courts. On 1May,the Delhi
High Courtwarned the concerned officials of the central government of contempt
proceedings for failure to supply the allocated 490 metric tonnes of oxygen per day. “Water has gone above the
head. Enough is enough…We cannot shut our eyes to people dying in Delhi ”, the
court bluntly said and instructed the Centre to arrange for tankers also.
From the angle of politics, Congress
leaderRahul Gandhi alleged that the Centrehad completely failed to understand and
tackle the pandemicright from the beginningdespite repeated warnings and accused the government of controlling
the truth by manipulating the data --a clear political attack.
The Chief Justice oftheMadras High Court even
questioned the Centre what it was doing for the past 12 to 14 months without
anticipating the second wave of COVID-19 and getting prepared to face it.The hectic measurestaken whenthe wave
is at its peak,were belittled as “adhocism”.
The Election Commission of India has
beensingled out as the main culprit forthe outbreak of second wave of
COVID-19in Tamil Nadu and Puducherryby the Madras High Court by its failure to enforce pandemic protocols during
election campaigns. It blamed the ECI invery strong terms that the Commission
“should be put on murder charges”.
It is reported in the press that the court
remarked that, “You (ECI) are the onlyinstitution responsible for the situation
that we are in today. You havebeen singularly lacking any kind of exercise of
authority”, referring particularly to lack of action against political parties
holding rallies despite court orders. TheCommission replied that itwasthe
responsibilityof State Disaster Management Authority under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and not
of the ECI to enforceCOVID-19 instructions.
The remark of the high court is indeed very
harsh and difficult to digest particularly in the context of the manner and
style of electioneering going on in the country. The responsibilityof
partiesand leaders is no less than that of any official authority. Those having
ambitions to govern the State also have to set example for others.
The Madras High Court, however,put the blame
by oral observation and did not include this in its final order. The Commission
didnot fail to point out that the second wave of the pandemic hit the State two
weeks after polling.
The CEC appealed to the Supreme Court against
the scathing remarkson the performance of the poll body as “uncalled for,
blatantly disparaging and derogatory”. It questioned whether it was justified
in the least for an independent constitutional authority to make allegations
against another which would effectively tarnish the image of the latter. The
petition asked whether the high court was justified in making the ECI fully
responsible for surge in cases. The apex court, however, asked the EC to take
the court’s observations in the right spirit.
The State Election Commission in West Bengal
provided guidelines for COVID-safe campaign.
The EC directed the district machinery vested with election work,
responsible for enforcement of laws
including the Disaster Management Act to implement and monitor implementation
of COVID norms during the campaign and take appropriate
action in case of any violation.
Despite rapid surge in the number of COVID
cases, political rallies of Prime Minister Modi, Home MinisterAmit Shah, and Chief MinisterMamata
Banerjee attracted vast crowds evidently
oblivious to the onslaught of a deadly epidemic.In response to
deteriorating pandemic crisis and severe
criticism from many quarters of flagrantviolationof COVID rules by leaders
themselves, several parties including
the BJP, TMC, Left Front, and the Congress cancelled rallies in West Bengal. It
was on 19th April, when West Bengal reported nearly 20,000 cases and
over 50 deaths that the BJP put a limit of 500 people to
attend rallies and cancelled road shows where keeping social distancing was impossible.The State
reported about 800 cases when first phase of voting took place, and the number increased nearly
six times by the fourth phase of
polling.
Large social gatherings and religious
festivals have also been blamed as super spreaders of the virus, but not at the
right time to stop them without any hesitation.There seems to be a common practice in the country to allow events to
take place and blame the organisers
later. Commercial interests
and social enjoyment derived from crowd gathering override invisible
health interests. Who can take
theblame?
Thus, the Kumbh Mela went on with usual enthusiasm
and religious fervour at Haridwar and other holy places en route the Ganga and
temple festivals in many States as if life is normal. COVID norms became irrelevant while
social-religious events became one’s life mission.
Worse still is the question raised by some --
why not religious gatherings when political gatherings are allowed?Evidently,
breaking COVID protocolis going on with
competitive spirit and as assertion of
equal rights.Thrown to the windis the life and livelihood of people. What
flourishes is the pandemic andchaos and tension amongpeople. Should not people
organising social events and festivals accept the blame for the second wave?
At the same time, people cannot pretend to be
meek victims of the faults of others. Their
cooperationin adhering to COVID norms is practically nil. Information
machinery has been doing a good job of conveying pandemic related
developments,the precautions to be taken, the
risk in non-compliancewithregulations, etc. Lockdown is not seen as a
method of cutting thespeed of the disease, but as an official restriction
enforced on their freedom and can be defied if possible. Wanton disregard forrules and
regulations normallyseen in traffic regulations is openly seen everywhere. When
things go out of control, they are the first to blame others particularly the
agencies working day and night.
Pandemics
are not routine occurrences to have ready solutions
on hand. The whole world is learning about the Coronavirus which is revealing
several characteristics one by one. We can only be prepared by remaining alert
that the virus will not vanish, but will assume different forms.
A concept in epidemiologyattributesspreadof a
disease to“interaction of the agent, host,and
environment”. Every individual may be a recipient and carrier of the
virus and therefore, mustbe coaxed or
forced to adopt appropriate COVID-19 behaviour.
Blame game is a universal phenomenon and is
going on at various levels within and between
nations.Centre, States, private sector, health personnel, patients and
their kin blame one another. It is like lighting cigarettes when the house is
on fire.India is facing a crisis of confidence fanned by political rivalry. Unity
is the need of the hour.—INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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