Shiban Khaibri
“Grief is like living two lives. One is where you pretend that everything is alright, and the other is where your heart silently screams.”
Was it absolutely necessary and in the high traditions of journalism to show live repeatedly for days together, by many TV channels, the burning pyres of those who were mercilessly consumed by the ferocious corona-virus ? Was it absolutely necessary to present in comments as a sort of prelude “It is not something shinning so bright like some illumination but these are pyres of the dead” and then parading the unfortunate departed ones “waiting” in queues at the crematoriums for getting the “turn” ? Was it again quite necessary even to say that even the supply of firewood at the cremation sites had fallen short ? Such heart wrenching scenes telecasting again and again by anchors and news readers in enviable get ups from AC newsrooms made most of us cry and feel undone and depressed . It appeared as if there was a spree , a competition among the “fourth pillar(s) of democracy” to show scenes which made most of us cry and even feel undone and depressed ? How did it serve the cause of those who were gasping for their breaths and were jostling to get a bed in hospitals to be saved from the jaws of death ? If it did , the same may be made known.
Is it all not tantamount to insulting the dead , most of whom could not get timely treatment and later even their minimum due in their last journey – that of a respectable , normal funeral? Did even the basics of what to be dished out and in what manner by some of the TV journalists in an atmosphere of despair, gloom, scare and fear, needed Government regulation or presumably and as a natural corollary – discretion, wisdom and commonsense were taken for granted to be employed in telecasting the stuff? The moment relives the photograph taken by Kevin Carter of a starving Sudanese child and a vulture in the background in 1993 though it fetched him Pulitzer prize but a later remorse cost him dearly . It is, however, without prejudice to the basic right of journalists / the media – to connect people and the Government and pinpoint flaws and shortcomings in the governance but somewhere a “Lakshman Rekha” is to be drawn and honoured.
Just a bit of comparison would prove the point – in the USA, as many as 5,87,000 deaths took place due to the dreaded virus while in our country (though unfortunately) 1,97,000 precious lives were lost but did we ever find any live telecast of over-crowdedness or confusion in the cemeteries there ? If not , why ? Are Americans any less democrats than we or is their media not very strong and independent? In the same way, Brazil had 3.91 lakh deaths as against 1.28 lakh in the United Kingdom and see their population figures as compared to ours. Though any death occurring anywhere in this horrible way is tragic but going out of the board in reporting and telecasting is not justified even if the purpose was to criticise the Government . Let there be positivity in that although a bit late, the central government has managed to fight the acute shortage of Oxygen needed for the patients urgently and the Railways, the India Air Force, the Army have all been pressed into service to augment the supply of oxygen which should be our prime objective .
The international community too has stood by our side at these trying moments right from the USA to Germany, France, Russia UK, UAE, Israel in addition to the great Rattan Tata and other giants from the private sector. Very soon, the position of oxygen availability would immensely improve. Many Temples , charitable institutions have set up temporary hospitals with hundreds of beds and other requirements and we soon will emerge successful and defeat the ferocious virus. Let the BCCI, the richest cricket organisation in the world contribute some money out of its huge resources for the help of those Indians who have made this BCCI what it is today. Who erred where and paid no attention towards the impending danger of this magnitude can be done later. First, the governments, central and States, in close cooperation , should try to salvage the grim situation with all available resources.
Catastrophes and calamities and their horrifying impacts should never ever be any commercial business in this civilized world. We are passing through one of the worst challenges , perhaps of the century , to the very existence of the human life. The corona-virus – COVID-19 , without mincing any words, and as the apprehensions too point towards, allegedly manufactured or engineered at Wuhan laboratory in China as claimed by many a whistleblower in China, has really not only shattered the normal equations of the entire world claiming millions of precious lives but dealt severest blow to the world economies. Needless to reiterate, the worst impact of the phases of unavoidable lockdowns last year on our economy and despite that, on account of the ablest handling of the situation by the government , under the given circumstances, and spending hundreds of thousands of crores of Rupees on measures to provide succour and relief to the deserving including free ration for months , free train services to the migrant workers and the like , while receipts of government revenue took an unprecedented dip , both the virus as well its impact were fought simultaneously . We emerged successful as was proved by the curve of virus infections bending downwards and total daily average positive cases dangling between twenty thousands.
In the meantime, states of Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab started reporting a surge in infection cases all of a sudden and what is known as the new form or the mutant version of the virus. Like wild fire, it started spreading and engulfing more and more places across the country including Jammu and Kashmir . Blame game apart , what is the alternative but to united(ly) fight the new threat out with all our resources and to reap the dividends of the investment of diplomatic relations with most of the advanced countries over the last six to seven years or in simpler parlance, seek their timely help which has started pouring in much as per our expectations? However, questions arise and must be answered.
Could we prevent the second wave from spreading which took all by surprise like a lightening? Did the claims of most of the Chief Ministers about the situation being “well under control” just until a few days ago of the explosion of infections, not prove absurdly wrong ? Was a cumulative complacency and sort of smugness following the first and the ”maiden” wave having subsided , a gross blunder? Was opening up after the lockdown though progressively and in phases to be reviewed on day to day basis and is it where we faltered? What about those temporary special COVID centres erected last year for treating the infected persons in almost all states and the reasons behind dismantling those one by one thus proving quite ignorant and criminally negligent about those countries where the second wave wrought more disaster than the first? What about the political response to the untiring efforts of the government for manufacturing indigenously the vaccines and going in for intensive and wide vaccination drive , perhaps, largest in the world, and shockingly the same mocked and doubts created , fears planted and stories spread about the efficacies of the vaccines ? Did it not prove as a spoilsports of unbelievable dimensions and what about the same political class this time asking to ban exports in a world where you cannot sit in isolation.
How many in the opposition Political parties not only encouraged the ”farmers’ agitation” and occupying Delhi borders , provided all moral support , even kitchen cum eateries facilities but even imbibed in them “not to move an inch we are with you (aap kay sath kathadey hain) and if you retract , you are gone for ever” not even telling those in thousands to at least wear masks and maintain distance ? Was it a complicit policy to let the inevitable happen which did in engulfing Delhi , Punjab , Haryana and even areas of UP ? Who allowed Kumbh Mela in Haridwar and other adjoining areas and could it not have been cancelled and sacred rituals only symbolically performed instead of thousands converging ? What about collective political will and consensus to face and fight this grave national health emergency? Has even now political blame game , pointing fingers at one another stopped in any measure? If coalition Maharashtra Government instead of paying more attention to protect Home Minister Deshmukh could have taken early strict steps in preventing the spread and making enough arrangements in anticipation , much could have been saved and prevented.
If Delhi CM would have not resorted to flip-flopping on the issue and not decided to appear every second minute on one or the other or simultaneously on many TV channels 24×7 spending hundreds of crores of Rupees and instead would have created the requisite paraphernalia to meet the 2nd wave like managing makeshift hospitals , more beds, oxygen cylinders, ambulances and other things , the situation would have not been chaotic . Even amidst such a crisis , telecasting his “chosen part” of PM-CM meet even against the protocol and creating 5 star appeasement for VIPs in a top Hotel who never asked for the same, could be manifestation of too much of “political cleverness”.
If Punjab CM would have used his good offices in anticipation of an impending danger of 2nd wave, and persuaded the agitators to call off the agitation at least for one and the half year during which the three Reforming Farm Laws are decided to be put on hold , perhaps Punjab could have prevented a surge of this magnitude. The UP Chief Minister, otherwise having done extremely fine last year could have been more alert and prepared for the worst this year, the state to a larger extent would have succeeded in preventing the spread of the virus. Less said the better about the W. Bengal CM who even does not attend the official CMs-PM meet . Unless political leaders rethink about their roles in dealing with national emergencies and leave doing anything for vote politics and elections , we cannot do and achieve better. Let us hope we emerge triumphant in the present challenging situation very soon.
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