World is at war with the novel Coronavirus. And the pandemic due to this Chinese virus has created an unprecedented war like situation. In these times when people have come together to fight the global pandemic and buried their political and ideological differences, albeit temporarily, there’s a large section of media, social media warriors, filmmakers, sadist-comedians and self-proclaimed intellectuals who derive extreme pleasure by putting a spanner in the humanity’s herculean efforts to contain this lethal disease.
Unfortunately a large majority of these self-serving sadists are Indians or they are of Indian origins. This sadist bunch had expected widespread chaos and lakhs of deaths in India due to the novel Coronavirus. As India continues to contain the pandemic to a large extent much to the relief of millions of Indians, it has surely upset the plans of this sadist coterie. And this cabal is out with its knives. They have now resorted to their tested technique. Deceit.
The cabal shamelessly defends Tabligh-e-Jamaat despite clinching evidence that they deliberately spread Coronavirus across the country. Selective amnesia and selective pruning of messages are their key weapons. The coterie knows what to pick and what to leave in a communiqué, news report or an announcement. And if this communiqué is from PM Modi then this group carefully selects a few words or sentences to drive home their point.
“India is not testing enough people,” “India is suppressing Coronavirus cases,” “There are not enough ventilators and India should order ventilators from China,” “WHO says India needs to ramp up its efforts to fight with the pandemic” “India is not following WHO guidelines,” these are some of the phrases that this coterie keeps shouting out.
Enough.
Let me come straight to the point. India is a country with a population of 1.3 billion (130 crore) and let’s be clear that no medical preparation will be enough to combat a pandemic of this magnitude. The number of hospitals, health care centres (primary, secondary and tertiary) are grossly inadequate in India. Several studies point that even during normal times we have a shortage of over six lakh doctors and twenty lakh nurses. Ditto for lab technicians and other paramedical staff.
Further, India’s 130 crore population compares with 6 crore population of Italy, France’s 6.5 crore population and UK’s 6.7 crore. The population of US is 33 crore and Singapore has a minuscule population of 58 lakh. Despite a much lower population than India and superior healthcare facilities Italy, Spain, France and UK, among others have been brought down to their knees. Such is the impact of this novel Coronavirus (read biological weapon) that even United States of America, the world’s sole superpower, is struggling to cope up.
In this perilous scenario prevention is the only weapon for a nation with 130 crore people. And this is exactly what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been doing. Modi knows it quite well that we have to nip this deadly Chinese virus in the bud, else Covid-19 will become the albatross around India’s neck. But this is easier said than done. Mobilizing and motivating 130 crore people is a task in itself. In the initial days, Indians did not take the Coronavirus threat seriously. Modi announced Janata Curfew on March 22 and requested countrymen to clap from their windows as a gesture to thank all the doctors, nurses, medical staff, bank employees, sanitation workers etc. Along with expressing nation’s gratitude towards our frontline warriors it raised awareness amongst Indians about the gravity of threat due to Coronavirus.
Even when India expressed solidarity with its doctors, the sadist-coterie screamed that Modi’s irrationality has put India under grave risk of Covid-19. “When country needs to import ventilators and conduct tests Modi is asking Indians to clap,” they yelled.
Thereafter, entire country was put under complete lockdown from March 25. It’s been more than a week since lockdown in India, and despite Covid-19 cases remaining under check, news has now begun pouring in about severe psychological stress among otherwise healthy individuals. It’s happening only because this kind of isolation is unprecedented in recent human history. Now, to uplift the mood of nation and to make each one feel that they are not lone fighters in this battle, PM Modi has requested that individuals need to stand on balconies, doors or windows of their homes on Sunday April 5, and light diyas, candles or torches. Modi has explained in clear terms that this is only to make everyone feel that entire India is a participant in this war against Coronavirus.
But the coterie is out once again. They cite WHO’s recommendations to argue that India is lagging behind China in putting brakes on Coronavirus. The coterie must know that the current Director-General of World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanon is equally responsible for this Coronavirus pandemic as is China. Dr Tedros is an Ethiopian politician who had been involved in a major cover up about the lethality of this virus. Dr Tedros continued to defend China’s communist dictators till March until it became impossible to defend. This is the key reason why Coronavirus epidemic has evolved into a global pandemic.
Also, China has grossly under-reported Covid-19 deaths. Official deaths reported by China stand at a mere 3,326, which is absolutely wrong. Just one statistic exposes China’s lie. During January and February, three top mobile operators in China — China Mobile, China Unicom Hong Kong and China Telecom lost over 21 million (2.1 crore) subscribers. This is extremely unusual and point towards a staggering high number deaths due to Covid-19 in communist China.
PM Modi understands these shenanigans. Yes, we are short of ventilators but we also lack doctors who can monitor them, and even if we get millions of testing kits there are hardly enough pathologists to test 130 crore people for the novel Coronavirus. Yet we need to keep up our fight. Modi knows India needs to chart its own course. Modi has formed a Coronavirus task force where each minister responsible for a state takes feedback from district nodal officers of the districts who in turn get feedback from the ground medical staff such as the doctors and paramedical professionals. All this is done every day through video conferencing and feedback from the ground is being implemented in real time. Over 30 scientists and doctors are leading Modi’s task force on Coronavirus and monitoring the ground situation on real time basis. If India has managed to keep the spread of Covid-19 under control it is precisely for this reason. But is this enough? Certainly not. India is a billion plus nation and even football stadium size hospitals are not going to be enough.
But at the same time Modi also needs to uplift the mood of Indians who are feeling helpless sitting inside their homes. The nation needs to shed pessimism so that it hits the ground running whenever the lockdown is eased. Lighting of diyas, candles or torches is not about celebration rather a steely resolve that the entire country stands united in this fight against global pandemic.