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1. "Nobody shows as much class solidarity as the rich," forget where I read it, but this keeps ringing in my ears as journalists write, "India mishandled the second wave".
No, dude, India mishandled the first, but it was largely the poor that paid the price, so you didn't care.
No, dude, India mishandled the first, but it was largely the poor that paid the price, so you didn't care.
2. The idea that India successfully managed the first wave is based on low numbers of officially reported infections and casualties.
Set aside the fact that these are likely underreports, EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY IN SOUTH ASIA HAD SIMILAR NUMBERS.
Set aside the fact that these are likely underreports, EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY IN SOUTH ASIA HAD SIMILAR NUMBERS.
3. India's response to the first wave cannot be measured by casualty rate by disease, because there was no perceptible difference in that with any other similar country.
What it can be measured by is political and economic costs.
What it can be measured by is political and economic costs.
4. What did the regime do?
There was no track and trace programme nationally. I returned from Kathmandu at the end of Feb, and all that was noted at the airport was my temperature.
Because there was no tracking, we went straight to "community transmission".
There was no track and trace programme nationally. I returned from Kathmandu at the end of Feb, and all that was noted at the airport was my temperature.
Because there was no tracking, we went straight to "community transmission".
5. Community transmission just means that we cannot identify the exact pathway of infections.
The regime spent the whole year denying this. It has still not accepted this, with upward of 400,000 cases being reported daily!
The sacrifice of science to optics was total.
The regime spent the whole year denying this. It has still not accepted this, with upward of 400,000 cases being reported daily!
The sacrifice of science to optics was total.
6. Then the regime and its sociopathic supporters in the media decided to identify a pathway of spread: the Tablighi Jamaat, made them scapegoats, treated them as criminals.
There was a high decibel campaign against Muslims, as "Corona Jihad". https://www.thequint.com/news/india/tablighi-jamaat-foreigners-made-scapegoats-bombay-hc-quashes-firs#read-more
There was a high decibel campaign against Muslims, as "Corona Jihad". https://www.thequint.com/news/india/tablighi-jamaat-foreigners-made-scapegoats-bombay-hc-quashes-firs#read-more
7. (As I wrote then, I think the Jamaat leadership was stupid to hold its gathering in Delhi then. The Indian government might have been sleeping, but the Jamaat should have paid attention to the international situation. And trusting the regime after the Delhi pogrom was naïve.)
8. By not acknowledging community spread, and by blaming Muslims as the only vector of disease, the regime misinformed the public, created terror about being ill from Covid-19.
Then there was the catastrophic lockdown. Not coordinated with any state government, 4 hours notice.
Then there was the catastrophic lockdown. Not coordinated with any state government, 4 hours notice.
9. There was no plan, no end date, no provisions for the vast section of the Indian economy that are in the informal sector, and cannot "Work From Home".
After weeks, they started walking, cycling, hitching rides home.
It was the greatest forced migration since Partition.
After weeks, they started walking, cycling, hitching rides home.
It was the greatest forced migration since Partition.
10. It was also incredibly cruel.
Police punished people at borders, sprayed them with chemicals, beat fruit and vegetable vendors on the street.
People were filmed eating rotting fruit, even roadkill, because they had nothing else.
Tens of millions were pushed into poverty.
Police punished people at borders, sprayed them with chemicals, beat fruit and vegetable vendors on the street.
People were filmed eating rotting fruit, even roadkill, because they had nothing else.
Tens of millions were pushed into poverty.
11. When the government acted, it first denied that there was any such exodus, or any such worry.
It looked at millions of desperate, starving, terrified people, and said, "Meh."
Then it finally set up trains, that had no food and water, and went to wrong destinations.
It looked at millions of desperate, starving, terrified people, and said, "Meh."
Then it finally set up trains, that had no food and water, and went to wrong destinations.
12. Can you imagine, a poor person finally gets a train ticket to get home because they cannot earn their living in the big city, and literally dies of dehydration on the train journey to the wrong city?
For the regime this was "pre-existing conditions". https://www.thequint.com/news/india/migrants-workers-found-dead-on-irctc-shramik-train-govt-refused-rti-query
For the regime this was "pre-existing conditions". https://www.thequint.com/news/india/migrants-workers-found-dead-on-irctc-shramik-train-govt-refused-rti-query
13. The regime chose not to take the disease seriously at first.
It chose to an arbitrary, unplanned lockdown.
It chose to demonise Muslims.
All these choices led to making it MORE difficult to fight the disease, while hurting the most vulnerable.
It chose to an arbitrary, unplanned lockdown.
It chose to demonise Muslims.
All these choices led to making it MORE difficult to fight the disease, while hurting the most vulnerable.
14. I could go on and on, the centralisation of money and authority, the PM Cares Lund, the toppling of the MP government in the midst of a pandemic, the attempt to do so in Maharashtra, but the point is that the rich and middle class had enough hospital beds.
15. Today the rich are inconvenienced, so the media, both national and foreign, says, "NOW India is handling things badly."
You could have said so when the poor were being persecuted.
It always comes around.
Don't ignore injustice. For your own sake.
You could have said so when the poor were being persecuted.
It always comes around.
Don't ignore injustice. For your own sake.
16. If this was your definition of "India handling the first wave well", I really hope we never meet in real life because I may be extremely violent: https://in.news.yahoo.com/video-man-eating-animal-carcass-083000234.html
