Let’s get serious

Addressing the nation via a video conference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear that the coronavirus threat could only be combatted with the full cooperation of the people, a token demonstration of which, he said, would be to light candles, lamps and mobile torches for nine minutes on April 5 at 9 pm. “There is no bigger force than our conviction and resolve. There is nothing we cannot achieve with these forces,” he said. Many are wondering when the world is busy fighting Covid-19 and scientists are trying to make a vaccine against the virus why did we first bang thalis, then blow conch shells and then were asked to light candles.

People want to remind the government that they have always shown solidarity at the time of a national calamity or crisis — be it the devastating 2004 tsunami or the global economic meltdown in 2008 or the massive floods in Uttarakhand in 2013. Even now, millions of migrants left jobless have reconciled themselves to the situation. The people of India do not need gimmicks to prove their collective will, the history of India is proof itself. Countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore had launched huge nationwide testing programmes to identify, isolate and treat infected patients from January 20 to March 19 but even today, the government has not launched mass testing. It’s time that the government demonstrated its dedication to Indians through actions to eliminate coronavirus and not count on banging or lighting candles.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee

Faridabad