SC rap for Kerala govt justified

It’s a sad commentary on the country’s system of governance that the Supreme Court had to admonish the Kerala government for the relaxations it had announced in the timings for opening shops and markets ahead of Bakrid. The court invoked the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution, as it did while passing orders in the kanwar yatra issue, and said the relaxations were “wholly uncalled for” and that it did not interfere with the government order only because the horses had already bolted. It warned the government that it will face the music if its actions resulted in the spread of the pandemic.

The state government, in fact, virtually invited the strictures by the apex court. It may be recalled that the state had successfully halted the spread of the pandemic in the first phase with the active participation of the people and local self-government bodies. However, it has of late been following some weird logic. It did not impose a lockdown in time for the second wave despite its own experts' committee recommending it; it did not heed the committee’s advice for opening up either. The need of the hour was to relax the lockdown conditions and seek the cooperation of the people but it did not do so. The Supreme Court cannot be faulted if it had come to the understanding that it was done at the behest of the shopkeepers.

It must be emphasised that the state government has made no big concessions on the religious congregations. All it has done is to raise the maximum number of people who can attend Bakrid prayers from 20 to 40, as it did in the case of Sabarimala where the most devotees allowed darshan a day was doubled from 5,000. Attempts to attribute a communal motive to such steps are unfair, to say the least.

It may be recalled

that the state had successfully halted the spread of the

pandemic in the first phase with the active participation of the people and local self-government bodies.