Covid-19: The everyday tragedy in Indian cities, towns and villages
It is an ominous sound that I have come to dread — the ring of the mobile. So when my childhood friend, who is Covid-19 positive, called to tell me that his wife had succumbed to the virus after three days in the hospital, my heart sank. While trying to come to grips with this dreadful news, my friend said, “Shekhar, I need one last help from you today. Make arrangements for her cremation. One has to wait for at least 12 hours to get a space for the pyre here.” I never dreamt I would have to undertake such a painful task. However, despite my best efforts, it took us ages to send her on her final journey.
Religious beliefs suggest that a cremation at Kashi’s Manikarnika Ghat ensures salvation for the departed soul. A few days ago, the situation had become so dire there that grieving relatives were begging workers to take the bodies of their loved ones and cremate them whenever possible. Their only request was that traditions should be observed. But they were lucky in finding a place, for, in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, dozens of bodies have been found floating down the Ganges and Karmanasha rivers. They were all Indians, entitled to proper last rites, according to both the law and tradition, but due to the chaos all around, people were forced to surrender their dead to the rivers against the tenets of Hinduism.
The administration buried some of them using excavators. These are also being used to remove thousands of kilos of ashes from the cremation ghat at Kashi. Among the dead were those who believed in the fiery speeches and powerful slogans of the leaders they voted for. In their moment of need, these leaders were nowhere to be found. Covid-19 did not kill these people, they died from a lack of oxygen and medicines.
In my four-decade-long career as a journalist, I have never dwelt on death so much. Now, I don’t know when I will stop because death has become an overwhelming part of our daily lives. Why have we come to such a pass? The fault lies with our elected representatives. Living in their exclusive, sanitised havens, protected from the public by massive security, they are busy dwelling on how to win the next election rather than making significant welfare policies and programmes which will benefit the people who elected them. Did they know the second wave was coming? Of course, they did, but their priorities were different. No one party or politician is to blame. During polls, all of them hard-sell their slogans of vikas (development), vikalp (alternatives) and sushashan (good governance), with a dash of regional pride thrown in. Instead of making arrangements when there was a lull after the first wave, they did nothing, and instead tried their best to suppress the voices of those who raised the alarm. They ignored the cries of those pleading for help. Instead, in several places, the State turned against those trying to turn the spotlight on the impending disaster by filing cases against them. In the end, the courts had to step in.
By giving the green light for the elections in five states and the panchayat polls in UP, the Election Commission (EC) jeopardised the lives of millions. This led the Madras High Court to ask EC why it should not be prosecuted for murder. The poll panel took great umbrage to this. What it should have done is apologise for its monumental lapses and put in place arrangements for future polls to ensure that people are never put at such risk again.
But why stop at EC? Those who come around at election time with their tall promises to lure voters have failed us. They did not fulfil their end of the bargain. The pandemic will end sooner or later. But there is nothing to suggest that our so-called leaders will mend their ways. If they could not do it when faced with the onslaught of this lethal virus, they never will.