Irrelevance of PM's 'Maan Ki Baat'

 

Heard the latest edition of 'Mann ki Baat' yesterday, a huge a let down; as irrelevant was it as a doctor waxing eloquent on the sport of angling before a patient dying from fish poisoning. 

True, covid warriors are indefatigably battling the pandemic at great personal risks and demanding of immense sacrifices from their immediate family ; all virtuous, praiseworthy and deserving of our gratitude. And they have been at it for over a year now. However, what torments and agonises the masses today are issues beyond them. Yet the 'Mann ki Baat' floodlighted covid warriors and tribulations of the masses  remained in the shadows- untouched . If feel good was the intent of the PM it fell flat on me.

The PM repeatedly emphasized having extensive consultations with domain experts and CMs of states. Shouldn't the nation been told from the highest pedestal what in concrete terms- shorn of  the subterfuge of empathy, mists of generalies and salve  of good intents- crystallized into action plans  to tide over the almost universal shortage of all  covid related things from oxygen to the most elemental of drugs used for mild cases.  Not one word was spoken. As opaque as ever ! 

With the invocation of Disaster Recovery Act, the onus of  leadership, co-ordination among state, and making timely strategic interventions to control and ultimately 'defeat' this scourge, lies with the Centre and concomitantly with the PM.Therefore the nation looks to him. 

And let none be deluded,  the shortages are real. I have two patients with mild covid in the family. The largest pharmacist in the locality has no stock of some of the drugs  pprescribed for them  ; Meftal forte; Vapocap ; any brand of Steamer or Nbulizer; Ascoril, Immugard C, Lumia, Gencal. After much coaxing and cajoling one lab agreed for home collect of swabs for RC-PPT at double the charge. So with blood tests, paid double the normal rates for both tests and charges for home collection. Next, when I called the same lab for PPT test, the reply was "sorry, we have temporarily closed shop to tide over a 10 day backlog of reports." 

If test reports take so long to come and patients admitted to covid care centres only after testing positive, what happens to the most seriously affected of them ? The condition of many would deteriorated beyond redemption. Even with best medicare and gallons of oxygen life would slowly but surely ebb out of them. I would have liked the PM to have reassured us against this ghoulish possibility of a leaky loss of life- to add to the many asphyxiated due to lack of oxygen cylinders- from gross inadequacy of testing facilities in relation to the enormity of the cases on hand. 

Other more serious scarcities are being daily highlighted, ad nauseum, in media. I would have liked these issues to have echoed in 'Mann ki Baat' and the nation advised of specific measures being taken to address it and when things would finally be set right. Not an echo was heard. 

PM rightly stressed on the urgent need for all to get vaccinated. Till date less than 10% of the population have become immune as defined by the vaccinators. Well, hypothetically speaking, even if the rest 90% all get vaccinated today, they become immune only after three months. Vaccination, therefore,  is not going to reduce the crippling current demand for things in short supply in the short term. Even of those vaccinated  40% would still be vulnerable to the disease. So in the long term term too the present heightened levels of demand will persist.  The state has to actively and urgently engage in a permanent enhancement of capacities including testing facilities in every mohalla, oxygen production and bottling, drugs manufacture,  and not the least more  Corona care centres that are fully equipped and adequately manned. 

Adhocism that has been the hallmark of pandemic management so far and  complacency through self-congratulatory pronouncement of premature  victory and self donning the robe of exemplars, (  a la Napoleon snatching the crown of the non-existent Holy Roman Emperor from the Pope and donning it crowning himself) has had a deleterious impact on covid management, one partly responsible for blinding us to the fast incubating Corona virus till it became uncontrollable.   

Again, it is fashionable in centres of power to bask in glories like having the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, being the largest producer of generic drugs. Being the most populous country could one expect anything less ? No big deal. On the contrary such a tendency  instills a misplaced sense of complacency, counter- productive in the long run

One interviewee in the 'Maan ki Baat' counseled that any patient denied oxygen due to unavailability should lie on his tummy for He to keep him  oxygenated till hospital oxygen becomes available. It sends a chill down my spine to even think of  what  would happen if it doesn't become available timely. 

For a nation already prostrated, the interviewee unwittingly pitched it right- it is only logical for its  citizen to lie on their tummies ! 

The Dawn

 The Dawn

As the greying years unwind 

Darker gets the night, 

Deeper the earthly quiet 

When dawn arrives 

Leaving sunlight farther behind. 

So has it been with me. 

The dawn coming closer,

Hours of night shorter,

More moments to spend

Carefree, as I feel free.

Modi’s ‘Feel Good’ politics

  Modi's  ‘Feel Good’ Politics

In common parlance it is stupidity to count chickens before they are hatched, or to leap before looking, or to jump the gun. Not in politics. More likely, such foolhardiness would be invested with the honorific- ‘strategy’; or in the obsequious eloquence of a doting media- a ‘masterstroke’; or, in the very least, a ‘feel good’ bonanza. 

While the count was still on with more of the newly counted votes going against him, Donald Trump  screamed, “Frankly, we did win this election.” History, we now know, took a different turn, dashing enroute PM, Mr Modi's prognosis, ‘Abki Baar Trump Sarkar.’ Again, after the Corona pandemic had  spread uncontrollably and experts foretold of  recurrent waves of it sweeping worldwide, Mr Modi  boldly affirmed a year ago, “ महाभारत का युद्ध 18 दिन में जीता गया, करोना का युद्ध 21 दिन में जीतेंगे।‘. Today, a marauding, vicious  second wave of a  virulently infectious Corona swoops down on a terribly  unprepared nation with its pants down. 

Are politicians that naïve or stupid ? Is it their vanity or ego that prompts them to patently Quixotic asservations ? Pause and Ponder. In political rhetoric, not the actual words but their silhouette reveal  import. Trump's still-born V signal wasn’t meant to thwart the electoral process. It sought to push backstage his failure to scrape the ‘rust’ off the ‘rust bowls', and  still any echoes of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign slogan, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’, that did George W Bush in. Just a year ago Bush basked in the sunshine of a 90% approval rating crowning  his eminently successful leadership of the Gulf War. Success is a fickle  maiden.

Likewise, Modi's Mahabharat reference sought to kill two birds with one stone. It offered light at the end of a very short tunnel. A nation with a historical sub-conciousness of centuries of unrelieved  suffering from alternate bouts of drought and flood , salvation after a mere 21 days was no ache, rather  an opportunity to  make pancake for some and they did. Moreover, the association with Mahabharata turned the total lockdown, one that rest of the world shied from, into a phantasmagoria of a holy war, a crusade, at the end of which lay moksha. The ‘feel good’ was further reinforced by the surreal- exhortations to families to clap , beat thalis, ring bells, blow conch shells, light diyas and candles at homes on pre-assigned dates, for stated durations at assigned hours. At places , the feel good exuberance spilled out onto the streets with bursting of crackers. The spirit of  Deewali evoked for propitiation of Corona, or a boosting of the morale of Covid warriors, or just ‘feel good’ for being alive. Indians were free to pick or add to the choices. 

It hit the bull's eye. Voices of outrage at glaring lack of preparedness , manifest initially in non availability of face masks, PPE kits for frontline medical personnel and Testing Kits were trashed as irresponsible rumouring  or scaremongering. Meanwhile, the pandemic swiftly spread its tentacles and gripped the whole nation. Not only did India become  the worst affected, next only to US, but also earned the dubious distinction of having the worst death rate per million in Australasia. Acute shortages exposed the shallowness of our medical infrastructure and support system. Demands for medically supervised  quarantine centres, hospital beds for the seriously infected, and ventilators just couldn’t be met. Even a settled protocol for Covid treatment was wanting. But Modi's Mahabharata rhetoric ensured these inadequacies were pooh-poohed. Modi's tryst with ‘feel good’ held steadfast. The nation quietly reconciled to Covid as a visitation of karmic trauma. 

Early on in January, with daily new cases dropping down to 15000 or thereabouts and daily deaths in three digits, Mr Modi  blew the bugle of victory over Corona and gifted  the nation one more ‘feel good’ Utsav . “India’s resolute battle to emerge victorious out of the pandemic.....will be cherished for long".And when new daily cases climbed to 55000  with the nation still saddled with the highest death rate,  JPNadda, the ruling party Prez,  gushed on 25th  March,“India has proved under the leadership of Prime Minister, Mr Modi , to be the leader in Covid-19 management. It is an example for the world.’ 

At that point of time rest of the world was in the throes of the second or third Corona wave. Somehow we deemed ourselves immune despite overwhelming pointers to the contrary. Nevertheless, when showcased as exemplars countrymen stand morally obligated to feel good even about things they may not truly feel too good about.  But given the recent surge in cases, these statements need some paraphrasing , say, ‘Outside of the exponential surge in  CORONA ,India  has the most envious world record in Covid19  management.’  Quirky, but safely in the ‘demilitarised' zone between fact and fiction  to avoid official censure.

Those now brooding over daily new cases count flirting with the figure of 3 lacs, or bemoaning the  populace slipping into teary, unrelieved melancholia, or those wondering how the vanquished virus rose from ashes with such ferocity are needlessly souring the ‘feel good’ Mr Modi generated in Jan. So are those alleging an almost universal shortage of oxygen in hospitals, lack of burial and cremation grounds, crematoriums - Mr Modi’s call to  build Shamshan along with Kabristan during the UP elections now seems so prescient - short supply of covid drugs, the lackadaisical manner of going about the stupendous task of vaccinating scores of crores ( just 7% of the population have received the mandated two dozes of the vaccine). All these carping folks are malicious spoilers doing dirty politics. Why can’t they sit back and keep count of Covid tolls instead of breaking the spell of  ‘feel good’?  Just one spanner in the wheels though, those who are mourning  the preventable loss of their kith and kin aren’t feeling good at all. 

Mr Modi’s ascent to power was coeval with plummeting crude prices, a fortuity that  afforded him the leeway to cut domestic oil prices. On this occasion his triumphant hurrah found an astral resonance : मेरे विरोधी कहते हैं मोदी नसीबवाला है, इसलिए ऐसा हुआ. मान लीजिए अगर मेरे नसीब से दाम कम होते हैं तो किसी बदनसीब को लाने की जरूरत क्या है. आप बताएं कि नसीबवाला चाहिए या बदनसीब.' Spoken words whose silhouette said, countrymen feel good and obligated that a naseebwala is at the helm. While Mr Modi's naseeb held, that of his countrymen did not. Domestic oil prices doubled. And while unemployment rose to historic highs and economic growth slowed compelling unemployed youth to consider pakoda selling as gainful employment, Mr Modi rode back to power. Then Covid struck. Obviously, naseeb of his countrymen and his own follow different trajectories.

And that’s because Mr Modi conjures up well timed, highly effective ‘feel good’ scenarios out of thin air with the consummate ease of an skilled practitioner. The post-URI surgical strike just before the UP elections, or the  Balakot air strike preceding LS elections left his opponents flailing for breath and on the horns of a  Hamletonian dilemma. The mass ‘feel good ‘ was too intense to shake off :  the realism of such strikes having little impact on ground realities had no takers and consequently no votes. With media as Mr Modi’s handmaiden realism stood no chance. 

People vote to power politicians they feel doing the things they want done. Tokenism, symbolism, platitudes, enthralling oratory may generate short term impulses of feel good. Ultimately, some of the rhetoric must translate into visible  ground realities. At this juncture our covid management seems far from exemplary, little to cherish or cheer. Callous neglect, shortages of almost all Covid protocol drugs, bewailing attendants of oxygen starved patients paint a grim picture. 

Did the ‘feel good’ generated by the Jan declaration of victory over Covid divert focus totally towards rejuvenating a shrunk economy and tackling the farmers' agitation ? But there’s time enough for post-mortems.  With campaigning for assembly elections ended and kumbh mela drawing to a close, hope has risen that state and central governments will get their acts together and step down to the brass tacks to tame this surging demon. The pandemic is at a stage where sheer rhetoric will only yield salty crystals of disillusionment, not the sugar cubes of ‘feel good.' 

Oo ! DeeDee

 Oo ! DeeDee

Oo! DeeDee, Oo! DeeDee 

Bawl many a yogi.

One so named,

Another self-proclaimed. 

"Look, look ! 

The steaming  summer cauldron,

With its hot dusty 'loo' 

streaming saffron preview .

A leg broken  

Eyes sunken

An implacable foe

How far can you go ? 

Many a loyalist

Became realist.

Took the unspoken bait.

To be our mate.

Oo! DeeDee 

Now's , your turn to be matey ! "

Eyes screwed,scowl on

DeeDee, barks 'we will see' 

'Jora Ghas Phul' 

Eyes the Bull.

Arora spews ire

Amit Shah gunfire

So much heat

For the flower to wilt.

Heat, Ire, and Thunder

Make me wonder,

Where truly lies, 

That gnawing ache,

The butterflies?

I know  only that in yogis

Ache of the butterflies

Leave no time to spare 

For Covid care. 

Now the 'Act of God' yogis declared-

Covid- its fangs are  bared

Break its sway

Butterflies will itself go away.