Political ‘धर्म सर्वोपरि’!!

Political ‘धर्म सर्वोपरि’: Why Humanity is Losing its Battle to Politics in India

NANDINI PARIKH

Looking Back

It has been years since the entire world is struggling to cope up with a pandemic. No one imagined that coronavirus is going to change lives across the globe upside down.

In the beginning, it was new, and our scientists were figuring out how to fight against it. We were not aware of the treatment protocol neither we had any vaccine.

All we knew was to follow three simple rules – wear a mask, wash your hands frequently and maintain social distancing. After one year, we have every required information about this deadly virus. Today, in addition to three safety protocols, we have vaccines to save precious lives.

But still, what we see today in India is a year-old lesson forgotten. India is battling a second wave and is breaking its record of positive cases each day. The health infrastructure is grappling in many states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh.

People are not getting beds for treatment; there is a shortage of oxygen tanks, we are facing a dearth of life-saving injections, scarcity of vaccines, and the worst part is that even dead bodies have to wait for days to get a cremation.

It is a well-known fact that the Centre and State Government manipulate both the reported cases and the fatalities. Today apart from a health crisis, it is now becoming an issue of humanity. But in this humanitarian crisis, the one thing which is undoubtedly winning is the politics of this country. On 19th April 2021, India reported its biggest-ever single-day surge in covid cases of 2.7 lakh, 1,620 deaths.

Night curfews, lockdowns and stricter restrictions are getting placed in states. On the one hand, people are losing their loved ones; on the other hand, lakhs of people are allowed to participate in religious gatherings, where all covid protocols are tossed away.

Our leaders, who should stand as an example for the country’s people, are flouting all covid norms by not following the same mere rules laid down for ordinary people. Every day lakhs of people are gathered in political rallies organized in West Bengal and other states where elections are to be held by the same leaders who are fining citizens for not wearing masks even if they are alone in their car.

The irony is that religious programs are allowed publicly while private cars become a public space when driving alone. This hypocrisy shows what government all care about, even in this worsening situation.

If visuals of the crematorium of various places and people begging for simple healthcare assistance to save their loved ones don’t shake government to its core, then nothing will. The government chooses to turn their eyes blind in the current scenario, but people will not forget their hypocrisy for the longest time.

At the time when the core focus should be controlling the pandemic, to save precious lives of citizens, it is clear that government doesn’t believe in मानव धर्म सर्वोपरि. It was always about Political धर्म सर्वोपरि.

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