In the past few days, a blame game is being played by people, politicians and media that it has become hard to understand what and who is right. This write-up is to make certain things clear which I, as a citizen of India, want to inform the people mentioned above on behalf of many more like me.
The majority of us belong to middle-class families. Most of us spend our whole life earning money, saving for our retirement, and taking care of our family members. Harsh to say, but not many of us are concerned about what is happening in the country until or unless it affects us directly. This direct effect could be in the form of our salary, food, house, health or basic living requirements.
Today, this lockdown made me realise that most of us are worried and concerned about the country because this is affecting us directly. Someone is on the verge of losing their job, and others are scared about what will happen if the virus spreads in their family. Today most of us are there on social media platforms sharing good or bad about the government because we are scared. We want to show our presence.
India being a democratic country, has always welcomed feedback and opinions. There is no harm in sharing the same, but you are harming the country in playing the blame game while sharing your views. I want to narrate a small story related to this.
There was a student in my class who used to stay in the same hostel in which I was. He was excellent in studies but had a problem. The problem was that he was very fond of watching movies. The first-day first-show was not possible to watch, but he made sure that he watched the first-day last-show.
Regular days it was okay, but during exams, out of this liking of his, he used to do something or the other with the electricity of the hostel so that the other students could not study. When the other students came to know about this issue, they complained about it to the management. Management could not take any action, as there was no proof.
While one student was busy disturbing the studies of the other students, the others were busy complaining to the management. None of the parties were able to focus on studies. As a result, the scorecard of a whole lot of students went down. The outcome of all this resulted in lowering the ranking of my college.
I hope the majority of the readers of this story can relate this to the current national situation. Rather than blaming each other or the politicians or the media person, we need to know ourselves what is right and wrong.
Attending parties (Kanika Kapoor case) during the pandemic is wrong. Gathering and movement of migrant workers to their hometown is wrong. Ringing bells and slamming plates on the road and celebrating like a festival is wrong. The crowd at Tablighi Jamaat is wrong. Gathering in puja to celebrate Ram Navami is wrong. Above all, misbehaving with the Corona warriors is not just wrong but a crime.
All these wrongs have no face or religion. Blaming a religion is wrong. Roaming around knowing the fact that you have symptoms of Corona is wrong. Defending any of these events by blaming other people is wrong. If faith towards a particular religion comes above nationalism, then it is nothing less than terrorism. Rather than defending the wrongs, all of us need to ask questions. Questions that the government needs to answer.
Question not why the action taken against one is strict than the other, but why the necessities are not being provided to corona warriors if they are not. Question the government if food is not being provided to the poor. Question the leaders of a particular area if you feel that proper sanitisation is not taking place. Question the landlords if they are pressuring someone to pay rent during this time.
It is high time that the focus of our discussion shifts from wrong to the right. It is high time that rather than blaming someone, we should think about the solution and share corrective measures. And the current solution to contain the spread remains the same, i.e. locking ourselves up in our houses.
As said earlier, the majority of us belong to the middle-class for whom taking care of the family is the priority. In case each one of us thinks the same, we automatically become a nationalist. We are fighting a war. A war in which each one of us has a chance to prove that we love our country. And this war does not require us to fire gunshots; all we need is to stay at home to save our family and the nation.