In the past few days, so much blame game is being played by the public, the politicians, and the 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 on behalf of many more like me.
The majority of us belong to a middle-class family. 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, our food, our house, our health or I would say our 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 his job, and someone is scared about what will happen if the virus spreads in his/her family. Today most of us are present on social media platforms sharing good or bad opinions about the government because we are scared. We want to show our presence. We want to know what the chances are that our country will survive this pandemic or more specifically whether our family will survive this pandemic.
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 when you play 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 as me. He was excellent in studies but had a problem. The problem was that he was very fond of watching movies. If the first show on the first day was not possible to watch, he made sure that he watched the last show on the first day itself. During regular days, it was okay but during the exam times, 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. The management could not take any action, as there was no proof. While one student was busy disturbing the studies of the other students, other students were busy complaining to the management. None of the parties was able to focus on studies. As a result, the scorecard of a whole lot of students went down. The outcome of this situation resulted in the lowering of the ranking of my college at University level. “
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 what is right and what is wrong. Attending the 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 the pandemic like a festival is wrong. The crowd at Tablighi Jamat is wrong. Gathering in puja to celebrate Ram Navmi is wrong. Above all, misbehaving with the Corona warriors is not just wrong but also a crime. All these wrongs have no face or religion. Blaming on behalf of religion is wrong. Roaming around knowing that you have symptoms of Corona is wrong. Defending any of these events by blaming that the other person also did the same is wrong.
If faith towards a particular religion comes above nationalism, 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. Questions not on why the action taken against one is stricter than the other. But why the basic necessities are not being provided to the corona warriors. Questioning the government if food is being provided to the poor is right. Questioning the leaders of a particular area if you feel that proper sanitization is not taking place is right. Questioning the landlords if they are pressurising someone to pay rent during this time is right.
It is high time that the focus of our discussions shifts from Wrong to Right. It is high time that rather than blaming someone, we think about the solution and share corrective remedial measures. And the current solution to contain the spread remains the same i.e., locking ourselves up in our houses. As I said earlier, the majority of us belong to the middle-class families for whom taking care of the family is the priority. If each one of us would think alike, we would have automatically become nationalists. 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.