The second wave of Covid-19 has hit India by a storm and PM Narendra Modi himself accepted this in his address on April 20, 2021. The address was mocked by many as a response to the nationwide cry for help where Indians are desperately begging for a response from the PM on the situation as it has been unfolding. But all that the PM could essentially manage to convey was, “Every person is on his own. Until the West Bengal elections are underway, I can neither do anything nor will I try. So please don’t bother yourselves to call me to save you all.”
Over the past week, Delhi has been seeing a rapid rise of over 25,000 new cases per day, In the same week, the daily death toll has breached the 200-mark thrice and 300-mark once.
Calls from Delhi-NCR hospitals for shortage of medical oxygen has been growing for the past 3-4 days. Yet, the grim reality only dawned upon Delhiites on the evening of April 21, when hospitals rang the emergency alarm of having only a few hours of oxygen left for the patients.
For the next 24 hours, Indians stormed Twitter to raise awareness regarding this dire situation that was unfolding in the heart of India, in the country’s own capital. Hospitals, students, homemakers, professionals and NGOs cried, begged and pleaded for help from the Central government and Delhi’s state government.
The High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court of India had to issue directions and take the matters into their own hands, but it was too late as many hospitals by then had run out of medical oxygen already. This was confirmed by the State Government of Delhi itself by issuing a list of public and private hospitals with the status of medical oxygen at that point of time.
On April 21, at 11pm, Delhi lost 249 people to Covid-19 and on April 22, it lost 306. How many lives did we lose because of the scarcity of oxygen?
Who will answer this? Which government official will come forward and justify? Which minister? Who will resign? Who will be terminated for t his loss? Why will they give any f#ck, literally any f#cks at all, when there is no accountability for any negligence or misdoing? What are us Delhiites/Indians? Are we animals? Worms? Or even worse than that?
We used to get punished for not bringing our notebooks to class, for bunking a period, for not being attentive, not being respectful, not being docile. Where is that punishment today? Are we all right about this because it’s all according to the plan? Because people are meant to die one day or another and that’s normal? Then why do we freak out when there is a terrorist attack?
Today, what transpired in Delhi with the oxygen shortage, was no less than a terrorist attack. It cannot be termed otherwise. Today was a blot on the history of India and the incumbent governments who had more than sufficient time on their hands to stop this chaos from turning into a disaster. They had more than required resources, intellectual support, invaluable experience and guidance, but even then, they miserably failed Delhi, its people and the entire country along with the world, who witnessed first-hand ground-breaking reality of the Narendra Modi-led Indian response to Covid-19.
Our PM has not held a single press conference in the past seven years except one, in which also he did not answer a single question directed at him. The Home Minister, meanwhile, has been so busy with election rallies in West Bengal that he has forgotten that there is any India beyond that one poll-bound state.
What kind of democracy must India be called, if not a monarchy?
Indians deserve far better than a few fake hollow words of respect, courage, discipline, motivation and inspiration, which the Prime Minister of India likes to casually throw around, just like a Santa Claus throws away candies and chocolate bars on Christmas.
While the BJP and its leaders flourish, the high officers of India face a severe catastrophic and unprecedented decline in both their morals and standing. While Delhi suffered in broad daylight, our national leaders watched in silence without a frown on their faces.