Nations are not judged merely by the number of nuclear warheads, GDP, attractive tourist destinations, corporate multinationals that transcend borders or tall skyscrapers in their cities’ downtowns. If that was the case, America was not just a front-runner in that global sprint, it was running a one-horse marathon race (China panting and puffing away in second place) for a long while to come. The above, of course, are indeed manifestations of financial clout and military prowess that gives one entry into the UN Security Council, powerful groups such as G-7 and G-20 and, of course, that seductive destination of the rich and famous called Davos. But as the Great Recession of 2007-8 irrefutably proved (when Wall Street bared its crude avariciousness) and the 2020 Coronavirus has since totally established, a new norm of judging business and political leadership has since emerged. It’s called public morality.
Of course, it was always there, but mostly it got lip-service. Leaders from their bully pulpits uttered platitudinous rubbish to get applause and that coveted headline. They got it. After all, that was anyway the true objective, influencing impressionable people for votes or impact equity analysts for market capitalisation. Political pundits would then dissect their words of wisdom on immigration, climate change, globalisation, racial diversity, protecting small businesses, old-age care, campaign reform, etc., as if they meant everything they said. It was exactly as per the modern demagogue’s playbook; it amplified their messaging of airy-fairy trash. At some point though the chickens come home to roost. The mendacity is unsustainable. People have woken up, even if belatedly and even if not entirely. Questions are being asked. Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro epitomise the fall of the coyotes, the frauds.
Trump mocked the virus from the very beginning, plunging his country into an unpardonable lethargy and smugness. It would cost America dear (a total caseload of over 33 million and over 600,000 dead so far). Albeit, in all fairness, Trump displayed smart business sense through his Operation Warp Speed to get vaccine manufacturers to guarantee the US first rights and full access to vaccine supply. But the damage had been done and it was irreversible. Trump’s defeat in November 2020 exhibited the disdain of the average US voter with American politics, even if a polarised country still gave him 74 million votes. He got seven million votes less than Democrat Joe Biden, who won the most votes ever in a presidential election.
The less said about Brazilian President Bolsonaro, the better. At the time of writing, Sao Paulo and Rio De Janiero are rising in unison to put their head of state under a commission of inquiry for crimes against humanity. Every human life matters. Bolsonaro, who like Trump ironically got infected with the same virus they ridiculed) demonstrated shocking apathy. His statements were preposterous, he refused to wear a mask and get vaccinated. Brazil has suffered a humongous headcount of over 500,000 dead. Now they want an answer, not just a response. India -- 30 million caseload -- is comparatively extraordinarily silent, though there are signs of rising disaffection.
There is palpable anger against what can be called a failed State, which underestimated the second Covid wave and appeared clueless on the availability of elementary medical necessities such as oxygen supply and ventilators. Its approach to ensuring vaccine supply for its vulnerable population was abecedarian, born out of both intrinsic hubris and incompetence. India’s summer of 2021 is an unforgettable nightmare, a devastating consequence of State callousness.
While reams have already been documented on the subject, the Delhi High Court’s observation was perhaps the most trenchant: “Someone needs to be booked for manslaughter.” In other words, a venerable court in India’s capital city unambiguously categorised the tragic deaths (people dying because there was no oxygen supply, bodies floating down the Ganga, families struggling to get crematorium space, vaccine shortage, etc.) was nothing short of institutional murder. The Supreme Court was equally unequivocal about the “arbitrary and irrational vaccination policy.” The government has since revised its bizarre policies and stopped somnambulating, but can a family resurrect its dead? Worse, the government has added grievous insult to still bleeding wounds. Let me elaborate.
In response to a petition demanding ex gratia for every family that lost a member to Covid, the Modi government has expressed its reluctance to pay it in a written affidavit to the Supreme Court. In the history of India’s parliamentary democracy, this must rank as its lowest abysmal moment of shame. Assuming just one member has died per family, India has to pay about Rs 16,000 crore as ex-gratia (nearly 400,000 dead x Rs 4 lakh). But a government that’s continuing with the meretricious Rs 20,000-crore Central Vista project, is contesting the demand for ex gratia for the victims of a monumental catastrophe that was mostly avoidable. Can there be anything more humiliating and insulting to the bereaved families?
In 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave tax concessions to India’s corporate sector of Rs 1.45 lakh crore. But so far as pandemic deaths are concerned, ladies and gentlemen, it seems that Covid was not included in the initial classification of natural disasters years ago, and of course, we must look at “optimum utilisation of resources.” This from a government whose prestidigitation has led to an under-reporting of virus-related deaths.
At some point, there needs to be a high-powered independent criminal investigation into why India became the basket-case of Covid mayhem in a ghastly period beginning March 2021. This Commission of Inquiry must have televised hearings, and everyone from the State machinery and political class (including state governments cutting across all political parties) must be rigorously examined under the public microscope. It must be bipartisan, with party representatives given rights to question each other. There must be comeuppance. After all, in the absence of political morality, democracy is a sham. And governance will continue to elude India’s besieged citizens. Are we still going to be fooled by $5 trillion GDP goal by 2024, the inflow of hot money, a booming stock market, and periodic homilies of our greatness? It is time to say, enough is enough. The time to demand accountability has come. It is not just 4,00,000 people who have died. But also India’s moral conscience.
(The writer is a former Congress spokesperson)