Anguish and sadness ..

 Anguish is the only word to describe what I feel right now. Today, April 20, 2021, was spent in the midst of sunshine and great weather here in Princeton, NJ. But across the globe in India, the news was tragic. 

I heard about two former team members who each lost a parent overnight to COVID. A close associate's father-in-law is fighting for his life. News reports are full of hospitals stretched beyond their capacities and dead bodies piling up. While that would be terrible news in itself, what makes it exponentially worse is that most of the deaths were easily avoidable. 

We are not in the early part of 2020 when covid was an unknown enemy. With proper, simple care, we know how to save Covid patients. Most patients simply need 2-3 days of high-flow oxygen to give their bodies the chance to recover. Simply oxygen and a bed. 

We had 1 year to prepare. The government only sanctioned 200 oxygen generators for some unfathomable reason. Of those 200 odd sanctioned,  less than 10% has become operational in the last 12 months. We were gleefully exporting and donating vaccines one day and are scrambling to import them today. 

As I write this, the CM of Delhi is tweeting that Delhi hospitals are less than 8 hours from running out of Oxygen, appealing for the center to help on public social media. This is the capital of the country. Could you think of a scarier public message? 

This seems like madness, but it isn't. It seems like this came out of nowhere and there was no way to predict any of this but that's completely false. . The anger in me is fueled by the fact that this was entirely predictable and we got here due to things everyone could foresee. I'll walk you through how we get here. 

Here are pre-existing traits of the Government of India that were there for all to see and had been called out multiple times. 

1. Government of the illiterate: Not only is it a government of the illiterate, but it's also a government proud of its illiteracy and suspicious of experts. They are arrogant and have been dismissive of experts and expertise consistently. Epidemiologists have been crying hoarse on the need for better preparation. but so were economists for the last 3 years. They have a simple recipe; don't allow great research and education in your country and when people who have achieved great merit in the west try to help, call them NRI and foreigner and question their allegiance. Anything to spread blame and avoid responsibility. This is made much easier by point #2. 

2.  Media and headline management over actual management: Once you own the narrative and don't allow any voice of dissent, it is easy to manage your way through any misstep. The entire population can be fooled by shouting TV anchors who set the agenda and don't leave any room for reasonable debate or questioning. Why take the time to govern when you can fool the public and make them believe anything. 

Let me remind you, this PM has not given a press conference in 6 years. When demonetization happens, it's the fault of the RBI. When farmers protest, they are Khalistani, when anti-CAA protests break out, they are anti-national. when it's so easy to label and spin issues away, why do the hard work? 

This style of management works till an actual crisis comes along. I'm waiting to see how this one will be spun. But accountability, responsibility has been systematically eroded. They are not answerable to anyone. If you doubt this claim, you can check how the government is talking about the situation TODAY. According to the government, the situation is fully under control. State governments need to do better but there are no crises and the government has prepared well. 

The funeral pyres tell a different story. I'm struggling to find any indication of this government EVER having accepted a mistake or a misstep. I don't think that's ever happened. Things do go wrong, but the government is never at fault. Usually, it's Nehru's fault. 

3. Hindu Appeasement: Any responsible government would have stopped the Kumbh super spreader event. Any constitutionally faithful government would have banned all religious gatherings. Only a Hindu appeasing government will ban a small Muslim gathering and cry wolf at any transgression but aid an abet millions of Hindu gatherers. They call the opposition minority appeasers but the fact is, this government is beholden to Hindu religious leaders and their followers. If this is not appeasement, what is?

When I juxtapose the needless deaths and the great helplessness so many are facing with how easily avoidable it was, I can't help but seeth with anger. I am then reminded that this is a massively popular government that has won 2 consecutive record mandates. A part of me leaves behind empathy and feels "you get the government you deserve". When people refuse to see reason and are willing to easily be led by stupid religious calls to action, this is the end result. When people like Gauri Lankesh, who choose to stand up and fight are silenced and there is no uproar, this is the end result. 

You can draw a straight line from the people's ignorance to the government's lack of accountability and its immense hubris. It used to be the economy and the future of the country that was being frittered away, now it's people's lives.