The cases of Kovid are increasing in India. Still, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his political opponents are on the campaign trail. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is planning the “biggest political rally ever” in the northern state of Punjab (which is also under a variety of virus restrictions). Organizers told local media that 300,000 people were expected to attend Wednesday’s gathering. Meanwhile, the capital, New Delhi, is under a strict night time and weekend curfew. Its chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is from a rival party and has come back from heavy campaigning across the north, announced on Tuesday that he had tested positive for the virus.
We have seen this movie before. In April 2020, as India grapples with a wave of hospitalizations and deaths and its citizens took to social media to beg for oxygen, a masked Modi claimed a massive crowd at an election rally in the state of West Bengal . At the time, India had the world’s fastest-growing Covid caseload, and by the time the deadly second wave had run its course, experts had estimated the country’s actual death toll to be between 1.3 million and 5 million , which is three to 10 times more than the country’s official. Calculation
Yes, this latest boom is probably mostly inspired by the Omicron version, and, yes, it’s probably less lethal. But with a medical system as low and scarce as India—public health spending is less than 2% of GDP compared to 5.4% in China and a global average of about 10%—it’s still a recipe for disaster. . Hospital admissions have started and exhausted doctors and nurses are being called from winter vacation to prepare for a spike in cases.
India’s democracy is often called raucous: political rallies are huge; Its parliament can descend into chaotic shouting matches (admittedly no different from others such as Britain and Australia operating under a Westminster-style system); And troll farms are notorious for their ferocity and accessibility.
But politics has turned completely different under Modi. Anti-Muslim hate speech and violence are on the rise; Now Christians are also under attack; And Modi’s BJP-led governments are either silent on these crimes, or worse, its members are sometimes active participants. Journalists are routinely labeled “anti-national”, activists are jailed, and political opponents say their liberties have been taken away from institutions ranging from the courts to the Election Commission. It is in this environment that the Modi team has clearly determined that the state election campaigns should continue, Covid or not.
Health experts and epidemiologists are disappointed. Gautham Menon said, “One thing we know for sure about Omron is that it is much more transmissible than anything that has come before – for this reason, anything that promotes transmission is strictly controlled. should be done, large gatherings between them.” A professor at Ashoka University told me. He lamented that India had not learned from what he described as a “disastrous second wave”, noting: “It is hypocritical to say that numbers should be restricted at wedding parties, but it should not. At political rallies Sanctions.”
India is not alone in selective application of COVID-safe rules for election events. In France, which has been in the grip of a presidential campaign as virus cases rise, compliance with pandemic measures is voluntary and each party has interpreted the guidelines differently, the Financial Times reported.
Meanwhile, the gloom over India’s health data is as fresh as ever, two years into the pandemic. Scientists are still asking the Modi administration for critical information to track the pandemic and develop an appropriate health response, including genome sequencing for variants and more accurate death figures.
However, there is a silver lining. Omicron is killing a population that has been significantly affected by the delta variant and has survived, while [a significant proportion] The country’s adult population is fully vaccinated. The last sero-survey released in New Delhi, which was in November 2021, indicated that 97% of the people tested had COVID antibodies.
Still, this third wave is turning into a crisis, as Indian families prepare to celebrate the death anniversary of those who did not make it through the second wave. State elections are due in February and March in the crucial states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Uttar Pradesh, which are seen as a threat to the 2024 general election as well as the size of Brazil. The failure of the Government of India to provide the most basic health care to those in need at all levels may be fresh in people’s minds as they run into elections.
Ruth Pollard is a columnist and editor with Bloomberg Opinion
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