Let us not lose perspective in judging Modi’s India

The Indian High Commission in Canberra has issued a stern rejoinder in response to The Times (UK) report by Philip Sherwell, ‘’Modi leads India into a viral apocalypse”, re-published in the Australian dated 26 April. The displeasure of the High Commission is quite understandable.

The Times report has lambasted Narendra Modi for a “slow domestic vaccination roll out”, “ill-equipped health system”, “lax protection”, “pandemic fatigue” and “promotion of economy over containment”.

Frankly speaking, every leader and country can be held guilty on these charges. Not long ago, we had seen a total collapse of the healthcare system in the advanced economies, including the United States, UK, France, Germany and even Australia to some extent, in the face of the dramatic covid-19 outbreak.

The images of people putting tents on the streets in the US, aircraft carriers and public parks being turned into make-shift hospitals, and UK subjecting its citizens to a complete lockdown bringing life to a standstill are still fresh. Reports of ambulances being bumped off in Australia from hospitals, the Ruby Princess fiasco, and the recent the AstraZeneca roll out confusion do not paint a very promising picture either.

For the records, while Australia is struggling to vaccinate the entire population, India recorded the fastest vaccination roll out, vaccinating over 140 million people, and has now been reportedly conducting 1.3 million tests daily. In 2020, when the West for all its economic might and health facilities was struggling to protect its people, India driven by its Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (world is one family) philosophy despatched personal protective equipment, hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol to over 150 countries, including China (Wuhan) and has lately, exported 66 million vaccines to over 80 countries in desperate need. Ironically, now Modi is being pulled up for this humane gesture as well.

Not many know that India does not feature in the top 10 countries recording high mortality rates for every 100,000 inhabitants. It includes countries like the Unites States, United Kingdom, Belgium and others.

Let us also not lose the perspective of how a deeply divided polity since 2014 in India has led to such human catastrophe.

In March 2020 when PM Modi announced the lockdown, he was labelled as a heartless dictator for triggering a massmigration of laborers by the same international media which is now calling him an “anti-lockdown” leader.

In March 2020, when Modi called upon the countrymen to stand united to pay gratitude to the frontline workers and law enforcement agencies by clapping and lighting lamps, his detractors in India and abroad ridiculed him.

Subsequently, when the government issued directives to put on masks and practice social distancing, people roamed with impunity saying they have developed herd-immunity and India has very low mortality rate.

In the latter half of 2020 when vaccination manufacturing gained pace in India, it was labelled as a “BJP vaccine” and therefore should be boycotted.

Amidst all this, when the farmers agitation broke out, hundreds of thousands of people thronged the Singhu border and scaled the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort in a display of mass hysteria. Then celebrities, journalists and political opponents joined the protests flouting all Covid-safety norms. Then Covid was least of the concerns, but now election rallies and religious congregation are being labelled as a ‘superspreader’.

A recent Right to Information request has revealed that the Government of India had disbursed funds to the state governments to set up oxygen manufacturing plants in January itself, but states like Delhi were sleeping over it.

In this context, why is the world aghast when India sits on a Covid time-bomb? For now, the least we can do is not lose the perspective of India’s deeply divided polity, demographic bulge and the West’s own failings.