The famous story, as it goes, is that as Rome burned Nero played the harp. A similar chilling fable is currently being played out in India ...
The famous story, as it goes, is that as Rome burned Nero played the harp. A similar chilling fable is currently being played out in India as it reels, under a virulent manmade wave of Covid-19, while its political leadership indulges in meaningless rhetoric and blame games.
This humanitarian crisis is a result of criminal political negligence and deliberate complacency. Not too long ago, India’s leadership claimed that Covid-19, was almost behind us. A public narrative fed by compliant experts and a pandering media encouraged Indians to go back to business as usual and created a misleading sense of victory. The arrival of two vaccines strengthened this delusion. Meanwhile, a deadly second wave was brewing.
The world over, second and third waves are being witnessed . Why did we not prepare for them? Simple. Because our leaders didn’t care – or didn’t pay attention to the experts or the numbers. Even when the vaccine rollout began in January, the lack of leadership, transparency and public trust was clear. We, however, planned the Kumbh mela.
Until the bodies piled up near the political thrones, our rulers did not notice that preparation was non-existent. Today India is short of everything from hospital beds, medicines and oxygen to even...
