India’s disastrous second wave: Slick PR can’t save a sick country
India’s disastrous second wave: Slick PR can’t save a sick country
WRITTEN BY MANALI KUMAR
5 May 2021
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the elections in 2014 by criticizing the rampant corruption during the decade-long government led by the Indian National Congress (INC) and promising good governance, which appealed to voters beyond the core group of Hindutva supporters. A skilled propagandist, he promised voters “sab ka saath, sab ka vikas” (together with all, development for all) and “acche din aane waale hain” (good days are about to arrive).
The voters who bought into that message now find themselves waiting in line for 8 hours in the street under the open sun in 41C heat. There aren't enough hospital beds or COVID-19 tests, and even cremation grounds are overflowing into parking lots. The lucky few are depending on illegal racketeers and the kindness of strangers on social media for oxygen, medication, and life-saving plasma.
Nearly seven years after Modi’s stunning victory, this is the desperate reality that millions of Indians are facing today as the country finds itself in the grip of a devastating second wave. The virus doesn’t discriminate between his supporters and his critics, and the government is apathetic to both.
On-the-ground stories of inadequate testing and outright manipulation of test results lend credence to findings from the IHME’s latest modelling: the true extent of the pandemic may in fact be about 6.76 million cases per day.
Indian civil society has stepped in to perform tasks the government should. Citizens have turned into community organisers — from collecting and verifying information about the availability of hospital beds and organising oxygen supplies, to cooking and delivering food to the sick. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, however, has abdicated the responsibility of seeing the country through the worst crisis in its history onto the people. In a speech on 20 April when India reported over 295,000 new infections, Modi appealed to the people to “come forward in ever greater numbers to deliver help to the needy” while advising state governments to “impose lockdowns only as a measure of last resort”.
This second wave is a disaster created by the complacency of the Indian government, which is now busy controlling the narrative rather than tackling the problem.
Promising good governance but delivering a disaster
As I detailed in an article last summer, the Modi administration’s early pandemic policymaking was a case study in the pathologies of demagogic leadership. Then, the Indian government announced a surprise nationwide lockdown that precipitated the largest migration crisis in India since the partition of 1947. This administration has a history of rejecting expert knowledge, refusing to share data and information, and there are allegations of data fudging during this second wave. Things seemed to be turning around with the success of the domestic and diplomatic elements of the country’s vaccination program during the past few months. However, that nascent triumph has been quickly undone by the administration’s hubris and shortsightedness.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum on 28 February, Modi preened that “India moved ahead with a proactive approach” to manage the pandemic and had “worked on strengthening Covid-specific health infrastructure”. And on 21 February, the ruling party — the BJP — passed a resolution congratulating Modi for his “able, sensitive, committed and visionary leadership” and declaring India a “proud and victorious nation in the fight against Covid”. This occurred just when the country’s numbers had begun increasing again discernibly.
Maybe the worst of the disaster that is now unfolding in India could have been avoided if restrictions on public and private gatherings had been left in place. If the Kumbh Mela had not been rescheduled from 2022 to this year for astrological reasons; some 25,000 people gathered for baths in the Holy Ganges once again on 28 April even as India reported over 360,000 new infections. If political rallies had not been held across West Bengal over the past few months; today, 1 out of every 2 people is testing positive for Covid-19 in Kolkata.
Indians must demand more of their government
The Indian people have been left to fend for themselves even as a 5-star hotel is being converted into a Covid care centre for judges and officers of the Delhi High Court. India’s political and bureaucratic class have always been more equal than the country’s masses. But what have these public servants done to deserve priority access to the precious few resources India has at this moment?
Indians have for too long exalted their politicians and bureaucrats to god-like status. These servants of the public send their children to private schools, get medical treatment at private hospitals, and live in lavish bungalows in some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Voters have never demanded that they use state-funded infrastructure instead. If they did, perhaps India would have better schools and a more robust healthcare system.
Decades of neglecting investments in healthcare infrastructure and an electorate that has not prioritised public services are also to blame. Indian politics has always been driven by identity politics and a battle over values, but not over economic development and performance. The INC ruled for decades on the basis of lofty liberal ideals that have failed to trickle down into Indian society. Instead, that liberal, secular idea of India is increasingly being replaced by the unabashedly Hindu supremacist values of the BJP.
Some reports suggest that issues such as economic growth, corruption, and inflation may be becoming more important at the ballot box than identity politics. However, these reports also state that winning strategies must combine identity politics and welfare schemes. This incentivises politicians to run on promises targeted to certain groups. The current pandemic has shattered all such differences and shown that if India is to survive as a country, it needs robust public systems that cater to everybody and not just politically advantageous vote banks.
A moment of reckoning for India’s democracy?
India will pull through this disaster through the sheer will power of its people and despite its government — just as it always has. But will the Indian voter finally demand accountability from its ruling class?
There has been an outpouring of anger from millions of Indians at home and abroad over the past few weeks as they have watched the situation in India deteriorate at an alarming pace. Social media feeds have been inundated with SOS requests from friends as entire families are contracting Covid and each day brings news of another colleague or loved one lost to this pandemic. On-the-ground stories of inadequate testing and outright manipulation of test results lend credence to findings from the IHME’s latest modelling: the true extent of the pandemic may in fact be about 6.76 million cases per day.
Widespread anger during a period of such intense grief could be deadly for stability in the short term. However, the next general election is not until 2025, and in politics, four years is a long time. Will this disaster finally move Indian citizens, many of whom have so easily been swayed by the bigotry and slick PR of the ruling party, into questioning this government’s leadership? Will Indian voters finally move beyond identity politics to demand basic infrastructure? Will they demand jobs, economic development, education and healthcare, or will they satisfy themselves with shiny new temples and statues?
Propaganda doesn’t cross borders
India’s leaders have made its ‘liberal democracy’ and ‘vibrant economy’ a cornerstone of the country’s international reputation, and the Modi administration has mounted the most zealous PR campaign to hammer in this image. But the ‘liberal’ aspirations of India’s founders have been gutted by the Hindu nationalists and the country’s democratic institutions are under severe strain today. India’s great power pretensions are belied by its abject poverty, struggling economy, and non-existent healthcare infrastructure and social security net.
Deploying Whatsapp warriors, unceasing efforts to deny the scale of this disaster and the government’s refusal to take responsibility for creating it may convince the BJP’s core base. However, such propaganda will not sway India’s international partners and investors who will find it hard to ignore this government’s negligence and mismanagement. Government’s across the world will be looking at this disaster and wondering whether an administration that lies to and hides from its citizens can make a trustworthy ally?
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.
Author biography
Dr Manali Kumar is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Institute of Political Science at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and the Editor-in-Chief of 9DASHLINE. Image Credit: Wikipedia.