Who says our politicians don’t learn from their mistakes? Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the occasion of Christmas to tell citizens to be alert, but not to panic. Clearly, he doesn’t want Omicron to hit us the way COVID-19 did in March 2021. No matter that he had just spent half a day in Varanasi two days earlier, maskless, addressing large crowds which were also by and large maskless.
Nor is he alone. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has been addressing huge crowds of maskless young men jostling to shake hands with him. Must be good to feel the love of the people, breathing into his face, up close and personal. Let it not be said that politicians don’t sacrifice to be in public life. When his wife and daughter got COVID-19, Netaji’s Betaji decided to self-isolate, leaving the redoubtable Jayant Chaudhary to play the touchy-feely politician. The run-up to the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh seems to be happening in an alternative universe. While the Delhi government has put strict curbs on entertainment and public transport, clearly politicians are a breed apart. Prime Minister Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had a lovely little joyride on the newly inaugurated Kanpur metro.
Not that other politicians are any less performative. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra went to Varanasi during Navratri not merely to show off her ability to chant the Durga mantra but also to pray at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Maskless. Her brother stood atop a van in Amethi, his former constituency, and attacked Modi and Yogi, again irresponsibly gathering crowds and violating safety protocols. Irony is lost on politicians.
At least these politicians were doing what they are supposed to—making tall statements and even taller promises. Praful Patel’s son’s wedding in Jaipur was a show of social-cultural strength with Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty all dancing on stage to the former minister’s tune. No one wore a mask and no one observed any distancing code. The private planes that got guests back were potential super spreaders, as much as Karan Johar’s party for his pretty pals in Mumbai recently that saw some famous people fall ill.
Most states have night curfews and restrictions on Christmas and New Year celebrations even as political and certain religious activities must continue. Our children have not been to schools for even two months in the last two years, but that does not seem to be a matter of urgent concern in Digital First India.
Despite powerful politicians like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former US President Donald Trump getting COVID-19, there is a belief among those in power—now or formerly—that they are immune to the pandemic. That there can be one rule for Citizen India and another for Establishment India. It’s like the fictional US president in the apocalyptic Netflix comedy, Don’t Look Up, played by Meryl Streep, who is told about an asteroid that has a 100 per cent chance of impacting earth. “Actually 99.78 per cent,” says the scientist, careful in his exactitude. “So 70 per cent,” says the President, adding that no one wants to hear they’re going to die.
Indeed no one wants to hear that, even though we’ve been faced with the horrible truth in 2020 and 2021. Politicians are peddlers of hope, of acche din, of making countries great again, of getting things done—even if it is something as divisive as Brexit. People are oxygen for them, not out of any altruism, but simply because they can vote. Wealthy businessmen may dream of escaping the Earth, and actually did so briefly with Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos blasting into space, but politicians have no desire to look for Planet B. They’re doing quite fine here, thank you.
But the reality of science is irritating. It manifests itself in disease, death, body counts, climate change, droughts, floods, cyclones. Pandemics are bad for business, but they’re bad for politics too. How will Mamata Banerjee’s supporters smear each other with green colour immediately after TMC’s victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls or how will the Aam Aadmi Party members feed each other sweets after winning the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections? Every political party wants its own party, and it’s no fun with sanitisers and masks.
If you’re Boris Johnson you can have wine and cheese thrown in with 17 of your closest friends and pretend to be “people at work, talking about work”. What’s the point of that prime real estate in the heart of London—that still belongs to the English, not to the Arabs or Indians—if you can’t host a garden party or two?
Back home, the political class will do us a huge favour if feel-good gatherings and vanity shows are ignored as a third wave seems unavoidable. Let’s hope it won’t be as fatal as the second wave and that economic activities are not stopped. Otherwise for a large section of this country, the job and financial crisis can be more painful than the virus itself.
In poll-bound states—UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur—the Election Commission can play a big role by banning big rallies and events from the day the model code of conduct kicks in. In the case of West Bengal, this was done at the fag end of the campaign—the Commission must also learn from its past mistakes.
Let the people have curfew, politicians will have their very own COVID-19 variant.
The author is a senior journalist and former editor of India Today magazine. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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