It’s been more than a year since India began its battle against the COVID -19 pandemic. In March 2020, the country was confronted with the emergence of the virus and a simultaneous lack of resources to tackle the same, especially medical infrastructure, and so the Indian government decided to go for a nationwide lockdown. Despite the negative consequences related to the economy, this firm measure helped to curb the spread of the virus while India acquired the necessary resources and began working on vaccines. Now India is in danger of facing a serious second wave where cases are rising exponentially and the response seems to be slow. One reason behind this is the heavy influence of politics that is rooted in almost every aspect of life in Indian society. Take, for example, the government’s reluctance to impose reasonable restrictions during public gatherings that took place from August last year.
The election is another occasion that has been contributed to the rise of COVID-19 cases. In India, elections are a part of daily life; the process would be taking place in either part of the country, whether it is Local, State, or General Elections, or By-Elections. Every state has its right to conduct local body elections; that’s why we do not have a system for all the election processes. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is advocating for ‘One Nation, One Election to save time and resources. Due to political compulsion, his request is still pending as many political parties oppose this demand. To implement the ‘One Nation One Election’ process, State Assemblies must resolve their conflicts or come under the President of the nation
There are headlines coming out every day related to the unending rallying and political strategies playing out in the state which results in a steady spike of cases. A reasonable suggestion would be for governments to get an extension in power until the vaccine roll-out is more or less complete. Imposing President’s rule in the state is an equally reasonable option given the current situation. Unfortunately, there is only a small possibility that the elections would be postponed to keep health and safety as the number one priority.
The lockdown will again attack the livelihood of the poor who are employed in restaurants, hotels, taxi’s or employed/self-employed in other different fields.The night curfews and restrictions will hamper the cities’ economic activities, and labourers will again leave the city in the absence of employment. They have already been going to the cities which will inevitably affect the economy of the towns.
In states where cases are rising rapidly, have not paid much attention and care in the early phase when situations were going out of hand. States like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Punjab were not taking adequate measures. Instead, they were conflicting with the Central Government on another turf. Maharashtra is one example that has neglected the severity of the COVID-19 and started doing politics when the situation was going out of control
To conclude, the response to the second wave brings about an important consideration. The role played by politics, in terms of surface-level politics of governance when cases are rising rapidly and times when the entire political process is actually contributing to this rise during rallies, campaigns, and improper governance of some states. People must take into consideration the cost of lives being lost right now due to the rising spread against the cost of temporarily suspending state and local body elections.
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