I sketch cartoons almost every day. But the recent happenings connected with the ‘second wave’ in the country disturbed my mind so much that I didn’t have the energy to ink, colour and upload them and kept postponing. The irresponsible and callous attitude to the emergency situation by the ruling dispensation led by the PM agitated my mind no end. He was busy trying to add Bengal to the BJP kitty as if the brute majority it enjoyed in Parliament wasn’t good enough.
Instead of staying put in Delhi, take control and reassure the people, maximum time and energy was spent in Bengal. The results are for everyone to see. A nation is left gasping for oxygen! Instead of ensuring adequate supply for domestic requirements, we started exporting when not even 1% of the local population was vaccinated! Taking credit for being called ‘pharmacy of the world’ was more important! That ‘pharmacy’ is now desperately floating global tenders for import of vaccines, is another matter.
Our politicians, irrespective of which party they belong to, have a single agenda: enjoy the perks of power and the super luxurious lifestyle even emperors would envy, for five years (and if possible-for eternity!) at the cost of the exchequer! Governance is secondary. But what we are witnessing today is simply incomprehensible! Dereliction of duty could be too mild an expression to describe it!
The news of patients dying without oxygen, crematoriums overwhelmed- perhaps resulting in bodies floating in rivers, vaccine shortage everywhere…. The feeling of helplessness was overbearing! In fact what saved the situation for me was a Shobha De column in which she mentioned, in order not to go crazy, she stopped thinking about it all, to remain sane!
She said the majority of Indian politicians are too thick skinned and know how to bounce back to power despite failures so long as India’s vote based democracy ensures victory of a candidate based not on his/her performance, but the weight of the purse to purchase votes/MLAs/MPs etc! Divide and rule is an added bonus! They know a democracy where most of the population is illiterate and poor it’s a farce and works to their advantage! (Perhaps reason enough for lack of thrust on education?)
I decided to follow her line of thought. Stopped thinking about the mayhem the second wave has created. The delay of a month and a half has resulted in about 20 of them. Take care . Jai Hind ! here goes:
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