LOCKDOWN EFFECT

We have been in an incessant Lockdown since the middle of March 2020. Corona is all over the country with  vehemence. The Governments are doing their utmost to combat the deadly virus. No one can accuse them of lethargy, inertia or inactivity. They are focused. They are determined to see the pandemic through.  When a sworn enemy or a known enemy strikes everyone knows what or where to look for or how to encounter the intruder. The word ‘encounter’ however has by now acquired a number of connotations though. What baffles the whole world is that this is an invisible invader who strikes at will with no discrimination for caste, creed, colour, place,  the rich or the impoverished. Though man has carved   the earth into hegemonic segments holding suzerainty within their borders and at times even across the world, the virus has the world with seamless borders at its command. The tiny adversary has brought mankind to its knees. It seems the monster is monstering or bamboozling, laughing all along with the decimation of the successors of the Neanderthals from the face the earth its sole objective.

While obliteration of the virus is critical for the survival of people the administrators have resorted to very strong and innovative measures.  It necessitates suspension of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution for a brief interregnum. There is no alternative and people have to willingly or reluctantly subscribe to the law in place for their own good. Here is the catch. Who implements the law? Obviously, it is the law enforcers. Everything goes haywire at this end. It is perplexing how innocents are subjugated into submission by the enforcement of brutal force.

 ‘The Hindu’ has the status of a national newspaper in India. The language is terrific. It has a distinct style. It presents unbiased news. It relies on truth.  I am relying on the issue of July 18, 2020 for substantiation.

1.    The editorial says, “Deaths remain low, but India must fight the virus, not manage data.”It continues, “With a 9.1% test positivity rate, Gujarat has made no attempts to greatly increase daily tests but instead appears to be disingenuously limiting the number of daily tests to keep fresh cases per day under check. Telangana too, with a test positivity rate of 18.4%, has made no great effort to increase daily tests. Telangana defies the trend of rising cases during the pandemic, raising serious concern about its numbers.”

2.     The article, “Telangana’s COVID trials and tribulations” is interesting. It begins with the story of a 34 year old techie with complaints of nine days of fever and shortness of breath who had to wait outside a hospital from 8 a.m to 10 p.m on June 27, 2020 for admission there. Still more interesting is the first case of Covid in Telangana. The State Ministry of Health announced on March 2,   that a techie from Telangana with travel history to Dubai had tested positive for Covid- 19. The Chief Minister spoke of the techie in the State Assembly on March 7 and tried to allay fears. Quoting some of the doctors, he said a paracetamol tablet was sufficient to fight Covid -19. He called the techie a “sannasi daridrudu (unfortunate nincompoop).”

3.  The report zooms in on Police highhandedness when Lockdown was imposed in Telangana from March 23. Police personnel chased people on the roads and beat them up mercilessly. The IT Minister intervened and directed the District Superintendent of Police to personally meet and  apologise to a 12 year old for the assault on his father in front of the child. On the first day of the lockdown several journalists were roughed up by the Police despite showing their identity papers. In Khammam, a woman doctor who was on her way to the hospital was abused and assaulted by an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

4.     Police officers told ‘The Hindu’ that they had received instructions from their seniors to use force and create an atmosphere of fear.”Our men were told to any situation using batons. We were very confused. Our men used batons to keep people inside. Many were injured in the process.”

5.   In a recent counter affidavit filed in the Telangana High Court on allegations that the Falaknuma police personnel had damaged vehicles parked outside homes in a residential area, the Hyderabad Police Commissioner submitted, “ The police had checked the vehicles using police lathis in order to see whether corona virus was present or not.”

Telangana is not unique or isolated. Excesses by the law enforcers meant to protect the citizens never differ in the wide spectrum  all over the country. It is nothing but, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Stepping off from 'The Hindu' the experience in Kerala is no different. Here are some incidents.

1.    The pickup auto of a supplier of eggs to retail outlets with full load was confiscated and kept in the open at a Police Station for two days. The SHO had told him people do not need eggs for survival. The poor man went round and round and when the vehicle was finally released the eggs were all spoilt.  

2.  The fish vendors who tried to sell fish in the open – the markets were all closed – were beaten up and driven away.  They too were told man does not need fish for survival.

3.     The SHO singled out a perfect gentleman who got down from his two wheeler to purchase fish. He was abused with choicest expletives in front of all the people in the vicinity. The poor man couldn’t sleep for a month.

4.   A shop keeper driving to open his shop supplying essential articles – a permitted activity – was roughly poked on the face with a baton by the sentinel on the road and was questioned why he was travelling.

5.     Another shop keeper had to proceed to the wholesaler to draw supplies. As the roads were all blocked supplies to the retailers had become a thing of the past. A sentinel stopped him. He showed his papers, including the affidavit mandated by the authorities. Sentinels are sentinels. The shop keeper was told he could proceed only if the affidavit was approved by the local Police station. 

Imagine the plight of a small time wholesaler. His delivery truck was seiized when it was returning to the store. The driver was admonished  for driving an empty vehicle.  The vehicle was released  several days later. Of course the owner had run helter skelter for the favour.
II    
  .    It was midday. A Police vehicle with headlights switched on and the horn blaring  crawled at a snail’s pace. It stopped abruptly. An Officer jumped out. There was a loud smack. It was the  thud of the lathi landing on a  poor man. The Officer shouted at the people around. “If anyone has no mask, go home and put it on.” People surmised that the capital crime committed by the poor man was that he was mask less.

7.    An SHO was the happiest when he could raid shops and abuse people if the shutters were not downed  at the appointed hour itself even though business had been closed for the day. and the gates were locked to prevent the entry of people. In God's own country the law was supreme and the  law did not provide any additional moments for closure of the accounts for the day. was the  perception of the exalted official.

   The common bond that binds Telangana and Kerala is the articulation of might by our  saviours. As in Hyderabad. they strike at the vehicles at will with the lathis.to keep Corona away. They believe in the affordability of the poor vehicle owners to level the dent and immerse the vehicles with a fresh coat of costly metallic paint or the less costly ordinary paint. 

Well, Corona is here for a long innings. Corona is not an excuse to beat people up. Corona is not a justifiable cause for misbehavior. Putting fear in the minds of law abiding citizens is not the key. Lockdown is to keep Corona away. Lockdown cannot drive Corona off.  The long and relentless stretch of confinement may finally end up in driving people crazy. Guess what will happen to the country in that event.