Class Struggle
Organ of the Central Committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
Vol. 12 Issue : 2 July 2020
Editorial:
Lockdown - Unlock - Let them die!
The response of Narendra Modi's
government to the Corona virus crisis appears
haphazard, but has sinister motive. The lockdown
was clamped abruptly without any early warning for
the people to get themselves prepared. Though first
corona case registered on January 20, it kept open
all the doors for the entry of virus for about 60 days,
during which time it maintained covid-19 is not a
problem for India despite the warnings from the
WHO. It is a standard practice during the breakdown
of an epidemic to clamp lockdown of the affected
areas, followed by aggressive testing, isolation and
treatment. The lockdown meant for gaining time to
prepare the administrative and medical systems to
deal with the epidemic. If it were extended for a long
time, it would be counter-productive. It is not a
panacea. The sudden imposition of lockdown without
proper planning and without follow up measures had
not helped in containing the virus.
The geographical spread of Corona virus and its
severity has concentrated around four metropolitan
cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai and
later spread to metros like Benguluru, Pune,
Hyderabad and then to other cities. This clearly
indicates the entry of virus and the failure of the
government to contain it in initial stages.
The government spokesmen time and again
claimed “The original purpose of the lockdowns was
to delay the spike so we can put health services and
systems in place, so we are able handle the spike
[when it comes]…That objective, to a large extent,
has been met.” News reports such as those titled
“Corpses in Hallways, Patients on Floor as Virus
Overwhelms Mumbai,” hardly instill confidence in
those preparations during the lockdown period. It is
obvious that complimentary measures have not been
taken fully to prepare the people for when the
lockdown is finally lifted.
Narendra Modi addressed the country five times.
Every time he exhorted the people to do the tasks
given by him - observing janata curfew, clapping and
clanging the utensils, turn off lights and come out into
balconies with lighted candles. But he did not tried to
tell the people what the government is going to do to
relieve them from the situation resulted from his
government's mishandling of Corona virus pandemic.
The grandiose announcements over five days like the
serial episodes of a soap opera had not offered
anything substantial for the people who are facing
hunger and lack of job.
Modi's lockdown has been disastrous for the
overwhelming part of the populace, most of the
workforce that is employed in the informal economy.
So, continuing the lockdown in the way it was
imposed by the Indian government appears to have
no sense. In fact the implementation, and now the
lifting, are both largely ill-thought out exercises and
just mimicked those of imperialist powers.
To cover up this failure, the government led by
Modi adopted anti-China rhetoric unleashed in the
West Europe and North America by the imperialist
powers that China wantonly spread the virus from its
laboratories. It focused on the congregation of
Tablighi Jamat at Nizammuddine as an epicenter of
corona spread in India and tried to rake up anti-
Muslim hatred to divert the peoples attention. Yet it
was not able to dupe the people and the people have
seen the real play through these smoke screens.
Though the pandemic came handy for the Modi to
hide the already set in economic crisis in the country
and to blame corona for all the ills of economy,
during the four phases of lockdown it became clear
that deaths due to starvation would surpass many
times than those caused by the Corona virus. Then