India Can’t Breathe: How the Modi Government Policies and Actions Resulted in the ‘Murder’ of Thousands

India is gasping for breath. Death is everywhere! People are helpless, frustrated, angry and crying, ‘Hope’ isn’t in sight. No one is saying “don’t worry everything will be alright”, because they know the reality, that that’s the lie. No one knows when this will stop, will by the time they will be alive to see any light. I really have no answers. 

Some people are saying this is not the time for politics, do not blame the government, and just help other people if you can. But that’s wrong. This is the exactly the time you ask the government the accountability of the failure of governance and take responsibility of the deaths which could have been avoided.

These deaths are not just deaths, these are murders. A majority of lives are lost not due to covid, but due to lack of treatment, lack of ICU beds, lack of medicines, and lack of oxygen.  

Some are blaming Prime Minister Modi for being incompetent as he could not control or protect India from this catastrophe. Yes, incompetency is dangerous for health and growth of the country, but knowingly pushing the country into the mouth of death is a criminal act. 

As per the World Health Organization (WHO) the predominant lineage of B.1.617 was first identified in India December 2020 and an earlier version was spotted in October. This brings to people questioning, why didn’t the government release this information and act accordingly.

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Let’s have a look what Modi government did after having the information of new variant

• The government went ahead and relaxed covid related restrictions. No mandatory mask mandates, no restrictions on political and religious gatherings. Furthermore, the elections were held in several states with no limitations on rallies. The Prime Minister appeared in rallies without mask, and even gloats about the massive crowd of people in his rallies. 
• In the country of 1.35 Billion people, by the end of the April only 127 Million people were vaccinated. Despite the massive needs of vaccinations, the Prime Minister sent 64 million doses to different countries. Less than 2% of the population is totally vaccinated.
• Destroyed the covid centers that were built during the first wave. Now there are no beds left in hospitals. People are begging for hospitals and ICU beds and dying without treatment.
• According to Department of Commerce, India exported 537 metric tons of oxygen which increased to 2,192 metric tons in December 2020. And since the pandemic (April 2020 – February 2021) the data says that India has exported a total 9,228 metric tons of oxygen. In today’s scenario, Delhi required more than 700 metric tons of oxygen daily. The central government has only allocated 490 MT daily to Delhi. On May 1, 2021, Delhi received only 320 MT of oxygen. The Delhi High Court has warned the government contempt action if they fail to supply the required oxygen to Delhi. During the first surge of covid it was planned to build 166 oxygen plants nationwide. However, so far there is only 33 plants are operational. 
• Last year after covid first hit India, the government planned to establish a plasma bank. There were no centralized systems of plasma donations and treatments came into existence. State’s level some Plasma donations centers were established. However, it was largely poorly managed and operated. Since the beginning the govt made the Arogya Setu app download mandatory. However, having such app which has massive outreach the app was not connected effectively to covid positive people and also to motivate them for plasma donations.
• Even during this critical time instead of preparing and managing the situation to minimize losses of life, the government is more interested in saving Modi’s image over people’s lives. The official figure of positive cases is nearly 400,000 per day and 3700 deaths per day. However, experts and sources are saying the daily deaths are more than 10,000 per day. Crematoriums have waiting line up to 2 days. In the biggest state, UP dead bodies are being cremated on sidewalks and parks. Every open space is being used for cremation.

Mamta Kashyap is a New Jersey-based woman rights activist, teacher, non-profit and Real Estate professional. She is a mother of two children. Mamta is the recipient of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship. She alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science.