Having survived the first wave of the coronavirus in 2020 with a huge number of cases but a relatively low death rate, India has turned out to be the world’s worst affected country by the second wave in 2021. This is largely due to the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by President Modi, whose response has ranged from inaction to wilful complicity.
On 18 May, India officially passed 25 million cases, the last five million cases being added in the previous two weeks. As we go to press there are around 250,000 new daily infections, along with around 4,000 daily deaths. This is down from the peak of 400,000 daily infections in the last week of April and is continuing to fall.
However, these official figures are grossly undercounted, with figures from crematoriums alone being about ten times the official death figures in various big cities. The situation in smaller towns and villages is almost certainly worse. The reasons for undercounting include lack of testing and the way a ‘Covid-19 death’ is defined. For example, a local newspaper, Divya Bhaskar, reported that 123,871 death certificates had been issued between March and May in Gujarat state, double the same period last year, while the number of official Covid-19 deaths was only 4,218.
Small towns, villages and cities have been ravaged. In early May there were reports of 24-hour queues of dead bodies outside Delhi crematoriums. Wood prices for cremation having shot through the roof, poor villagers in the northern states of Uttar Prandesh (UP) and Bihar were floating their relatives’ dead bodies in the river Ganges. There are no proper medical centres in the villages and smaller towns, no facilities for proper testing and reports of whole families being wiped out. Families who lived together in small flats or houses got infected together.
The tragedy is that a lot of this is caused by the incompetence, or wilful collusion, of the Modi government. Rather than make serious efforts to fight the virus, the government treats it as a PR exercise. The right-wing media exhort citizens to have ‘more positivity’, and manipulate the presentation of fatalities, vaccinations and recoveries.
First wave of Covid-19 and origins of the second wave
The first wave of Covid-19 in India started around March 2020, peaked in September and went down after that. It mostly affected older people. The total number of infected people during first wave was in the top three in the world, although the number of fatalities was low compared to the total population of India.
In March 2020, the Modi government made a sudden decision to impose a nationwide lockdown with only four hours’ notice and absolutely no preparation. All transport, shops and economic activities were shut, making it one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers and daily wagers in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, who suddenly lost their jobs, faced no option but to starve or go back to their hometowns and villages on foot. There was no proper state support package for those most hit by the lockdown. Central government gave tax breaks and other sops for businesses, although some state governments such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu announced a few welfare measures. The lack of quarantine facilities in the villages and small towns spread the virus to India’s hinterland.
Despite scientists’ warnings about a second wave, the government declared victory over Covid-19 and became complacent. It did not expand oxygen producing facilities or improve the medical infrastructure. The Covid-19 task force had not met in months before the second wave struck. Rather, the Modi government encouraged Hindu religious festivals like Kumbh Mela, where more than four million devotees from across India had ritual bathing in the Ganges river during a month-long festival. This acted as a super spreader event. It allowed state and local elections, with Modi and his allies campaigning without proper social distancing.
Oxygen scarcity
There were reports of 75 Covid-19 patients dying in a hospital in Goa, due to lack of oxygen. Similar reports came from Delhi and UP hospitals. In UP, the BJP chief minister Yogi Adityanath threatened legal action against hospitals reporting lack of oxygen and to seize people’s homes, invoking the draconian National Security Act against those who tweeted in social media about the crisis.
Oxygen supply is a logistical problem and could be resolved by a centralised task force. The Modi government favoured BJP ruled states and delivered 30% less than the required supply to opposition-ruled Delhi in May. The Supreme Court later set up a board of doctors to supervise oxygen supplies in different states; this was opposed by the Modi government.
Ministers and allies from Modi’s BJP, rather than being on the forefront of the war against Covid-19, advocated remedies such as drinking cow urine, bathing in cow dung, taking untested ayurvedic drugs, doing fire rituals, chanting mantras to Hindu gods.
Lack of vaccines and cost
Before April 2021, the Modi government exported ten million doses of vaccines to neighbouring countries. Modi touted this as a major foreign policy success. However, less than 2% of the Indian population had received both vaccine doses by April. Modi placed responsibility on state governments for delivering the vaccines. And yet Modi put his photo on every vaccination certificate.
The cost of a vaccine in India in private hospitals (Rs 1200, or £12, for both doses of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine) is among the highest in the world, thanks to the government’s pro-market policy of letting vaccine companies dictate the prices. The government also refused to invoke the compulsory licensing of vaccines, as neighbouring Bangladesh did.
The situation in India is dire and there is poor preparation for the impending third wave. Some citizens’ groups have resorted to volunteering initiatives, an example being ‘Oxygen langars’ in Sikh gurdwaras. New virus strains such as B.1.617.2 variant are emerging. The virus has exposed the anti-people policies, including lack of universal healthcare, of right-wing governments worldwide, especially in India. The people must hold governments to account.
Jay Hussain
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 282 June/July 2021
