The Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the second stage of the Lockdown for 19 days more, perhaps, as his tribute to memories of the great architect of Indian constitution, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. He authored the unique document enlisting the fundamental rights of citizens and human rights for all. The NaMo government had suspended the fundamental rights with the clamp of three weeks on all the human activities on March 24, 2020. The action was justified as the only remedy to fight the pandemic. In reality he was merely fighting the fear and not the disease.

In three weeks of lockdown, number of deaths and number of infections due to corona virus increased five folds. There is no evidence of any government body undertaking minute study of the social status and economics neither of the infected individuals nor of the causes why only six states recorded more cases and several states had not even a single case. Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Telangana and Karnataka had more cases. It was apparent more persons of states with higher number of patients are working abroad and had more in numbers of persons returned after their visits to Europe.

The scrap of information that filtered through the coverlet of secrecy indicates clearly that most of affected persons were of higher class with economic strength. Either returnees were affected or they had passed on infection in their social contacts. Even though nearly half a million poor persons walked back to their villages with their children walking behind them without adequate quantum of food to sustain them through journey of few hundred miles, and sometimes in group of few families, no state government reported a single instance of the corona infection among them. Some may have been sick due to inadequacy of food intakes.

It would seem that poor and economically weaker sections were put to a greater harassment by depriving them of their daily earnings though they were neither cause nor instruments of infection. The government had pushed back India and her people to live like in the era of eighteenth century but without horse drawn vehicles. Rail lines were idle and roads were without automobiles. The industrial units had to stop production as no humans were available to move wheels.

Narendra Modi had seduced young minds in 2014 with promise of rapid economic growth. Indians were tired of the growth rate staying below 4 per cent a year for four decades. They were traumatized with his promise to vote him in. In seven years, he could not deliver on his promise. His fight with fear of corona reversed the growth to push it below zero. He was not worried by unemployment level crossing the record level in 45 years. He shut his own department from releasing statistical details of employment and unemployment.

He consulted chief ministers before the end of first phase of the lockdown. No chief minister felt obliged to point out the disaster waiting on economic front. None of them had responsibility or authority to worry over the health of economy. They were happy with lockdown as it eased their governance with less crime, improved environmental conditions due to heavy reduction in pollutions and citizens locked up in their homes in fear of corona virus coming with their close relatives or social acquaintance of decades.

The continuation of the lock down for another 19 days came as surprise because restoration to economy to levels before the Lockdown would take long time and sustained efforts. The government directed industrial units and business establishments to pay full quantum of dues to their employees even though they did not attend to their duties. The Prime Minister or officials in the administration may issue directives but they cannot make good loss of production, any sales for 40 days to enable owners to produce immediate cash to pay salaries. The net result would be more unemployment as most units may not, or be in position to, restart full scale production. The duration to reach the original levels may be much longer as rest of the world may not be able to revive their consumption. Demands even on home grounds may not revive for a long time not only due to increased level of unemployment but also due to the fact that experience of forty days of the lockdown also conditioned the human minds to do even without essentials.

On adopting the planned model for the economic development in 1950, the Prime Minister had conveyed to Indians to sit at home comfortably as the government would do undertake every activity to meet demands of people. In 2020 after seven decades, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi now said to all citizens to stay in home while he fights the fear of the pandemic corona virus.

He adopted the extreme measure of imposing a clamp on every human activity from religion to personal comforts. He was praised for quick decision to go in for the lockdown unlike waiting for the grave turn to the situation as the American president did. The geographic location of India, her climatic conditions were far different as less than six thousand cases after two months indicated. The Fan club praised sky high his foresight now poor pay for it. He went in to fight the fear and ended up with the gravely ill economy with millions of hungry mouths.