This exercise of Bhagwat in fact brings his own reputation and credibility under public scrutiny. How could Bhagwat prefer to hide the failures of Modi? It is really sad to listen to Bhagwat counselling lakhs of people who have lost their dear ones to the dreaded corona to remain positive. How will Bhagwat justify Modi’s insensitivity? At a time when India desperately needs billions for the purchase of medicines and vaccine, Modi is busy giving shape to his dream Taj Mahal, the Central Vista. This he has been doing when the people were dying for lack of care in the dusty streets.

Had he been sensitive and cared for the people of the country he on his own would have put a stop on the construction. UK’s The Daily Mail wrote: “The monstrous monument to Narendra Modi’s ego: As millions suffer in pandemic, India’s narcissistic Prime Minister is building a vast folly at a cost that could fund 40 major hospitals. Now his nation is in uproar.”

His love for his own passion is widely known. During last two months nearly 3 lakh persons have died of Corona. But he continues to be unmoved. For him punishing his political detractors has the top priority. After the election in Bengal came to an end, spread of Corona picked up pace in the state. The state took it as a challenge and started gearing up the administrative machinery. But before it could take a shape, the CBI struck. It arrested the two key ministers who were looking after the operation in the ill famous Narada scam. Though the case is seven years old, suddenly the CBI came out of its slumber. No doubt the leaders who accepted bribe ought to be punished. But the two main guilty persons, the national vice president of BJP Mukul Roy and the leader of opposition in Bengal assembly, Subhendu Adhikari, were not arrested. The fact is both these leaders are the prime accused. What does this imply? Attempts are being made to frame Mamata Banerjee in the case on the plea of trying to influence the court.

Modi is aware that the number of affected persons has shot up as is the number of deaths. May be the leaders arrested develop corona and have to suffer. But the worst sufferer is the crores of people of Bengal. Obviously in the absence of the ministers the work will suffer. Modi has been resorting to this game only for giving a bad name to Mamata government and impose the President’s rule.

The conviction and commitment of Modi to fight the pandemic also get exposed with number of persons affected with the disease increasing every day. So far it was confined to the urban areas, but now it has spread to the rural India. The state governments are finding it a tough proposition to keep track of even the dead persons. It is manifest in floating of hundreds of dead bodies in Ganga. It is the time for Modi to launch a war against the spread of corona in the rural India as once it starts spreading no power on earth, even the element of so called positivity could check it in ravaging the rural population. It is indeed sad that Bhagwat instead of focussing on this has been trying to conceal Modi’s failures and give him a clean chit. To protect his failures he ironically has been putting the blame on the healthcare system. No doubt healthcare system has been completely ravaged by the second wave of the dreaded Corona, nearly three lakh people have already been consumed by it. But does it mean that Modi should abandon his moral responsibility? Should he wait for good time?

It is nice to watch that his social and cultural organisation held four day lecture series to deflect public ire over Narendra Modi’s failure to handle the pandemic. To achieve his goal he even disguised a rainbow of eminent social and cultural personalities to exonerate Modi for his outrageous failure to handle the crisis and instead present him before the Indians as the most concerned ruler.

While the speakers participating in the four day meet felt the dire need of medical supplies and abhorred the idea of making unscientific claims, none questioned his decision to motivate the pharmaceutical companies to export the medicine instead of making available to the Indians. Surprisingly while the international medical experts along with the Indian scientists were critical of using Ayurveda and yoga to boost immunity and help tackle mild symptoms of COVID-19 the meet indulged in eulogy. It simply promoted superstition.

It was pleasant to listen Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev saying that being angry all the time (with the government) “will only affect immunity.” Obviously it implied that Indians tolerate all kinds of idiotic acts of the Modi government without any whine. He was correct in saying that “the country’s infrastructure wasn’t enough,” but how he could exonerate Modi for spoiling one full year in not getting ready to fight the challenge. Sadguru should have done some introspection before giving a clean chit to Modi.

Suggestion of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Art of Living founder, to the people to focus on philosophical aspects – such as telling people to use courage and compassion to induce positivity did not come as a shock as he borrows the ideas of RSS. It was nice to listen to him saying; “We have to awaken the faith in God within us. We have to have faith that there is a God”. He should have at least demonstrated it to the poor Indians. Social worker Nivedita Bhide suggested reciting “Om” for 5-10 minutes every morning and evening to boost one’s capacity to fight COVID.

The only speaker who had some rational approach was Azim Premji, who called for reaching out to the ‘Most Vulnerable’. “We must act with the greatest of speed on all fronts and these actions must be based on good science. We must confront this crisis, its scale and spread truthfully,” he said, adding that “science and truth are the foundation on which we can tackle this crisis and ensure it is not repeated.”

RSS leadership was desperate to give a clean chit to Modi by asserting that over the past few weeks, the Modi government has made several such attempts to “spread positivity.” It is absolutely clear that RSS does not intend to lose the gains it has made during Modi’s rule. A three-pronged strategy is being initiated by the RSS to salvage the situation. Even some senior bureaucrats and central government officials were asked to attend the work shop. Behind the façade of strengthening the positivity, the primary mission has been to evolve a mechanism to counter the peoples’ anger and criticism of the Modi government’s handling of the crisis. It is worth mentioning that the RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had recently cautioned that anti-Bharat elements could take advantage of the prevailing situation. Instead of directing the volunteers to stand by the suffering humanity, he has been more concerned of anti Bharat forces creating an atmosphere of negativity and mistrust in the country. (IPA Service)