The country is witnessing the deadliest COVID-19 outbreak, causing more than 4,000 deaths to occur every day. Nevertheless, no state has been put in a lockdown by the central government and they dismantled all the chances of putting a nationwide lockdown. The helpless state government had to step down and put lockdowns and curfews by themselves. The ignorant central government has stepped back from its responsibility, not accounting or accepting the deaths of multiple people caused every day. Even though the government has supplied oxygen to the states, their duty does not simply end there.
Every citizen of this country is agitated and agonized as the government exported the vaccines to other nations by overestimating its vaccine-producing capacity. The people of our own country are dying, but our PM won’t stop the ‘image and brand building’ for the grandeur. How can they expect the relations to improve with other nations when the relations are not very good with the people of their own country? The ‘privileged’ ones are not getting access to the vaccines due to the limited stock. Vaccine-makers are working at a slow pace since they have to cover such a large population.
The PM has kept a mum and not confronting the citizens instead of arresting those who point out the duplicitous actions of the government. Indeed, the government’s dereliction has turned the country into a graveyard. These instances depict the despairing reality of the privileged people enough to raise their voices and afford the primary medical amenities in India. In rural India, the situation is entirely different. The COVID-19 tests are happening at such a slow pace that it is increasing the chances of spreading COVID-19 disease to a large extent.
Similarly, the hospitals of these small villages and towns shattered that the roofs might fall on the patients every time. Some of the patients in UP are treated under Neem trees, and the glucose bottles are hanged on trees, and patients are made to lie on the cots. FIRs have been lodged against the people who raised their voices. The freedom of speech has been snatched from the citizens of the country. The government should be starting accounting for its action.
Panchayat Polls held in UP killed more than 1,500 teachers due to COVID
The election duty is considered to be one of the most hectic tasks in our country since the officers have to work day and night to ensure that there is no unlawful or illicit task being held in the state. India has a record of corrupt offices, who bribe the masses by providing them with money or liquor for gaining votes. Hence, the elections become unauthorized and unfair due to such politicians.
This makes these election officers work hard to avoid such circumstances. In Uttar Pradesh, more than 1,500 school teachers who were posted on Panchayat Poll election duty, died due to the COVID-19 infections. The duty was made compulsory, even during such a deadly pandemic, which made these teachers more susceptible to the virus. Reportedly, nearly 1,181 men and 440 women have lost their lives due to the pernicious virus. The Uttar Pradesh Shikshak Mahasangh and its affiliated unions reported this upsetting news. Both the State Election Commission (SEC) and the UP government have simply ignored requests from teachers’ unions repeatedly to postpone voting.
At that time, the number of teachers who did the voting and were killed by COVID-19 stood at 713 – 540 men and 173 female teachers. This is a province with about 8 lakh teachers in public primary schools – tens of thousands of whom are sent to the polls. And the choice of a larger scale. With 1.3 million people running for 8 lakh seats, and 130 million eligible voters, voting officials (teachers and others) had to work with thousands of people, with fewer security measures in place.
The greed for gaining seats by the BJP government has grown so profound that they are risking the lives of the general public for them. First happened in West Bengal, now in UP, the BJP government has left no stone unturned to win the elections, but in the end, ended up losing the elections. In West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee won the elections by leading in close to 215 out of 292 seats, whereas in Uttar Pradesh, BJP merely won 580 out of 3,050 seats. The public’s agitation has started to show its impact in the elections and the downfall for BJP has started.
BJP leaders, like always, refuse to be held accountable for the actions
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath has dismantled all the allegations of being responsible for the deaths of 1,500 teachers. The CM is refusing to believe the connection between the death of teachers and the election duty during the COVID-19 pandemic. He justified the media persons by saying “Why are so many people dying in India? Are the elections happening all over India?
Were there any elections in Delhi or Maharashtra?” The CM also tried to put actions of their deeds on the shoulders of Allahabad High court by saying that the elections were held as per the Court’s order. A country where the ministers simply play the ‘blame game’ instead of accepting their mistakes, is a country where we can’t expect growth any further.
From September 1994 to April 1995, the UP poll elections were deferred due to some reasons. But even during the time of such a horrendous pandemic, the UP government found it right to conduct the elections. You’d be surprised to know the reality of the allegations which was being put by CM Adityanath on the HC. The court had already rejected the private petition which stated that the Panchayat elections should be done by 21st January 2021. But the court, as it should, ordered to conduct the polls with COVID-19 protocols.
The Supreme Court of Allahabad on April 6 stated that it believes the state will adhere to all security regulations and that the UP government has already “declared a rule of law during the campaign.” It also directed that the “Panchayat Raj elections should also be conducted in such a way that it does not become a people’s party. Whether it be nominations, whether it is campaigning, or whether it is a real vote, it should be seen that all the COVID-19 channels are being followed.
“In other words, these tests were not held” as ordered by the high court. ” Violations of these court documents have seriously infected teachers, their unions said. The HC also issued an SEC for those who will be found to not comply with the protocols. Face masks must be there along with social distancing. During Holi in March, the court did not care much to impose strict COVID-19 protocols.
