One of the most unfortunate things about the pandemic is that it has brought out the ugly side of politicians who have used the deaths and destructions for their own political gains and settling scores. The opposition especially seems to have mastered the art of ‘corona convenience’. Remember how they first created vaccine hesitancy and then cried foul on ‘no vaccines’?
Similarly, recollect how they fear-mongered just before the recently concluded state assembly elections and criticized political rallies? Around that time the Kumbh Mela was also being held in Uttarakhand, a couple of hundred kms away from West Bengal. Unfortunately, the second wave of coronavirus pandemic that led to unprecedented oxygen crisis that led to death of lot of people. Many of these deaths could have been avoided had every one of us, including the administrations had not been lax and become complacent.
Now with things coming back to normalcy in most of India (except Kerala where the pandemic continues to be unhinged for reasons best known to state administration), the politicians are back with holding large scale rallies. The ones who were upset with Kumbh Mela and BJP rallies ahead of West Bengal elections (where BJP made significant progress in number of seats), are not back themselves cheering for huge political rallies being held in name of ‘farmer protests’.
Politicians cheer Muzaffarnagar crowd
Cheering mass gathering after dissing it publicly, several leaders from Congress and AAP have congratulated the ‘andolanjeevis’ for not letting the protest against Farm Bills aka against the Bhartiya Janta Party, die.
Congress leader cum pilot and now a poet (going by the Tweets), Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to dedicate a poem to the dissenters responsible for the Republic Day riots. Gandhi sharing visuals of the Kisan Mahapanchayat held on Sunday claimed that the truth is now echoing and the unjust government will have to listen to it.
गूंज रही है सत्य की पुकार
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 5, 2021
तुम्हें सुनना होगा, अन्यायी सरकार! #मुज़फ्फरनगर_किसान_महापंचायत pic.twitter.com/zYZdmrl7ls
In another post sharing an old picture, Gandhi said that the ‘farmers’ are standing fearlessly against the farm laws.
डटा है
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 6, 2021
निडर है
इधर है
भारत भाग्य विधाता! #FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/hnaTQV0GbU
Sharing the same old image and few others stolen from BKU leader Rakesh Tikait’s profile, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh issued a sermon saying the one who will follow the footsteps of dreaded dictator Hitler, will not be able to rule India.
“This country’s Annadata has been on the roads for 9 months, more than 650 farmers have been martyred in this movement, but it is the Modi government’s Hitlerism to ignore the demands of crores of farmers acting a slave of a few capitalists,” Singh Tweeted in Hindi.
ये देश का अन्नदाता किसान है 9 महीने से सड़कों पर है 650 से ज़्यादा किसान इस आंदोलन में शहीद हो चुके हैं लेकिन चंद पूँजीपतियों की ग़ुलामी में करोड़ों किसानो की माँग को दरकिनार करना मोदी सरकार की हिटलरशाही है।
— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) September 6, 2021
“जो हिटलर की चाल चलेगा नही देश पर राज करेगा” pic.twitter.com/EIVoOorbMQ
Giving out the most inappropriate message at the time of a pandemic, Tikait suggested that it is better to die a quick death to the coronavirus than die a slow death to the Farm Bills.
भीड़तंत्र ही लोकतंत्र में सबसे बड़ा हथियार है “कोरोना से ज्यादा खतरनाक है सरकार के कानून, कोरोना एक बार मारेगा ये तिल- तिल मारेंगे”#FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/gqTgG1fADZ
— Rakesh Tikait (@RakeshTikaitBKU) September 6, 2021
Encouraging mob mentality, Tikait Tweeted, “Mobocracy is the biggest weapon in democracy.”
Your lives mean zilch to these politicians.
What is unfortunate is that should the infections escalate now, these very people will blame others instead of looking inward and introspecting on how they shamelessly not only flouted the COVID norms but celebrated it. That a common person like you and I are being asked to not celebrate our festivals, our children cannot go to schools and colleges and while every one of us is being disciplined, these hooligans in garb of political leaders are derailing our sacrifices.
One hopes it does not happen, but if this Diwali you are asked to stay at home and not go meet your friends and family ‘because of third wave’, thank a ‘farmer’.
