India is under the second phase of the nationwide lockdown with majority of the country following the strict protocols of the lockdown. However, some select people are brazenly displaying their VVIP status to flout the norms. In yet another case of VVIP racism, Chhattisgarh cabinet minister, Kawasi Lakhma travelled more than 250kms to visit a godman because he was bored.
Chhattisgarh Minister of Commercial Tax (Excise), Commerce and Industry, Kawasi Lakhma undertook a journey of more than 250kms from Raipur to Raigarh only to visit a godman, Baba Satyanarayan at his ashram in Raigarh.
“I was bored sitting in Raipur, so I made a spontaneous plan at night and came to Raigarh,” said Lakhma. What’s worse is the fact that the entire convoy accompanied the minister to visit the godman. Instead of leading by example, Lakhma was seen carelessly toiling around without any protective equipment.
Chhattisgarh minister was not the only, earlier this month too, former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy set a wrong precedent by conducting the wedding of his son which was directly against the fresh guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs which bars all social, political, sports, religious functions and others till May 3.
Kumaraswamy defended the decision by claiming that he consulted multiple doctors before going ahead with wedding. “In our family itself, we have 12-13 doctors whom we consulted and decided,” said the JD(S) leader. Of course, there was no mention of consulting government officials.
In complete contestation of his party line, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa took it upon himself to absolve the former Chief Minister and his family of all their criminal negligences of violating lockdown. The chief minister said “Kumarswamy has conducted the wedding in a simple manner. No need to discuss the issue. Even though his family is large. He has conducted the wedding in limits. I convey my regards. They had done it well within their limits for which I congratulate them.”
At a time when India’s bureaucratic fraternity is leading the country’s fight against the Wuhan coronavirus, a select few bureaucrats just can’t get over the privileges that their position grants them. In Madhya Pradesh, Dr Ruby Khan, the Deputy Director in the state’s Health Department, initially refused to get hospitalised after testing positive for the virus but finally relented later. Khan initially refused to get admitted and chose to stay at bureaucrats’ training academy in Bhopal. Only when the academy sought the help of the Bhopal district collector did Khan relent.
The state’s Principal Secretary Pallavi Jain Govil has also tested positive for the virus and she too had earlier resisted the efforts of getting admitted to a government hospital. According to the state’s Human Rights Commission in Madhya Pradesh (MPHRC), despite having the symptoms of the virus, Govil continued to conduct meetings and was not kept in isolation wards. Additionally, it is alleged that Govil kept her US return son’s travel history hidden from the authorities.
In West Bengal, the state recorded its first positive patient of an 18-year-old resident of Kolkata who had returned from the United Kingdom. The patient who happens to be the son of a top Bengali bureaucrat, was immediately asked to get himself admitted as the people who were staying with him in the UK, also tested positive for the virus. However, the patient ignored the advice of hospitalization and traveled to length and breadth of West Bengal as if nothing had happened.
While in Kerala, the sub-collector of Kollam, Anupam Mishra was ordered home quarantine upon his return from Singapore. Shockingly, he violated the quarantine code by leaving his official residence as he traveled to his hometown of Kanpur without alerting the authorities.
Instead of leading by example, some of the country’s VVIPs, including the Chhattisgarh cabinet minister, are willingly flouting all the norms of the lockdown and are emerging as a he hinderance in India’s battle to flatten the curve.