The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed the extremely lax and shoddy working style of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who seems to have thrown in his towel and left the common Biharis to fend for themselves. With the total cases touching one million in the country, Bihar is steadily emerging as the country’s next biggest hotspot. According to an Indian Express report, the positivity rate for novel coronavirus infection in Bihar is 5.7 percent – lower than the national average of 7.6 percent; however, adjusted for the low testing base, the picture changes harrowingly.
And what is peculiar in this setting is the deafening silence of the mainstream media in covering the wretched state-of-affairs in Bihar. The media houses of Noida have shown an utter lack of initiative in covering the shambolic response of Nitish Kumar government towards COVID-19. Only reporting Maharashtra and Delhi is not going to help the country win this battle against the invisible enemy who is one-billionth in the size of a human, Bihar needs to be put under the lid too.
The situation is so grim that entire Bihar went into another complete lockdown from Thursday until July 31. “The positivity rate in 14 districts around Patna has increased from 4 percent to 15 percent over the past two weeks. That is worrying,” the newspaper quoted Dr. S.K Shahi, who oversees Covid-19 testing at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in the state capital, said.
“Kyu karein vichar thike to hai Nitish Kumar” the adrenaline pumping election-cry of Nitish Kumar has been aptly on display in the Coronavirus pandemic. The CM does not address the media, does not come out and share his state’s response strategy, albeit, on the contrary, he is quietly nestled in his CM residence, resting in hibernation while the state is turning upside down.
If Lalu’s tenure was Gunda Raj then Sushansan Babu’s raj is VVIP raj where even a deadly respiratory virus cannot stop the insipid machinery from flexing its innate VIP mentality.
While the state suffers, Nitish Kumar is steadfastly fostering the VIP culture amidst a global pandemic. According to news reports, when Nitish Kumar’s niece tested positive for Coronavirus, the Bihar CM set up an advanced Covid-19 hospital at 1, Anne Marg, his official residence. A team of six doctors and three nurses have said to been deputed at this hospital to work in three shifts
Some new videos have come in from Bihar’s AIIMs hospital where apparently getting a hospital bed depends on your socio-political connections.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCvNIkrBBI5/
Videos of apathy of the Bihar government are surfacing routinely. A video of one Abhishek Mandal and his father, who have been admitted to Mayaganj Hospital has been doing the rounds of internet. In the video, he is seen talking about how no tests have been conducted for four days since the admission of the father-son duo. The father of Abhishek looks visibly agitated, having shortness of breath and yet he has been left lurking around by the hospital authorities.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCxG_YGhIsn/
In another shocking video, a COVID testing centre is seen only testing 50 patients and those 50 are only tested if they have connections with the party high-command.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCpubxWBqlH/
Nothing has changed much under ‘Sushansan Babu’ from what it was under Lalu Prasad Yadav’s infamous ‘Jungle raj’. The socio-economic disparities still exist, and on the contrary, continue to fester and grow with the migrant laborers hardest-hit like always.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first unfurled and migrants started going back on foot to Bihar, the state CM even refused to take them in.
Kumar’s indifference to the plight of migrant laborers was evident from the fact that he did not even send any buses to bring back the workers who send large amount of remittances back to the state. And this repatriated money forms the bedrock of most Bihari households and Bihar’s economy, which unfortunately is in tatters.
The media which covered the plight of these workers with minute-precision is nowhere to be seen now. Unfortunately, the TRPs were churned by selling the misery and once migrant workers disappeared from the scene, Bihar was once again back to being a neglected state, some 1000-km far from mainstream Indian media’s attention.
The pandemic had presented a unique opportunity to the states to open their gates for companies looking to come from China to set their anchors in states with cheap and abundant labour—two pre-requisites, available in abundance in Bihar. However, Nitish Kumar has been incommunicado in the wake of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and ‘We the Biharis’ once again are the victim of Kumar’s callousness.
Moreover, according to recent reports, an approach road of a minor bridge, 2 kms away from the newly inaugurated Sattarghat Bridge, was washed away due to flood waters. Opposition criticised Nitish Kumar and alleged corruption and loot resulted in the damage. It is certainly a concern for the locals as the damage has caused a lot of inconvenience for the commuters. The media has been silent on the issue as well, as questions remain unanswered about negligence on the part of the administration.
It doesn’t go without saying that BJP has been an accomplice of JDU in this. Reported time and again by TFI, BJP is holding onto dead-weight in the form of Nitish Kumar and whatever credibility the political outfit has in the state is getting tarnished by the day.
It is hard to comprehend what incognito deal Nitish Kumar and media houses have but so far this partnership has been working rather well as the miseries of Biharis are being carefully and quietly swept under the carpet.
