Edits | May 5, 2021
If India is not prepared to lose further more members, by forthcoming electioneering for the UP elections the time is to act now to restrict it at the political parties level. Before it is too late and becomes a hindsight, like that of the Mahakumbh and the Bengal elections.
With all the hullabaloo about Bengal elections and the Mahakumbh fading, which translated into the giant second wave of Covid 19 cases in India, the country is all set to drive into a third wave of the pandemic at the start of the election campaigning of BJP for the forthcoming UP elections. What can be seen this election again is massive rallies, surge in cases, unprecedented conglomeration of people for making Chief Minister Yogi to retain his seat. Unless the Indian desperado decides to boycott these elections and inform the political parties by using the social media, which is yet unbought, India will again see an unprecedented amount of contact which will only enhance the spread of virus. Like during the Bengal elections and that of the Mahakumbh no one revolted in the media about the possibility of such a large infection being spread, the same should not be repeated in the UP elections.
At the moment none of the media which is structured and largely bought by the BJP is not speaking about banning rallies by the EC voluntarily or by the political parties themselves for the forthcoming BJP elections.
As Indians we cannot afford to have another play by BJP and its election machinery for a fresh new round of Covid infections.
The recent Panchayat elections result of May 2021 which is not in the favour of BJP, will only trigger a massive campaign to save up the Vidhan Sabha. There are three political camps which will have a large fight in UP. Unlike Bengal, UP is an economically prosperous state. People here work into late hours. Political parties here have more money than they have in Bengal. The stakes are higher. It is in close vicinity to the NCR region of north India, which at the moment has the highest number of Covid cases. With BJP losing a lot of seats in the Panchayat elections in May 2021, it goes without saying that the party will leave no stone unturned and no rally unorganized to woo the voter. Further in the last elections of UP it was demonetization that had helped BJP to come into power as all the other political parties’ money had suddenly become inoperable due to change in the currency heading. This time around either BJP will have to do another drama which constitutionally restricts the other parties in their resources or genuinely go to the voter and ask for a favourable vote.
Imagine that there will be over 300 seats to be fought over in UP. The population of the state is many times that of Bengal. So, the extent of electioneering will be many times what happened in Bengal. Hence, it is rudimentary mathematics to understand the extent of infection that could be caused. Overlying this aspect over the new Covid variant which is much more infectious than the initial one, the country is only heading towards a certain disaster. The elections usually mean good business for a lot of people which are connected to electioneering. They will definitely come out to cover the losses suffered in the last 14 months of the pandemic. No amount of restrictions will keep them home. It’s again lives versus livelihood question. Mean good business for a lot of people which are connected to electioneering. They will definitely come out to cover the losses suffered in the last 14 months of the pandemic. No amount of restrictions will keep them home. It’s again lives versus livelihood question. Since UP is mostly controlled by BJP the number of infected will have to be disclosed by the state and can be managed. We don’t have oxygen cylinders, oxygen plants, the mechanism to deliver oxygen, black marketing of basic drugs and no hospital infrastructure. In light of all these even if our quotes what you decide after the infection to provide for resources, that would be meaningless. The example is today’s situation: live.
As is being propagated in the media and various other sources that the peak of the second wave will collapse and sometime around July. There is another reading that there will be a new peak around the month of October 2021 which is going to affect the younger who have not been vaccinated. With the farmers agitation and their assembly on the outskirts of NCR. And needless to say a hidden deal of the BJP along with the former leaders at the beginning of the electioneering for UP, unless the silence of the media and the people is broken now we all will end up with the same situation in the grim winter of 2022.
CA Divesh NathEditorWoman’s EraLinkedIn: Divesh Nath