Netas’ hunger for attention during COVID is appalling

Huge crowd outside Jijamata slum colony in Worli at the Sunday market earlier this month. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Expressing strong displeasure with politicians for not following COVID-19 lockdown curbs in Maharashtra, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court said that no leader or minister should conduct physical ceremonies or functions.

The bench was informed that some politicians had conducted inauguration ceremonies. The court observed that the Chief Minister of Maharashtra had appealed not to conduct such ceremonies but they are happening. It asked about the politician-police nexus. In yet another trenchant observation, the court asked if lockdown restrictions and orders passed by the court on COVID-19 related issues in the interest of public health are meant only for the poor, and if politicians are above the law.

The court took the words right out of our mouths with these statements. There is nothing as disheartening as seeing your local leaders or leaders at any level holding physical functions and sending social distancing out of the window. A cynical public does not expect accountability from netas. It does, however, expect these representatives of the people to follow guidelines just like they are doing.

There is a craze to be in the spotlight, take credit, inaugurate projects or whatever it takes for two minutes of fame, and that is not going to abate. To see this being done during Corona time, is doubly shocking. Then, one will see these very same politicians blaming the public for being complacent or bickering with another party for flouting rules and blame them for a rise in cases.

We have to remind these ministers and their coterie that Maharashtra is certainly not out of the woods yet. The world will not stop spinning if you do not have crowds of people see you cut ribbons and applaud. There is a virtual world out there, and you too, need to inhabit that just like everybody else is doing.