When Leaders Turn Inhuman and Insensitive
As a popular saying goes it takes hundred years to build, but just a minute to destroy. When the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre started destroying one by one the institutions built over the past 70 years by the Congress, people assumed that the prime minister was going to build something new and different. Thus, despite the pathetic performance of the Modi-Government on the economic front during the first five years, the people gave the prime minister a second chance by re-electing his party to power. The second term so far has seen more destructions. No one knows what he is up to build. As the pro-Modi media kept projecting the prospects of India emerging a vishwaguru (master of the entire world), the people believed it. Now the reality has hit them hard. The Coronavirus has removed the mask from the government’s face. As the virus has been playing havoc with the lives of the people, the Government has virtually washed off its hands and seems to be suggesting that the people are responsible for their lives.
What is even more shocking is the utter insensitivity with which the political leadership is reacting to the woes of people. It is not the helplessness of the government which people will have to come to terms with but the utter disregard with which some leaders have treated the people’s ordeal. When the leadership of a country is heartless, catastrophes like the Coronavirus pandemic will not be accidental. A young man in Uttar Pradesh has been booked under the National Security Act just because he sought on Twitter oxygen for his ailing grandfather. The Government considered the tweet a false rumor about the shortage of oxygen in the state.
The Government’s view was that this youngster had put the reputation of the government at stake even when his grandfather was not a Coivid-19 patient. While this ailing man had no Covid, he did need oxygen and he eventually died. But the standing order of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is that the State faced no oxygen shortage and anyone saying anything which suggested otherwise should be booked under Goonda Act. The people in Uttar Pradesh are scared even to ask for oxygen to treat patients and those who raise voices against the shortcomings in the public health system of the state face the prospect of landing in jail.
Karnataka is not far behind. Recently, a former MP of the BJP publicly announced that the poor should not be given free rice under the Corona relief package as it would make them lazy. What the senior politician forgot is that the people are not dying just because of Covid but also because they go hungry with no possibility of earning an income during the lock down. People are seen eating the food spilled on the street. It is cruel to say that free food should not be distributed when the poor are in such a dire strait. This politician did not stop with his tirade against relief package for the poor. He went on to recommend that putting a few drops of lemon juice in the nose would produce enough oxygen to save those in need of oxygen support. If the humble lemon juice could have addressed the oxygen shortage in such a simple manner, why the hospitals in the country are not resorting to this solution? This suggestion is as ridiculous as the one heard previously that the cows exhale oxygen. In fact, a teacher in Raichur tried the lemon juice treatment on himself and lost his life but the police have not booked any case against the leader who misled the people and showed utter insensitivity towards the plight of those who are desperately queueing up in front of the hospitals for oxygen.
A minister in Karnataka created another record in insensitive behaviour. Food and Civil Supplied Minister Umesh Katti asked a poor man to ‘go and die’ when the latter sought the minister’s intervention to ensure the supply of food grains through ration shops. The minister said this in response to the poor man’s helpless question: ‘do you expect to us to die without food?’ The minister had no remorse for his indifferent utterance, and he later even defended it. The minister must know that the lockdown has proved even more problematic for the poor than the coronavirus. It has snatched the sources of livelihood from around 60 per cent of the daily wagers.
As the minister for food, he should have given some reassurance to the man seeking his help, but the minister’s response smacks sheer arrogance of power and utter disdain towards the disempowered. In the same vein, Revenue Minister R Ashok had assured that that the Government would make all arrangements for the cremation of the dead as if he were suggesting that the Government had no role in protecting the people’s lives and it would instead help them dispose of their bodies when they are dead. People do not need more crematoriums. They need hospitals, oxygen, and other means of saving their lives. But a leadership devoid of any humanitarian streak will only be able to show the people the way to the crematoriums. These leaders seem to need some oxygen of compassion for them to arrange the much-needed oxygen for helpless Covid patients.
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Husband has to equally participate in household chores as he is not marrying a maid: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said a husband has to equally participate in household chores like cooking, cleaning and washing as he is not marrying a maid but a life partner.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta which was hearing a petition filed by a man challenging an order of the Karnataka High Court.
The high court had set aside a trial court order granting divorce to the man on the ground of cruelty.
During the hearing before the apex court, the counsel appearing for the man said the mediation between the parties had failed.
He said the marriage between the parties took place in May 2017 and since 2019, the couple is separated.
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"I (man) want a divorce. The trial court granted a divorce on the ground of cruelty," the counsel said.
The bench asked what the cruelty was as alleged in the matter.
The counsel appearing for the man said the woman had indulged in improper behaviour and was not cooking food.
"You have to equally participate in all these. Cooking, cleaning, washing, everything. Today's times are different," Justice Nath observed, adding the high court was right that it might not be a ground for cruelty.
"You are not marrying a maid. You are marrying a life partner," Justice Mehta observed.
The bench was told that both of them were working in a government school.
"Call both parties physically. We would like to speak to them," the bench said.
It posted the matter for hearing on April 27 and asked both parties to remain present before it.
