A new line of argument has already come to dominate the public sphere: it’s the “we have to live with it” line.
The central govt said it. Arvind Kejriwal said it. Pundits on TV said it. What’s going on? Why are we turning to the famed Indian fatalism now, after two months of lockdown?
The fact is that the lockdown, which was meant to be used to buy time to expand medical facilities and flatten the curve, was used for none of these things. The government hoped that if they twiddled their thumbs and looked away, the curve would flatten itself.
Meanwhile, hunt activists, blame Muslims, destroy labour laws, the usual. Meanwhile, people went through unaccountable hardship, lost their livelihoods, died, etc etc.
All this for what? So that we could go back to square one, and not forward?
We have had 4k new infections yesterday. It’s a new record.
Before you succumb to Indian fatalism, don’t forget to ask, why did we lockdown if not a single target has been achieved? Who will pay the price for human suffering?