BENGALURU: Forget the host of attendant issues, both global and local, that we’ll be trying to understand for years. At its core, COVID-19 threw two bouncers at us — without giving any of us any time to put on the helmet. One, the way it crashed the economy. We find ourselves rendered into a state of petrification akin to what a Harry Potter sequence may have featured. Except, this was no fiction. The other is the virus itself: what stalks us is still a mystery. No continent or human cluster is left untouched — from New York to Nanjangud. Only the degrees varied.
We, in the news business, may be guilty of overusing the word ‘mystery’ but Nanjangud sits right up there. It single-handedly threatened to bring infamy to Mysuru, though we finally saw a turnaround that gave us one of India’s model districts. Not before cops and civil servants went sniffing around the premises of Jubilant Pharma — where lurked Mysuru’s own patient zero, most likely as foreign as COVID-19 itself. The mystery was never quite solved. Harsh Gupta, the crack IAS man put on the job, thankfully steered things in a pragmatic direction, advising the government to focus on containment rather than forensic thrills. It clearly paid off.
This would become one of several quick course corrections Karnataka did on the way, as it helped itself out of what could have been a hellhole. Despite accounting for India’s first COVID-19 death, it has managed to cushion its population to some extent. Yes, cases are getting registered every day, and stand at 651 now. But the numbers are doubling at a slower pace, and the recovery rate (49.30%) is far higher than the mortality rate of 4.14% — which, however, is higher than any other southern state and the national average. (Kalburgi in the north remains an area of concern, the bells tolling slowly but regularly.)
Then those embarrassing incidents…an MLA throwing a mega birthday party, a former PM’s grandson getting a lavish wedding, some ministers and MLAs playing philanthropist too enthusiastically, entourages in tow. But overall, Karnataka and its citizenry proved a pleasant surprise at every level — disciplined, willingly locking themselves up or queuing up six feet apart in front of a few provision or medical stores that were open across the state, in rural, urban and peri-urban pockets. The BBMP surprised perhaps even itself with its stellar performance: its high-tech war-room chased the path of the virus and plotted the battle, putting up a 360-degree surveillance in tandem with the police and health professionals. The latter, of course, fought a blind battle, living a dire existence, shunning family and friends.
But no one surprised the state as much as BSY. The CM, all too aware of critics inside and outside, steered the battle from the front. Firefighting as well as planning on the go, he displayed a kind of administrative maturity only a blend of old-style politics and years of grassroots experience brings about. First, he defanged the Opposition by calling them over for an all-party meet, taking their suggestions on board. The newly minted Congress state chief D K Shiva Kumar initially tried an aggressive tack, only to be thwarted by a more circumspect Siddaramaiah, who knew this was a time to play ‘constructive opposition’. Deve Gowda too chose to engage PM Modi than meddle in state politics, leaving BSY enough room to craft his battle strategy.
The economy is the Achilles heel. With little or no revenue and nothing coming by way of Central aid, BSY has his hands tied. Little wonder his first misstep came as he levied exorbitant bus fares on those citizens, including migrant labourers, who desperately wanted to escape to the dignity of their villages than be treated as extras on a film set in a paranoid metropolis. It took a lot of chaos before it was grudgingly reversed. But as is his wont, BSY made quick amends, making bus travel for intra-state migrants free, even if DKS had rushed with a `1 crore cheque to the cash-strapped KSRTC. And then coordinated the exodus with his counterparts. What happens when the migrants travel, the liquor shops open and the industry is persuaded to get back to business? Will the Deccan remain on its plateau?
Santwana Bhattacharya
Resident Editor, Karnataka santwana@newindianexpress.com