Heed PM’s Covid warning for the festive season
With the festival season well underway and expected to last until December at least, the choice before the people is quite straightforward. To celebrate religious festivals as overtly and ostentatiously as in the previous years and risk a surge in Covid-19 cases, or to religiously follow health guidelines to keep the disease at bay.
But if the initial participation in the festivities is anything to go by, then health has been given secondary importance. It was for this reason that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to make a personal appeal to the people to not let the guard down as the pandemic is far from over.
Whatever his government’s failings, Modi still enjoys widespread popularity and the people have followed his appeals in the past. Whether they will heed his call again remains to be seen but the ball is now firmly in the 130 crore populace’s court. Kerala paid the price for throwing caution to the wind during Onam in August and the state has seen a spike in Covid cases recently.
No religion enjoins its followers to throng temples, churches, mosques or gurdwaras to pay obeisance. No religious festival mandates devotees to be outwardly celebratory. No God will be angry if pilgrims do not now make a beeline for holy rivers and sites to offer prayers.
Yes, festivities will be subtle and muted, but the religiosity of the occasion will not be diminished in any manner. Religion and festivals need to be currently kept a personal affair, not a public spectacle.
As festivities gather steam elsewhere, a festival of democracy is in progress in Bihar. With electioneering heading towards a crescendo, what is disturbing are media reports, visuals and photographs of health guidelines being flouted openly. The numbers have not been capped at election rallies, masks are an exception rather than the rule and socialising instead of social distancing appears to be the norm.
Political parties and the Election Commission are squarely to blame for this. While elections should go ahead, they ought to have come to a consensus on banning public rallies and meetings. After all, voter choices are more often made at home, not at election venues.