While the state is in the grip of corona virus with a surge in the number of cases each day, the YSRCP dispensation seems to be caught in a confrontation with the Opposition and constitutional bodies fuelled by ego and bravado which can only end in disaster, damage the image of Jagan and a general loss of faith in democracy. The Jagan administration is doubling down on vengeance as its policy doctrine. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s actions make clear that there is a desire for vengeance in state politics, decimating political rivals, coercing defections, perpetrating violence by physical attacks and intimidations. Growing intolerance and flouting of constitutional rights can’t be dismissed lightly.
Jagan thinks he can suppress everything – individuals, institutions perhaps even corona virus. First, he tried to suppress the seriousness of the pandemic by forcing Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney to write a letter to State Election Commission that the elections can be held as scheduled as the state administration was war ready to handle the situation. This was in the third week of March when corona virus did not enter Andhra Pradesh. Two weeks after, the state reported 370 positive cases with six deaths. Further, by under reporting the number of positive cases in the state, Jagan thinks he has suppressed the virus and conquered the war against Covid-19. But what Jagan fails to understand is that decimating political rivals and indulging in politics of vengeance is easier than fighting corona.
What we are witnessing in Andhra Pradesh is deeply disturbing. The battle of nerves between the State Election Commission and the state government has taken an ugly turn. The Jagan government has decided to remove SEC Ramesh Kumar after he deferred the civic body polls citing the spread of corona virus. The decision to sack the SEC if not anything is downright immature, comes at a time when the whole country is engrossed in how to contain the virus and save its people. But in AP, the political dispensation seems to be busy sacking and removing officials and doctors for raising just issues like shortage of medical supplies. Jagan thinks he has suppressed Dr Sudhakar Rao and Nagari municipal commissioner Venkata Ramana Reddy for raising voices of dissent over acute shortage of medical supplies. Those voices have struck a discordant note. Those voices are a telling commentary on the state of affairs in Andhra Pradesh. These voices are a clarion call to keep politics out of health. But Jagan seem to have squandered the most valuable resource in a pandemic: Time.
The best of leaders believe in the responsibilities of government and the realities of fact. Confronted by crisis, Jagan’s response has been to minimize it, downplaying the realities of Covid-19 while bragging about what an amazing job his administration has been doing. It is not clear yet whether the virus will become a significant health crisis in Andhra Pradesh, but it is not too trecognize that Jagan’s administration is already terminally ill with political delirium.
What gives hope in this crisis is the way people have responded to the pandemic with a sense of sacrifice and relative calm. What gives hope is a medical professional like Jhansi, a doctor seven-months pregnant discharging her duties in Viziangaram’s remote Devupalli Village, risking her life and that of baby in the womb. It is her and many like her who undoubtedly save lives, contain the contagion while politicians like Jagan dabble in what they are not good at – good politics. Jagan should give bad politics a break at least for now, at least at this hour when his state and people are caught in the grip of pandemic, when migrant workers, daily wagers and farmers are going hungry.
