The second wave of Covid 19, which wreaked havoc across the country, might be in the process of slowing down. The number of daily new cases and the number of daily deaths which crossed 4 lakhs and 4500 respectively are reported to be gradually coming down, though not uniformly across the country. During the second wave, India recorded 4529 deaths in a single day, more deaths due to Covid in a single day than any other country in the world anytime during the pandemic. However, according to international and national experts, these figures are highly under reported. The actual numbers of infections and deaths are estimated to be at least 5-10 times more.

Now a third wave, in which children are said to be more likely victims, is being predicted.

The first wave left shocking images of thousands of migrant workers with their families and children marching hundreds of kilometres on the road and railway tracks.  Many died on the way due to exhaustion and hunger.  These images continue to haunt us to this day.

The images of the second wave are even more horrifying. In the second wave the disease spread even to remote villages where hardly any health infrastructure or medical facilities are available and affected more young persons. Testing facilities were overwhelmed. People had to wait to get tested and to get the reports. Many people died before they got the reports. Covid patients outside hospitals waiting for hours and days for a bed, many dying before they could get one; several patients, till then unknown to each other, sharing one oxygen cylinder on the pavement outside a hospital; pyres burning day and night and families unable to find slots to cremate their dear ones; bodies floating on the Ganges; entire families wiped out within days; hundreds of children left orphaned in this second wave of Covid 19; overstressed doctors, nurses and other medical staff. These horrifying images will be haunting us for years to come.

But, for the BJP government led by Modi, none of these are matters to be concerned about. What it is bothered more about is repairing the image of Modi, which has been dented by people’s anger and resentment at his total negligence and failure in protecting their lives in the second wave, which was predicted well ahead. Despite the warnings that were given by scientists and health experts, the Modi led BJP government totally ignored them and went ahead celebrating its misconceived and illusory ‘victory’ over Covid.

Modi government’s apathy towards protecting lives and livelihoods of people is not new. It was evident even during the first wave of Covid, last year. Despite the disease being found in the country in January 2020 itself and spreading in several states, the government did not act with the required urgency to contain its spread. During the initial days, the Tablighi jamaat was blamed by the BJP leaders and the compliant media for the spread of Covid; media reports maliciously tagged new cases to the congregation in Nizamuddin though the BJP government has allowed that congregation and foreign participants were given the necessary permissions by the government at the centre to visit the country.

A countrywide lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister only on 24^th March 2020 with just four hours notice. People, particularly the poor were given no time to prepare themselves for the lockdown. Neither did the government make any preparations to ensure that the jobs and incomes of workers, particularly the migrant workers and the workers in the unorganised sector, are protected; that they are not thrown out of their rented accommodation; that those who want to go to their native places are provided transport. Nothing has been done. The BJP government was in the denial mode even when lakhs of migrant workers walked to their villages because of the government’s refusal to provide any transport for them.

Lakhs of workers lost their jobs, incomes and shelters during the first wave and associated lockdown last year. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), 12.2 crore people in our country lost their livelihood in April 2020. Around 75% of them were small traders and wage labourers.

The number of salaried workers who lost their jobs was also significant. The average employment came down from an estimated 39.6 crore in March 2020 to 28.2 crore in April 2020.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have estimated that 41 lakh youth have lost jobs, mainly in the construction and farm sectors. The report says that two thirds of firm level apprentices and three quarters of internships were completely interrupted during the pandemic.

Large numbers of these workers were not able to regain their jobs and incomes even after the lockdown restrictions were lifted and the country was limping to normal economic activities as the first wave receded. The migrant workers who returned to their villages could not find employment that could sustain them and their families. Most of them had to come back to the cities. But they could not regain the jobs that they lost. Most of them had to take up informal work and for lower wages. Even before they were coming to terms with the changed conditions, the second wave hit and it hit even harder.

The human suffering and the humanitarian disaster caused by the second wave of Covid raise a serious question. Was this inevitable? Was it unavoidable? Not at all. Could these not be prevented? Definitely, it could have been. The second wave was predicted; the government was warned; several countries in the world have already faced second and even third waves.

The Disaster Management Act fully empowered the government and the administration with powers to ensure protection of employment and incomes during such an emergency situation of lockdown and forced shut downs/ decline in economic activities. Last year, the Union Home Ministry and Labour Ministry have issued some advisories refraining from retrenchment/ income cuts and for ensuring other protections. Of course, it is also a fact that the government did nothing to enforce these despite the consistent persuasion by the trade union movement. Later, the BJP government unilaterally withdrew the advisory. Why didn’t the Modi government prepare itself to protect people in the second wave?

By the time of the second wave in our country, the world has gained enough experience and expertise to deal with the virus. Covid protocols for containing its spread, technology for testing, procedures for tracing, line of treatment etc were all established. Above all, scientific advances made it possible to develop and produce vaccines in a comparatively short period. Vaccines were being produced in many countries including in India. The government had enough time to strengthen health infrastructure, recruit personnel, – doctors, nurses, technical and para medical staff etc and provide personal protective equipment to them, to ensure adequate hospital beds, oxygen, ventilators, medicines are available. The government which boasts of ‘Bharatiya vaccines’ had enough time to ramp up production of vaccines. It could have utilised this time to ensure vaccines are available to all. But the Modi government did nothing of these. These simply were not on the priority list of this BJP government. Protection of people’s lives and livelihood had never been a priority of the BJP government. During the pandemic, it remained busy serving its corporate masters, ignoring the sufferings and miseries of the people.

The BJP government left the people to their fate, (was it what it meant by ‘Atmanirbharta’, that people have to learn to fend for themselves; don’t look at the government for any support?), as the second wave spread like wild fire and ravaged the lives of people. The government was busy claiming victory over Corona. The BJP working committee passed a resolution praising the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister himself boasted at international forums of saving humanity through his government’s effective dealing of Covid in India. It did not care even to place advance orders for the ‘Bharatiya vaccines’ being produced in our own country to vaccinate our people. Without taking measures to ensure that all our people are vaccinated as early as possible, it allowed export of vaccines, strangely to countries which had significantly lower cases than our country, in the name of ‘vaccine maitry’. It was nothing but an exercise to build up the image of the Prime Minister cruelly neglecting the responsibility to protect our own people.  

When people were gasping for breath due to lack of oxygen, the BJP government was busy promoting super spreader events. The posters of Prime Minister and the chief minister of Uttarakhand welcomed pilgrims to the Hardwar Kumbh Mela. The chief minister of BJP ruled Uttarakhand said mother Ganga will protect people from Corona. The Uttarakhand government initially claimed that 49 lakh people have taken the shahi snan in the Ganges on the occasion. After being criticised, now it is trying to scale down the numbers by manipulating data.

The priority of the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister was to somehow win the assembly election in West Bengal, stretched over 8 phases by an obedient Election Commission. They were busy addressing huge meetings in West Bengal where no Covid protocol was observed.  The BJP chief minister of Assam said that there is no Corona in Assam; so no covid protocols were necessary. BJP ruled Uttar Pradesh government held Panchayat elections. More than 1600 teachers, deputed on election duty have reportedly died in the state due to Covid. Unlike during the first wave, media was silent on those who participated in Kumbh Mela carrying the virus as ‘prasada’.

This is not just a failure; not just omission to do something or a mistake on the part of the government. It is criminal insensitivity and negligence to protect the lives of our people and their right to life as enshrined in our Constitution. It is linked to the Modi government’s commitment to the neoliberal agenda, its pro corporate stance, its basic philosophy of governance through divisive ploys and its contempt for science and truth and its indulgence towards myths and unscientific practices. It is these that led it into complacency and complete unconcern.

Instead of the government intervention and planning, the health of the people was left at the mercy of the market forces. Instead of strengthening public health infrastructure, the BJP government promoted insurance based private health care, weakening and dismantling even the existing public health infrastructure. Despite the tall claim of hiking the allocation for health in the budget 2021-22 by 137%, the reality is that the allocation has only marginally increased – from 0.31% of GDP in the 2020-21 Budget to 0.35% of GDP in 2021-22. This is a far cry from the health expenditure of 2.5% of GDP envisaged in the National Health Policy 2017! Public health expenditure in India continues to be among the lowest in the world, lower than even our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal. It has been hovering around 1% for the last ten years.

Under neoliberalism public sector vaccine manufacturing units were closed. In addition, the public health care network and infrastructure was consistently weakened to the absolute minimum level, obviously to help the private health businesses make profits. The BJP government relied on the two private sector vaccine manufacturing companies and blinded by its devotion to neoliberalism,probably expected the ‘market’ would induce the private companies to produce and supply the required doses of vaccine to our country. Only recently it has approved the Russian vaccine Sputnik for use in our country.

Under the Modi led BJP government, India, considered the global hub of vaccine manufacturing, proved to be incapable to producing vaccines to meet the demands of its own population. Today, we are facing serious shortage of vaccines. Hundreds of vaccination centres had to shut down due to the inability of the government of India to supply vaccines.  The government refuses to invoke compulsory licensing for the vaccines and utilise the public sector units for vaccine manufacture to ramp up production. Under pressure, only recently it has allowed manufacture of Covaxin – developed by the National Institute of Virology under the Indian Council of Medical Research, a public sector institution, along with Bharat Biotech – at Haffkine Institute on a technology transfer basis followed by a few more public sector units.

The vaccine policy announced by the BJP government is one more proof if at all one more is needed, of the BJP government’s commitment to corporate profits at the cost of people’s lives and welfare. It has totally abdicated from its responsibility of universal free vaccination against Covid 19, abandoning the previouslyestablished practice in our country. Instead of procuring vaccines centrally and distributing to the state governments as per their requirements, the Modi government asked the state governments to buy vaccines from open market, forcing them to compete with one another and with the private hospitals. Recently, it has been reported that the Supreme Court too criticised the Modi government’s decision to pass on the burden of procuring the vaccines on to the state governments.

The vaccine manufacturers were allowed to announce their prices. Serum Institute of India announced that it will charge state governments Rs 400 and private hospitals Rs 600 per dose. Bharat Biotech would charge state governments Rs 600 and private hospitals Rs 1200 per dose. The difference in the rates makes it evident that these private companies would prefer to sell to private hospitals to get more profits. Several state governments have announced that they would vaccinate their citizens free but they are facing serious shortage of vaccines. On the other hand, big corporate hospitals are able to procure vaccines and charging high rates for vaccination. Several state governments have called for international tenders for supply of vaccines but international vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Moderna etc are not ready to talk to them. They have made it clear that they would talk only with the government of India. What the BJP government has managed to do is to create a situation of anarchy only to facilitate private health business make huge profits at the cost of the common people of the country.

It is estimated that the government of India can procure the total number of doses to cover the entire eligible population by spending the amount of Rs 35000 crores it has specifically earmarked in the union budget for vaccination, at Rs 186 per dose, while at present it is buying for Rs 157 per dose. But the BJP government is refusing to do that simply to allow the private companies to make super profits.

Irked by the growing criticism of its handling the second wave of Covid 19, within the country as well as internationally, the Modi government is trying to change the ‘narrative’, but not the reality. It has started arrogantly blaming the state governments, the critical segment of the media and even the people. State governments asking for adequate supply of vaccine doses were ordered to manage supply, not to make demands. They were told that vaccines would be supplied only for those who need it not for all those who want it. The True to its character, the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh government booked cases against hospitals who put up notices about lack of oxygen. RSS blamed international conspiracy behind the reports about people’s sufferings due to lack of adequate facilities like beds, oxygen, ventilators etc. Poor people were arrested for displaying placards asking the Prime Minister why he allowed exports of vaccine when adequate quantities were not available for the people of this country.The usual abuses, of being ‘anti national’, of using ‘tool kits’ to defame the country, of being agents of Pakistan, China etc, were freely used against those criticising the BJP government’s failures.

People were blamed for not wearing masks, not maintaining social distancing, not following Covid protocols. Yes, it is true that many people, particularly in the rural areas did not practice the necessary protocols. But more than negligence, this was due to ignorance, ignorance of the scientific basis for wearing mask, washing hands, maintaining physical distance etc. It was also about the difficulties in following these norms due to poverty and their living conditions. The government had the responsibility to educate the people and take all measures to help them follow the precautionary measures. The government did nothing for this.

But this cannot be expected from a government and its leaders themselves promoting unscientific practices and myths. In a country where the Prime Minister, without any scientific basis, declares that the war on Corona can be won in 21 days, where he asks people to switch off lights for nine minutes and then switch them on to ward off Corona, where ministers and ruling party leaders participate in ‘hawan’s against Corona, where building temples to Corona and offering prayers to that ‘goddess’ are encouraged, how can people be expected to understand the importance of wearing masks to protect themselves from the disease?

Wearing masks has a scientific basis in that it prevents the virus from entering into the body through the nose and mouth. But how can this be driven into people’s minds in a country where the union health minister, himself a qualified doctor, is repeatedly seen publicly sharing dais with Ramdev who makes huge money by selling illegal and scientifically unproved drugs with false claims of treating Corona? When state governments like in Haryana spends huge amounts of people’s money to distribute the same illegal and unproved Coronil kits produced by Ramdev’s Patanjali to the people of the state? When no action is taken against him for making vitriolic comments against science based allopathy as being stupid and bankrupt and calling the doctors tirelessly working day and night to save lives as ‘murderers’ in the presence of the union health minister? Ramdev makes is allowed to spew such venom as he himself along with his associate Balkrishna take modern medicines under allopathy treatment when they fall ill.There are hundreds of such instances where science and scientific thinking are sought to be buried and myths, unscientific ideas and practices are promoted in the name of ‘faith’, ‘belief’ etc by the BJP and some other ruling parties, to suit their narrow interests.

This is not something unintentional. Promoting unscientific thinking, myths etc, keeping the people in the dark about truth, reality and facts based analysis not only suits the ruling classes in an exploitative society, it benefits them. Such promotion of myths and unscientific thinking has increased many times under neoliberalism, to divert the people’s attention and prevent them to understand the real causes for their miseries and fight unitedly against them. Instead of making people understand and convince them of the scientific basis to wear masks, the BJP government is blaming them just to cover its failure.

The cruel insensitivity of the Modi led BJP government gets magnified when we see that it is during this period when the working class and the entire toiling people were reeling under the devastating impact of the Covid pandemic and the associated lockdowns that the BJP government intensified its barbarous attacks on them through its labour codes and farm laws. It is during this period that it seeks to put the country on sale through its disastrous privatisation. All these are intended to protect and increase corporate profits at the cost of our toiling people, the workers and peasants who produce the wealth of our country. It is during this period that it has intensified its attacks on the basic human and Constitutional rights of our people to suppress all opposition and resistance to its policies.

However, this is not specific only to the BJP government. Several governments in capitalist countries have been attacking the working class by cutting down wages and benefits, increase age of retirement, curtailing social security and above all depriving their right to form unions, to protect and increase corporate profits. Ruling classes across the world have been promoting right wing parties and forces to divide people on racial, regional etc lines and suppress dissent through autocratic measures.This is a comprehensive project to protect the system, the capitalist system, in crisis. The Modi led BJP government is utilising the pandemic and associated lockdowns, restrictions on movement etc to nakedly come out with its fascistic intentions to serve its corporate masters, both domestic and foreign, through this comprehensive project.

But there are exceptions. There are countries which consider health as a basic Right of every citizen, where governments shoulder the responsibility to build robust public health systems to ensure the right to health – the socialist countries like China, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, North Korea. Under the socialist system, people’s welfare is the priority of the State, not corporate profits. How these countries addressed the pandemic starkly brings out the contrast between the capitalist system and the socialist system. China, where Covid 19 was first discovered, when nothing was known about the new virus, was able to effectively contain the disease. The total number of cases was limited to less than 1 lakh and total deaths to 4636. Socialist Vietnam was able to limit the total number of cases to just 4512 and deaths to 47. Similarly Cuba, which continues to face the criminal inhuman sanctions by the USA not only effectively contained the disease but also sent its medical teams to different parts of the world including to Italy and helped them in treating the disease. Contrast this to the USA, the richest, most scientifically developed and most powerful country in the world which also led the world with a total of around 3.3 crore cases and 5.9 lakh deaths. The main reason is that people’s health in the country is left to the private sector, based on insurance. The United Kingdom, which once had a strong public health system, but which was being dismantled under neoliberalism, registered around 45 lakh cases and more than 1.27 lakh deaths. In our country, the efforts of the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala in containing the disease were acclaimed nationally and internationally, including by the WHO. It has showed how through effective government intervention and strong public health system, Covid can be effectively contained. Even during the second wave, when the other parts of the country including Delhi witnessed shortage of beds, oxygen etc, the state government was able to ensure people in the state faced no such difficulties. It was able to contain the case fatality rate at the lowest in the country.

While the BJP government has been trying to utilise the pandemic to advance its neoliberal agenda, it is to the credit of the people of our country, the workers, peasants, agricultural workers and other toiling people who have been heroically fighting against these attacks. During the countrywide lockdown associated with the first wave, the working class started raising their voice and their demands, initially from within their houses, from their balconies and roof tops. This has inspired all the other sections and gradually people stepped out of their homes, came out on to the streets and stepped up the struggle, culminating in the historic country wide joint general strike on 26^th November 2020. It is almost one year that the peasants started their united fight against the farm ordinances and then against the farm laws. It is more than six months that the historic peasants’ dharna at the Delhi borders has been continuing uninterrupted. It is again during this period that the joint trade union and joint kisan movements synchronised their struggles and stood in solidarity with each other. 

The second wave of Covid has torn off all the layers of masks that this Modi led BJP government managed to keep itself covered in, the masks which was carefully protected by the corporate media during the last seven years. It has exposed the nakedly pro corporate and anti people character of this government. The discontent and anger of people was reflected in the recently held assembly elections and the panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh.

But the BJP government continues to be arrogant. It refuses to acknowledge and rectify its failures. It refuses to step back from its neoliberal path. It continues to doggedly pursue the same malicious design of utilising every crisis as an opportunity and as an occasion to serve the corporates and big businesses; to facilitate their looting of the country, to enable increased exploitation of the workers and amass obscene amounts of wealth.

United and massive struggles by all sections of toiling people are the answer to such arrogance and obduracy. Joint struggles by the working class, by the peasantry and joint struggles of the working class, peasantry and all sections of toiling people have to be further intensified, have to be taken to new militant heights of resistance and defiance to ensure change in policies.

It is with this objective that CITU has taken up a ten day campaign on the immediate issues and demands of the people, of the workers, peasants and all sections of toiling people, from 1- 10 June 2021.

1. Ramp up vaccine production and ensure universal free vaccination within a definite time frame; invoke compulsory licensing and take immediate measures to start new production facilities, preferably in the public sector. Government of India should take the responsibility for procurement of vaccines,both from home and abroad to ensure universal vaccination within a specific time frame
2. Ensure adequate hospital beds, oxygen and other medical facilities to meet the Covid surge
3. Scrap anti-people discriminatory pro-corporate Vaccine Policy
4. Strengthen public health infrastructure including recruiting the necessary health personnel
5. Any order under Disaster Management Act issued by any authority imposing restrictions in movement, curfew etc must accompany strict order on all employers and all concerned banning retrenchment, wage-cut and eviction from residences etc and same must be strictly enforced.
6. Restore immediately the Inter State Migrant Workmen’s Act 1979 repealed by OSWC Code.
7. Scrap anti-worker Labour Codes and anti-people Farm Laws and Electricity Bill
8. Stop privatization and Disinvestment
9. Cash transfer of Rs 7500 per month for all non income tax paying families
10. 10 kg free food grains per person per month for the next six months
11. Ensure non Covid patients get effective treatment in government hospitals
12. Ensure availability of protective gear, equipments etc for all health and frontline workers and those engaged in pandemic-management work including ASHAs and anganwadi employees along with comprehensive insurance coverage for them all.
13. Provide compassionate appointment to one dependent of workers in the organised sector who have died due to Covid. Provide compensation to the families of the workers in the unorganised sector who have succumbed to Covid

This campaign must continue to prepare the ground for bigger joint struggles across the country mobilising the working class and the toiling people en masse at the appropriate time.