New Delhi: Sunday marked the 14th death anniversary of Pramod Mahajan, who was credited with being the BJP’s master strategist and a compelling orator, two decades back. He was the BJP’s election manager in the 2004 general elections, the brainchild behind the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition in Maharashtra and a Union minister in both governments led by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Mahajan once said that everything in life is determined by politics. Therefore, the foremost question on everyone’s mind right now is how the lockdown will be lifted or loosened and how politics will affect it. So far what has been done is shambolic since people sitting in offices cannot possibly determine which zone is green, orange or red.
Politics of the lockdown
ThePrint’s Rama Laxmi has written an opinion piece on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s politics during the lockdown.
The article explains the intricate politics of how Modi has taken the credit for the lockdown but is now leaving the responsibility on others. Everyone applauded Modi for the lockdown, even Shekhar Gupta tweeted his support for the decision on 23 March.
Politicians work for power and their decisions are based on politics, not on statesmanship. A politician will make a decision that suits his form of politics. Today we see the lockdown has given Modi a tremendous amount of power and so much power in the hands of the government is too much. It is also important to allow the states take responsibility in this situation.
Covid-19 vaccines
There has been a frantic race for vaccine developments and now, US biotechnology company Moderna has signed a contract with Swiss company Lonza Group to produce 100 crore Covid-19 vaccine vials. Their messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine is undergoing human trials right now. This type of vaccines induces the body’s own cells to make virus-like proteins that stimulate an immune response and prepare for an actual infection.
Similarly, Serum Institute of India is also producing vector vaccines by the Oxford University and will procure at least 4 crore vials by September. These companies are producing these vials before the vaccine has been approved and are taking a risk here. If the vaccines are not approved, their money will go to waste.
Also read: Why a lockdown of 40 days is forcing Indian companies to write-off an entire quarter
Freedom of Press
World Press Freedom Day was celebrated Sunday and press freedom is extremely important because, without it, politicians cannot be held to account.
India ranks 142 on the Global Press Freedom rankings — this is 20 points behind Afghanistan. Even the US is ranked 45, behind Botswana. This doesn’t really seem correct and the rankings are perhaps focusing on the wrong questions.
India’s young reporters are the ones who protect India’s press freedom. They risk their lives to find the truth and report it. ThePrint’s young reporters have travelled all around the country to cover the Covid-19 crisis. Two reporters, Simrin Sirur and Praveen Jain, have even tested positive for Covid-19 and are now in quarantined in Vadodara. They were on their way to Maharashtra after covering Gujarat.
Taran Deol and Urjita Bhardwaj went to cover Punjab. Angana Chakrabarti and Sonia Agarwal went to Madhya Pradesh and covered Indore, which is a hotspot.
Neelam Pandey and Suraj Bisht are covering Uttar Pradesh. Samyak Pandey and Fatima Khan travelled to UP earlier.
Sravasti Dasgupta, who has just joined two weeks back, is covering Delhi along with Revathi Krishnan, Bismee Taskin, Kairvy Grewal and Manisha Mondal.
Swagata Yadavar got the first stories out of Bhilwara in Rajasthan along with Manisha Mondal.
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