There are occasions when a govt's resources are not enough. With coronavirus, India is in the midst of a World War and this crisis needs our entire national capacity.
Taking a break from work in England, Homi Bhabha returned to India in 1939 and decided to stay, going on to become the father of India's nuclear programme.
Gandhi's letter was written on to mark the Jewish new year on 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland and triggered World War II, and eventually the Holocaust.
From Munir’s point of view, a few bumps here and there is par for the course. He isn’t going to drive his dumper truck to its doom. He wants to use it as a weapon.
This is not a war. Do you declare a war against excess rain, drought (well, many people wrongly do) ? No. Simply because you cannot stop it from happening – we cannot stop/eradicate coronavirus out of existence, we cannot make it go away or surrender. We can only shield ourselves from it and stay unharmed. In other words, we don’t defeat it – we make it irrelevant.
Also, there is a difference in a leader pulling together all the nation’s resources versus people rushing for rescue out of their own anxiety – Churchill was humble enough to let go of his ego, relay the reality to the people. Our Supreme leader did not do that.
War (and the metaphors) might be the gush of fresh air for the army aficionados and for haughty leaders to justify hardship & leader worship, but it is tedious for the rest of us.
P.S. I don’t think Churchill was ever complacent either, rather he was the paranoid one.
P.P.S. Here as well the US is mired in its self-interest, staying out of all the action.
Have come across a few times the writings and videos of this author. The basis of every piece turns out to be needless military hyperbole and trash-emotional calls focused on the so called greatness of the military and its people.
Dunkirk saw evacuation of British forces. It was not a victory.
When victory happened 5 years later, it was as a result of British, French, Canadian, American, Russian, Polish, Indian etc. etc. troops fighting in multiple theaters across the globe.
It’s fine to choose analogies to make a point but with more robust examples please. The 2008 sub prime crisis triggered in the US but having cascading impact on global economy requiring individual nations to act in concert comes to mind. This requires more of technocratic expertise and less of whipping up of nationalistic fervor.
I think, the author’s likening the Covid crisis to Britain’s Dunkirk moment, where by national resolve and unity, the BEF was rescued, is only to point out that we too may be able to fight the crisis by national resolve and unity.
My only two bit on this, is that, the present Govt has to do much more than the firefighting that they are doing at present. They have to take Parliament and the people with them like Churchill did
What a shambles of a piece where a veteran tries to force fit a localized WW2 action into a modern global crisis. Needless hyperbole about how Britain would have been lost if it only lost a part of its army when its powerful Navy and Air Force were intact. Has the writer heard of the Battle of Britain?
Who’s playing the role of the Germans here? The Corona virus?
So the British Expeditionary Forces are who exactly? The Indian population? The World population? Where are they being evacuated to?
Who is Churchill here? Modi? Or Trump? or Trudeau? All of them together?
Which “people’s navy”” does the writer want to mobilize like at Dunkirk – when in fact people are being asked to demobilize?
How does he know Govts resources are not enough? Is he asking for donations – money or blood, or other kinds?
There are some excellent WW2 movies that the writer could have been watching or suggested that the rest of us watch rather than pen this meaningless piece.
This is not a war. Do you declare a war against excess rain, drought (well, many people wrongly do) ? No. Simply because you cannot stop it from happening – we cannot stop/eradicate coronavirus out of existence, we cannot make it go away or surrender. We can only shield ourselves from it and stay unharmed. In other words, we don’t defeat it – we make it irrelevant.
Also, there is a difference in a leader pulling together all the nation’s resources versus people rushing for rescue out of their own anxiety – Churchill was humble enough to let go of his ego, relay the reality to the people. Our Supreme leader did not do that.
War (and the metaphors) might be the gush of fresh air for the army aficionados and for haughty leaders to justify hardship & leader worship, but it is tedious for the rest of us.
P.S. I don’t think Churchill was ever complacent either, rather he was the paranoid one.
P.P.S. Here as well the US is mired in its self-interest, staying out of all the action.
Have come across a few times the writings and videos of this author. The basis of every piece turns out to be needless military hyperbole and trash-emotional calls focused on the so called greatness of the military and its people.
Grow-up Mr Author!
The writer want to highlight the coopration by public can bring the positive change in the end result
Dunkirk saw evacuation of British forces. It was not a victory.
When victory happened 5 years later, it was as a result of British, French, Canadian, American, Russian, Polish, Indian etc. etc. troops fighting in multiple theaters across the globe.
It’s fine to choose analogies to make a point but with more robust examples please. The 2008 sub prime crisis triggered in the US but having cascading impact on global economy requiring individual nations to act in concert comes to mind. This requires more of technocratic expertise and less of whipping up of nationalistic fervor.
I think, the author’s likening the Covid crisis to Britain’s Dunkirk moment, where by national resolve and unity, the BEF was rescued, is only to point out that we too may be able to fight the crisis by national resolve and unity.
My only two bit on this, is that, the present Govt has to do much more than the firefighting that they are doing at present. They have to take Parliament and the people with them like Churchill did
What a shambles of a piece where a veteran tries to force fit a localized WW2 action into a modern global crisis. Needless hyperbole about how Britain would have been lost if it only lost a part of its army when its powerful Navy and Air Force were intact. Has the writer heard of the Battle of Britain?
Who’s playing the role of the Germans here? The Corona virus?
So the British Expeditionary Forces are who exactly? The Indian population? The World population? Where are they being evacuated to?
Who is Churchill here? Modi? Or Trump? or Trudeau? All of them together?
Which “people’s navy”” does the writer want to mobilize like at Dunkirk – when in fact people are being asked to demobilize?
How does he know Govts resources are not enough? Is he asking for donations – money or blood, or other kinds?
There are some excellent WW2 movies that the writer could have been watching or suggested that the rest of us watch rather than pen this meaningless piece.