An empty package

The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.

- V. SRIDHAR

THE NARENDRA MODI GOVERNMENT HAS managed to turn a health emergency into independent India’s biggest humanitarian disaster. What started as a threat from COVID-19 has become a multidimensional crisis. Economic activity has collapsed, resulting in waves of job and income losses. The ongoing phase of the lockdown—chaotic in every possible way because of the bureaucratic definition of zones, restrictions, regular revisions of guidelines arising from the Home Ministry’s tight grip on when and how even a screw will turn in the country—is unlikely to end well. Ironically, the lockdown is likely to be lifted at a time when the caseload is rising, and the economy’s prospects look dim.

The Modi regime’s penchant for the theatrical flourish was on display when the Prime Minister announced that a Rs.20 lakh crore “economic package” was on its way. Like many of his speeches, this one too had a buzzword: he said his vision was to make India Aatmanirbhar—translated officially into English rather inaccurately as “self-reliant” but more accurately and ominously as taking charge of one’s own destiny. True to form, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, whose gruelling marathon Budget speech of February is still fresh in memory, started unveiling the package on May 13 and continued to do so in a series of press conferences over five days. What the Minister delivered turned out to be not just a damp squib but a gigantic exercise in subterfuge. She managed to conjure up a package that beat even what the Prime Minister had promised—a total package amounting to Rs.20.97 lakh crore. But the large package turned out to be empty.