Leaders on campaign trail as Covid deaths continue
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: February 22, 2022 -

IT'S quite disheartening that every single day for over a fortnight, the state has been recording deaths of Covid-19 patients even as the overall pandemic situation is showing signs of significant improvement.

As top political leaders of different parties join the election campaign for the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly and try to hog the limelight with tall promises blended with scathing remarks against the opponents, the death toll from the pandemic has seen steady rise but gone unnoticed by these leaders.

Of course, presence of bigwigs in election campaign is helpful to candidates and parties in enhancing their profile, but for those families who have suffered loss of near and dear ones due to the pandemic, hearing the political leaders sagaciously telling tales of successful handling of the situation would be akin to rubbing salt to the wounds.

It must be noted that the impact of campaign messages varies according to the characteristics of individual voters.

Many people participate without any encouragement while others abstain no matter how they are prodded. Moreover, most voters would have already taken the decision on whom to vote even before intensification of the campaign and thus are unaffected by the information supplied by the campaign leaders.

It is also an undeniable fact that more than enough people remain who are simply waiting for the polling date to inch closer for a better understanding of the winnability factor or do some hard bargaining so that they do not feel betrayed in case the elected representatives go into slumber for the next few years.

Thus, at a time when everybody would wish that there is no casualty, especially taking into account of the fact that state and national leaders of the ruling party have been in a self-congratulatory mood due to declining number of fresh cases across the country, Manipur continues to count the bodies every day.

For the record, the contagious disease has affected 1,36,433 people, including central forces deployed in the state, and claimed the lives of 2100 patients, officially.

If the deaths of recovered patients are taken into account then the casualty figure will obviously change drastically.

In a state like Manipur where AIDS, chronic diseases, insurgency-related incidents and ethnic conflicts have already caused great misery to many families, it is not the number of infections but the ceaseless loss of more precious lives to the pandemic that would make the commoners feel wretched and hapless.

Of course, government authorities would cite vaccine-hesitancy and comorbid conditions as some of reasons for the demise of Covid-19 patients but the fact remains that the fatalities include fully as well as partially inoculated citizens in addition to the government glorifying sufficient availability of medical oxygen as its greatest achievement in fighting the pandemic.

That the establishment is accountable for the death of Covid patients could also be comprehended from the Supreme Court frowning over unwarranted delays in paying specified ex-gratia compensation to families of those who have fallen prey to the contagion.

Thus, whichever party wins the election the people would be hoping that the new government will spell out the road map for a robust health system among other issues.