Blame game begins between Centre and states over surge in Covid-19 cases

All through the campaign for the Assembly elections, both the BJP and Opposition are avoiding using Covid-19 as a campaign plank

It took some time. But the management of the Covid-19 pandemic has now officially entered the arena of politics; and there are no winners, only losers.

When the infection first became a serious life and livelihood-threatening epidemic, political parties wrestled with the option of using this as a way to advance their agenda, but were muted in using this issue to criticise the government — whether at the Centre or state. 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was in Italy for two weeks in February 2020 and saw first-hand, the health crisis Europe was facing. His tweet on March 3 was one of the firsts by any politician, predicting the dire impact the infection was going to have.

However, Congress leader Ajay Maken said the party would stand with the government in tackling the crisis. A Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to discuss the issue saw no serious attacks on the government, just coordination between chief ministers of Congress-ruled states. Even till November, when talk started about the prevention of the infection via a vaccine, the principal opposition party eschewed politics around it. Party leader Jairam Ramesh told Business Standard: “There must be no politics around the vaccine. We’re very clear.”

All through the campaign for the Assembly elections, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its main Opposition avoided using Covid-19 as a campaign plank. 

In Kerala, one of the worst-hit states, rallies, public meetings, and appeals revolved around the ‘long’ performance of the state government: The BJP charged the Pinarayi Vijayan government with a below-par performance on development and focussed on corruption in the state government, while the Left Front highlighted efficient administration, welfare programmes, and heavy investments in the social sector and criticised the BJP’s ‘communal’ politics. 

The Left Front did not once accuse the Centre of discriminating against it on vaccine delivery. The BJP on its part opted not to raise the issue of bad planning by the state in vaccine delivery.

Member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s or CPI(M)’s Central Committee and Maharashtra leader Ashok Dhawale concedes that bigger issues dominated the election campaign; as the elections were held at a time when the trajectory of infection was on a downward curve. 

However, with the outbreak of the second wave, he says, people are questioning many decisions taken by the Centre. “The Haffkine Institute in Maharashtra is a pioneer in vaccine development. It could have produced the vaccine in large number if the centre had given its permission. The state government sought the Centre’s agreement weeks ago. The Modi government gave its permission just two days ago. Imagine the lives that could have been saved had this come earlier,” he says. He told Business Standard he has just returned from a tour of tribal areas in Maharashtra. 

“What is worrying is that the infection has now reached rural areas. As you know, the rural health infrastructure is in extremely poor shape. Sooner than later, people will begin to ask questions about the mismanagement by governments.”

Buoyed by this, parties too have now begun to take a more aggressive stance. The Congress has launched a “SpeakUpForVaccines­ForAll” campaign on social media, demanding Covid-19 vaccine for all citizens to protect them from the virus. Rahul Gandhi is injecting the element of vaccine-haves and vaccine-have-nots in the debate. “Corona vaccine is the need of the country. You all should also raise your voice for it. Everyone has the right to a safe life,” he said in a tweet.

Rahul Verma, a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, and a close watcher of domestic politics says: “Till a few weeks ago, the active daily cases were too low for it to become politically salient. After Holi, the daily cases had begun rising exponentially, but by then elections in four states were over. In fact, in February-March, vaccine hesitancy was high. Lots of dosages were getting wasted and many people were questioning why Covaxin was given the approval to roll out without full trials.”

But things have changed, Verma says, “Now that we have been severely hit and the cases are likely to double in less than a week, there is panic. The political slugfest has also begun with the Centre and states blaming the other on inefficient planning and coordination. In my opinion, both are equally responsible for the current mess. In a crisis like this, as Yamini Aiyar (president of CPR) argued few days ago, the Centre and states must show trust, confidence, transparency, and coordination. If we do not course correct in coming days, India will be Covid-19's worst victim.”

At his meeting with chief ministers earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the issue was not a shortage of vaccines but a deficiency in planning and issues of governance by state governments. As vaccine procurement is centralised, if the state governments take up this refrain, the stage will be set for a major political clash.