World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 as a deadly infectious disease caused by a newly discovered strain of coronavirus. As argument runs up to now, the elderly and people with medical history like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop severe illness and, at times, become causality to the pandemic. Superficially, the cause of the spread of the virus is the day to day social transactions of humans. The virus spreads primarily through droplet discharge from the nose and mouth of an infected person when they cough or sneeze near the receiver’s body. While challenging the Aristotelian logic of existence — man is social by nature — the current virus-induced crisis has turned this logic as deadly as it can. If one remains Aristotelian “social,” there can be deadly impact within an eye blink. We have signs around and announcements are made via different means of communication that in a pandemic, “Divided we stand, united we fall.”
To halt the spread of such a deadly virus, a state response is a must. Most of the countries around the globe are halting the spread of the virus through proper hospitalization and medicalization. However, the present political dispensation of India is working against the tide. In other words, what Louis Althusser called as repressive state apparatus—a state of affairs wherein the army, the police, and the courts are used to exercise rigid control over the subjects—is at work in India. BJP-led government announced India’s first 21-day lockdown without knowing its consequences on the poor and the vulnerable sections of the society. As a result, the total number of lockdown deaths in India have reached 24 so far.
Instead of information on their safety, PM Modi shares his fitness mantra through yoga to pass time during the span of lockdown. No doubt, yoga is a good form of mediation for a person living in AC rooms and having a beautiful garden at disposal. It seems that a poor person who faces death on the way home has nothing to do with this mantra. The drama does not end here, but he adds more to it when he gave one more message to 1.3 billion people, to defeat the virus we require every citizen will take care of nine low-income families during the lockdown. As Christopher Jefferlot and Utsav Shah argue, “this mantra is in tune with traditional RSS view, in which society prevails over state apparatus.”
If state response remains so during the hard times, why and for what purpose will an individual need it? If this question is asked to those who consider the state as an out product of contract, the answer would run as the existence of state per se depends on safeguarding three basic rights, i.e., life, liberty, and property. If any of them goes missing, an individual has the right to revolt against those who rebuff it. It is better to establish charitable organizations or to lean towards anarchistic philosophy to make sure our survival. More importantly, poor and marginalized people like migrant workers are in a state of desperation and destitution. They are left to take care of themselves, amidst of crisis, away from their homes. It will add to nothing other than the deepening of the current crisis. It is a moral obligation of the state to own them both at the time of turmoil and normalcy. Their safety should be given priority, and they should be valued as human as other citizens of the country.
The treatment of COVID-19 is not military lockdown or social distancing and forgiveness only. A state like India must create space for the establishment of more medical facilities for citizens, and above all, it needs to make shell-sure engagement with the concept of ‘freedom from fear and want.’ Besides, the state needs to realise that by sanitizing the migrants’ labourers—it will show its impact on their bodies in the future, hence, adding to the vulnerability of their precarious life.
Given the pandemic nature of the disease, if we talk of economies, it desecrated almost all countries of the world on symmetrical lines. If we gauge a bit within the nations, it damaged dichotomies on symmetrical lines like young and old, rich and poor, etc. It is pernicious to the entire inhabitants of the planet. So, every possible effort can help us to minimize its scale of destruction and devastation. In this regard, the role of the state is crucial, apart from individual efforts. Developed countries like the USA, Italy, Japan, and China despite substantial medical facilities and having a higher rank on Human Development Index (HDI) have faced a severe crisis. However, they are responding positively to halt virus-induced crisis but, at times, seem in a destitute condition. Developing countries, be it India and Pakistan, their survival has been lifted to God’s mercy. All of them have the poor medical infrastructure and rank themselves very far on HDI, because of their sharp focus on high politics (traditional security) rather low politics (Human Security—is a human right which refers to the security of people and communities, as opposed to the security of states). Besides, it recognizes that there are several dimensions related to feeling safe, such as freedom from fear, freedom from want, and freedom from indignity. It is the ranking of countries on HDI which would possibly determine the future course of action. All those countries who are able to have a quick recovery from the pandemic will be the new masters of global circus be that China, India, etc.
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Tanveer Ahmad Khan is Senior Research Fellow at Aligarh Muslim University. Email: tanveerkhan101.tk@gmail.co
Co-authored by: Anayat Ul Lah Mugloo, Researcher at University of Kashmir. Email: muglooanayat2@gmail.com