The Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi gave a call for Deepa-andolana , a movement to light the lamps, to unify 130 crore Indians in their fight against the deadly virus, Corona, on April 5, 2020 at 9 pm for 9 minutes.
The million dollar question has been : Can lighting a lamp for 9 minutes drive away, as suggested, the deadly Corona virus? Is this a solution? Or Emotional, or symbolic or scientific? This calls for a deep and insightful analysis.
The first and foremost thing is that this corona virus is a new kind of virus for which scientists the world over have not been able to discover the causative factors ; and hence have not yet discovered any vaccine to prevent its attack, nor found any medication which can cure this deadly disease after its attack. The fight against Corona virus has been a fight against an unknown enemy, hence directionless.
In the midst of such colossal ignorance, the call of the Prime Minister Mr Modi for Deepandolana has given room to myriad questions. Let us analyse.
What is incontrovertible is that till date nowhere in the world has any disease has been prevented or cured by lighting a lamp. If so, why did Prime Minister Modi give a call for deep aandolana, knowing pretty well that this is certainly unscientific.
One version that has been floated is that this call has been given based on an astrological advice: It seems Rahu (an Indian mythological being, one of the of nine astronomical bodies, nava grahas), is the adhipati (ruler) of the virus. And Kuja is Rahu’s enemy. Kuja’s number is 9. The lord of Sunday is the Sun, and that the Sun and Kuja are friends. Hence the PM Modi chose April 5th, a Sunday, (4th month and 5th day of the month, which (4 +5) added up accounts for 9); and at night 9 o’clock and lighting the lamp for 9 minutes from 9 pm to 9.09 minutes. So 9-9-9 which totals 27 and 2 + 7 is equal to 9.
What a great device by Modi to drive away the Corona virus ?!
How can we forget the stark realities that we face in India and in the world as a consequence of the corona virus onslaught?
As reported on April 9, 2020, there are 1,599,580 infected cases globally across the world in 184 countries, taking the death toll to 95,527 plus.
In India cases rise to 6,725; and death toll stands at 226 plus.
The reality is that while those infected with corona virus totaled 3044 cases and death toll 84 on a day prior to deepa andolana ; after this great event, in three days, the strength of those infected rose from 3044 to 5274 and the death toll doubled to 158.
Thus calamities have increased, people should note, more than one and a half times in three days after the deep andolana. What a paradox?
With reference to deep andolana, the PM was clever in giving a secular touch to the otherwise Hindu Nanda Deepa.
Modi ji had said the people the people can light either a diya/deepa, or a candle, or even a mobile phone torch. Candle is the traditional lamp usually used by the Christians.
In this context, though public memory is generally short, old people who have been participating in the general elections since first general election, have not forgotten that Deepa (lamp) was the election symbol of Jan Sangh, the predecessor of BJP ! Thus a symbolic remembrance of the predecessor Jan sangh, and Nanda Deepavali of the Hindus.
Another hidden agenda has been ascribed for for fixing April 5, 2020 for Deepa andolana : this is the eve of the 41st Foundation Day of the BJP on 6th April 2020.
In a sharp attack on India’s response to Covis-19 pandemic, Kamal Hassan, founder-President of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), a political party of Tamil nadu, has written in an open letter to PM Modi in which he has made very caustic remarks and one of them relates to the spectacle of lights.
He has said:
“On one hand, you are asking the more privileged people to put up a spectacle of lights, while on the other hand the poor man’s plight is itself becoming a shameful spectacle. While your world lit up oil diyas in their balconies, the poor are struggling to gather enough oil to bake their next roti.”
Mr Hassan has added :
“These psychotherapy techniques can address the first world anxiety problems of the haves, who have a balcony to cheer. But what about those who don’t even have a roof on their heads?”
A Last word : Fools Day
The British imperialists had introduced observance of April 1, every year, Fools Day. The British rulers had made the Indian ruled classes, the colonized people, to observe Fools Day, without realising that they were fooling them 24×7 since the day they started ruling India, till they made a token exit on August 15, 1947.
The tradition of the Fools Day had continued with the new ruling classes, post-1947, fooling the ruled classes in India.
Yes, PM Modi has Indianized this observance by designating April 5 as the New Fools Day from 2020!
It is high time the 130 crore people of India awaken themselves to this new reality, Modi taking the people for a ride on April 5, 2020 by making them believe that the deadly corona virus would be driven away by lighting the lamps.
He was claiming that the Indian people would all be united by this spectacle, even while his followers, including Chief Ministers and Cabinet colleagues, were busy, as usual, promoting communal divide and hatred every day, and selectively framing false criminal cases under draconian sections of law.
We should all recall the great statement of the American, Republican President Abraham Lincoln who in May 1856, while addressing a Senatorial campaign had said :
“ If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.
“ You fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time. But you can not fool all the people all the time.”
Abraham Lincoln’s statement is an universal truth. The sooner the people of India realize this, the better it is for them and the country.
( Dr KS Sharma, born 1934, heads the Indian Institute Of Marxist Theory And Practice, and is one of the senior-most activists of India. He is a Retired Professor of Law based at Hubli, Karnataka, has been a leader of working class for over 45 years now, focused on unorganized labor, and as Founder-President of Karnataka State Govt. Dailywage Employees Federation, successfully organized one lakh daily-wagers of Govt of Karnataka who got regularized after 30 years of struggle that included street battles and legal battles going upto the Supreme Court. He is a great teacher, poet, writer, dramatist, literary critic, columnist, publisher, orator, and an activist-social scientist who was a past President of ISSA , Indian Social Science Academy, for some time. Post-retirement, he did his doctorate on Indian State : From Marxian Perspective. He is the Founder President of a group of Institutions including an ITI, Institute of Naturopathy and Yoga, Dr. Da Ra Bendre (Jnana Peeth Awardee) Research Institute ( which edited and published about 150 books by Bendre), Indian Institute of Marxist Theory and Practice, FMRRC- Fluorosis Mitigation Research and Resource Centre, all located in Vishwa Shrama Chetana campus, Hubli. .
He contributed to countercurrents, and is its ardent well-wisher .
He may be contacted at : [email protected]
SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWS LETTER
