#dnaEdit: Symptoms of ill health

There is the pellet-riddled body, as reported, of Naseer Shafiq Qazi, of Theed Harwan, which triggered protests on Saturday. There is the fax that Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung sends to Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is away in Finland to return immediately as chikunguniya and dengue toll rise in the capital city. There is a foul air all round and the atmosphere is vitiated, and the people are left to fend for themselves. It is as though governments are not only passive but are ineffective. 

The death of the boy in Kashmir takes the toll in the Valley to 81, making every death so much more difficult for normalcy to be restored there. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government of Jammu and Kashmir appears to be bewildered, and the Union home ministry of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government which is deploying security forces in the Valley does not seem to know of any other way of dealing with the tense situation, making it worse with every word its minister and its officials utter. It appears that the state and Central governments are not thinking on their feet, and they are letting it be known that the separatists are scoring tactical goals. 

There is no sense of determination either in the state or in the Central governments to speak and act in a way that do not give the impression that it is a fight between the people and the governments, and that the governments will use maximum force to deal with the people. It is an ill-informed and an ill-advised attitude, which will not help the state and central governments to reach out to the people. There is no doubt that violent protests have to be parried, but without other conciliatory ways, the governments would be running into the trap set by the terrorists and separatists. Security forces getting provoked by stone-pelting protesters is an admission of tactical defeat. 

Jung’s indiscreet message has not done anything to improve the situation in the national capital, which points to a deeper urban malaise that a blinkered L-G is least likely to see. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of Delhi shows no will and no sense of urgency in addressing public health woes. Instead of calling in the mayors, councillors and officials of the three municipal corporations of the city and charting a strategy to contain the raging viral fevers, the AAP ministers and spokespersons seem to be pointing fingers at the skewed administrative set-up, which does now allow the elected government of Delhi to do anything purposeful and effective. 

As the weather changes for the better in the next fortnight, the viral blast in the city may fade away. And the state of Delhi’s health would go off from news headlines, and the administration and political parties can put the whole issue behind them. But it was an issue that should have impelled the AAP government to come up with a plan to deal with Delhi’s public health issues. Instead of bickering with the three municipal corporations, the Delhi government should have looked for ways of dealing with the situation. A walk through the back-alleys and the poorer neighbourhoods reveals the putrid smell of uncollected garbage lying on the streets, and how it is adding to the health woes of the overcrowded neighbourhoods. Delhi’s L-G, instead of playing the constitutional head, is indulging in gestures that are undignified, to say the least. The cable to Sisodia is a reflection of the lack of good manners on the part of Jung.