Uttar Pradesh polls and the Covid night curfew's political purpose

Has Covid-19 turned into an owl? The people of Uttar Pradesh are asking this question as the Yogi Adityanath government has enforced a night curfew to prevent the spread of the latest coronavirus variant – Omicron.

Restrictions on the movement of people and gatherings remain in force from 11 pm to 5 am, while political parties are free to hold their rallies and mega shows and people have the freedom to party throughout the day. It is no wonder that some have asked, "is Omicron nocturnal and a day-sleeper?"

The night curfew in the country's most populous state came into place on Christmas night on December 25, compelling people to avoid midnight and post-midnight celebrations and gatherings. Ironically, earlier on the same day, the UP chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, remained busy distributing tablets and smartphones to more than 60,000 youth who had gathered at a specially organised event under one roof of Lucknow's Ekana cricket stadium.

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Over the last few days of 2021, one has witnessed numerous political rallies of all major political parties, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaving others far behind. Modi visited UP and addressed four big rallies between December 21 and 28, and another on January 2.

Starting from the mega show of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor inauguration in his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, rallies were held in Prayagraj and Gorakhpur, followed by Kanpur and the laying of the foundation stone of the Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut on January 2.

Not only did the PM draw massive crowds, but the chaos and congestion created across Kanpur on December 28 threw all coronavirus precautions to the winds. Chief Minister Adityanath was not left too far behind Modi in holding public events in different cities of the state, drawing thousands of people.

Interestingly, according to a study, the post-11pm traffic on Lucknow's roads is less than five per cent of what one finds on those same roads during the day. Night gatherings were limited mainly to weddings. The night curfew permits marriages with a ceiling of 200 people on the gathering.

So what was it the government intendeds to achieve by enforcing a strict night curfew? Nothing in terms of corona prevention. But it seems to serve specific political purposes.

After all, such a move does help send a message far and wide that the government is genuinely concerned about the welfare of the people of the state. In the bargain, the government may succeed in substantiating its tall and allegedly false claims, echoed systematically on the mainstream media and social media platforms, about how well it had carried out corona management during the lethal second wave.

The blitzkrieg carried out by the Yogi Adityanath administration to spread the falsehood of "unprecedented and unparalleled" corona management has yet to heal the scars left by the deadly pandemic. The sufferings of the people during that dark phase are still fresh in their minds. The political and administrative dispensation leaves no stones unturned to persuade people to believe what is far from the truth.

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It may be worth mentioning here that the Yogi Adityanath government did not hesitate to outrightly deny on the floor of the state assembly that "no one in the state died due to shortage of oxygen" – something that only a blind and deaf person could be made to believe. The sight of people queuing up through the night to procure oxygen cylinders for their dying kin and the wailing of family members losing their near and dear ones in hospitals due to the unavailability of oxygen remains a stark reminder of the government's utter failure on this count.

The vast difference between the death toll shown in the government's daily press releases and the actual record of Covid bodies cremated or buried in crematoriums and graveyards speaks volumes about the administration's blatant effort to conceal the hard truth.

The government has gone overboard to create an impression that all is well in the state and that the Yogi Adityanath government has "transformed" Uttar Pradesh. Every official effort was directed towards establishing how Adityanath had fallen heavy on the state's criminals to ensure "good" law and order – when the move was clearly selective against criminals belonging to the Muslim community, while those from the majority community were allowed to have a field day.

Another thing widely publicised in newspapers and on television channels across the length and breadth of the country was about how Adityanath has carried out "unprecedented development" in four and a half years.

While the government might have succeeded in making people believe the unbelievable, reports from different parts of the state convey that the ruling dispensation's propaganda bid about oxygen shortage was proving counter-productive. Hence, the sudden hype intends to give the impression that the government was vigilant and proactive in preventing the third wave – when several international reports have explicitly suggested that Omicron did not seem to be a "killer" variant.

If the scare is real, why just a night curfew and not a lockdown? Undoubtedly, the night curfew appears to be more of a facade because it does not seem to serve any meaningful purpose.

(Sharat Pradhan is a journalist and author based in Lucknow)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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