Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have given the mantra of looking for opportunity in the crisis but its Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who makes the most of it. The present Covid crisis has given him the opportunity to put the blame at the doors of the Centre for the large number of people dying in the city in absence of health care. Even the courts have been convinced, who in turn have issued reprimand to the Centre asking it to help Kejriwal government.
Not going into the merits of the court orders, they did best what they could as governance collapsed, it’s the sheer failure of Modi’s image managers that allows Kejriwal to wriggle himself out from tight situations. So obsessed are Modi’s image managers with their factory of falsehood that most of the time they miss the woods for the trees.
When Covid’s current phase was knocking at the doors of the country and its Capital, city’s Finance Minister Manish Sisodia was presenting a Rs 69,000 crore ‘patriotism’ budget. The highlights of this budget were installation of 500 flag masts and planning programmes on the lives of freedom fighters. There was announcement of ‘Desh Bhakti’ curriculum but nothing to showcase by the way of strengthening the health infrastructure of the city.