Spread of coronavirus pandemic brings economic and human cost in a massive scale, raising a lot of anxiety and concerns across the world. India’s relative success in containing Covid-19 evokes three pertinent questions. First, what is the global strategic canvas in which this menace has extended its influence? Second, how well positioned is India in containing it? Third, what kind of strategic challenge India is likely to face in its counter-corona operation?
Steep decline in India’s share in global distribution of economic resource since mid-eighteenth century led to the gradual surfacing of a word scenario that is characterized by inter-imperial contest between two great powers — Britain and France. With the end of second world war, super power rivalry between the US and the USSR shaped the global landscape. Subsequent end of Cold War has prepared the ground for emergence of the current world order dictated by the competitive quest for supremacy by the two global powers — the US and China.
China doesn’t restrain itself in influencing the multilateral institution like the WHO’s operation to its favour, putting the larger cause of global public health at risk.
Both the powers have actively promoted and selectively used the process of economic globalization (free flow of trade, investments and finance) to their respective advantage. Advance in science and technology, more specifically in information and communication technology, has given momentum to this dominating stream of present human life. Two negative fallouts of it are ‘globalization of terror’ and ‘globalization of disease.’ While the former is clear to all, coronavirus gives the feel of the latter.
China becomes the culprit in hushing up the human infection dimension of corona virus that originated in its territory, compelling the word to bear such massive economic and human cost. While public awareness of its complicit in this global crime gains its traction, Beijing starts waging perception war against Washington through misinformation campaign of the US army’s alleged involvement in corona spread. Regrettably, China doesn’t restrain itself in influencing the multilateral institution like the WHO’s operation to its favour, putting the larger cause of global public health at risk.
The US has retaliated in its own way to Sino onslaught. However, it lacks the moral authority to counter the aggressive China. First, the US has a very murky record of developing the medicine and vaccine in the past by using its citizens of African origin afflicted with communicable diseases as objects of experiment. Second, American notoriety in misusing almost all the global institutions for the pursuit of vested interest is an open secret.
India’s counter-corona endeavor has suddenly faced a huge challenge posed by the grouping called Tablighi Jamaat that has acted as a corona super spreader in the country.
There is a natural expectation from India, given its enormous potential, for giving a positive turn to the ongoing efforts of eradicating the menace and fixing responsibility for the spread. Indeed, a country of high aspirations has managed to present its relative success story of fighting corona as an exemplary case before the global community. The disciplined life style of its majority people, rich tradition of ancient therapy, and timely preventive health care intervention through state-society cooperation bring such rare achievement to the country. New Delhi has also become proactive in its bilateral, regional and global engagements, when it comes to waging the war against the pandemic beyond the country’s territorial boundary.
India’s counter-corona endeavor has suddenly faced a huge challenge posed by the grouping called Tablighi Jamaat that has acted as a corona super spreader in the country. Detection of its clandestine religious congregation with participation of foreign nationals in its Nizamuddin (Delhi) based headquarters amid government’s declaration of national lock-down hits the meeting point between ‘globalization of terror’ and ‘globalization of disease.’ Impunity with which Tablighi Jamaat, formed way back since 1920s, has been carrying out its transnational extremist-terrorist operation with indoctrination and recruitment linkage with South Asia- globally based terror groups and its members’ active involvement in nationally and globally sensitive terror attacks, questions India’s commitment to human security that remains hostage to minorityism masquerading ‘secular’ political legacy.
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