PO Box 305 Carina QLD 4152 Tel: 0415 461 620 email: pancrasjordan@ gmail. com government in its place. On March 11 the World Health Organization declared that Covid-19 was a pandemic. Two days later, on March 13, the health ministry said that corona “is not a health emergency”. Finally, on March 19, the Indian prime minister addressed the nation. He told us of the need for “social distancing”(easy to understand for a society so steeped in the practice of caste) and called for a day of “people’s curfew” on March 22. He said nothing about what his government was going to do in the crisis, but he asked people to come out on their balconies, and ring bells and bang their pots and pans to salute health workers. He didn’t mention that, until that very moment, India had been exporting protective gear and respiratory equipment, instead of keeping it for Indian health workers and hospitals.

Narendra Modi’s request was met with great enthusiasm. There were pot-banging marches, community dances and processions. In the days that followed, men jumped into barrels of sacred cow dung, and BJP supporters threw cowurine drinking parties. Not to be outdone, many Muslim organisations declared that the Almighty was the answer to the virus and called for the faithful to gather in mosques in numbers. On March 24, at 8pm, Modi appeared on TV to announce that, from midnight onwards, all of India would be under lockdown. Markets would be closed. All transport, public as well as private, would be disallowed. He said he was taking this decision not just as a prime minister, but as our family elder. Who else can decide, without consulting the state governments that would have to deal with the fallout of this decision, that a nation of 1.38 bn people should be locked down with zero preparation and with four hours’ notice? His methods give the impression that India’s prime minister thinks of citizens as a hostile force that needs to be ambushed, taken by surprise, but never trusted. Locked down we were. Many health professionals and epidemiologists have applauded this move. But