>>> TRAGICALLY, INDIA HAS ONCE
AGAIN BROKEN GLOBAL RECORDS WITH
MORE THAN 400,000 CASES OF COVID
IN A SINGLE DAY.
MORE THAN 3600 INDIANS LOST
THEIR LIVES TO COVID.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI SAID THE
COUNTRY NEEDS TO TREAT THE COVID
CRISIS LIKE A WAR AND CALLED ON
THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT TO SHUT
DOWN THE COUNTRY FOR A FEW
WEEKS.
IT’S ADVICE UNLIKELY TO BE
HEEDED BY NARENDRA MODI, SAYING
TIME AND TIME AGAIN IT HASN’T
LISTENED TO ITS OWN TOP ADVISERS
ON THIS ISSUE.
AND THOSE ARE BEING FELT AT THE
POLLS, MODI’S PARTY LOSING BIG
IN THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL.
IT’S HARD TO QUITE GRASP THE
GRAVITY OF THE DESPERATION
ACROSS INDIA RIGHT NOW.
AWARD-WINNING WRITER AND
ACTIVIST PENNING A GUARDIAN
OP-ED, CUEING THE INDIAN
GOVERNMENT OF NOT JUST
NEGLIGENCE BUT CRIME AGAINST
HUMANITY.
QUOTE, HOSPITAL BEDS ARE
UNAVAILABLE, DOCTORS AND MEDICAL
STAFF ARE AT BREAKING POINT.
PEOPLE ARE DYING IN HOSPITAL
CORRIDORS, ON ROADS AND IN THEIR
HOMES.
THE FOREST DEPARTMENT HAS HAD TO
GIVE SPECIAL PERMISSION FOR THE
FELLING OF CITY TREES.
DESPERATE PEOPLE ARE USING
WHATEVER KINDLING THEY CAN FIND.
IT’S AS IF THERE’S AN INVISIBLE
UFO PARKED IN OUR SKIES, SUCKING
THE AIR OUT OF OUR LONGS, AN AIR
RAID WE’VE NEVER KNOWN.
I HOME IN NEW DELHI.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING ME
ON THE SHOW TONIGHT.
YOU HAVE WRITTEN AND SPOKEN
PASSIONATELY OVER THE YEARS
ABOUT THE PAIN AND TRAUMA OF
POVERTY AND INEQUALITY AND
VIOLENCE IN YOUR COUNTRY.
SO HOW DOES THIS CURRENT COVID
CRISIS COMPARE?
WHAT ARE YOU FEELING RIGHT NOW?
>> WELL, THERE’S THE TRAUMA OF
KNOWING THAT THE COVID CRISIS
HAS SORT OF FALLEN INTO ALL THE
CRACKS THAT ONE HAS BEEN WRITING
ABOUT FOR 20 YEARS.
AND YOU HAVE A CRISIS NOW, WHICH
IS THE CRISIS OF DEATH.
IN THE CITY I SPEAK I’M IN TODAY
RIGHT NOW WHERE I’M SPEAKING
FROM HOSPITAL AFTER HOSPITAL IS
JUST BEGGING FOR OXYGEN.
AND THERE ARE POLITICAL WARS
ABOUT IT.
YOU KNOW, IMAGINE THE TRAUMA OF
KNOWING YOU’RE GOING TO RUN OUT
OF OXYGEN IN A FEW HOURS. SO YOU HAVE THAT CRISIS SITTING
SO YOU HAVE THAT CRISIS SITTING
ON TOP OF THIS VOLCANO OF A
SYSTEMIC PROBLEM.
IT’S NOT EVEN SYSTEMIC ACTUALLY
BECAUSE THERE IS NO SYSTEM.
AND THAT’S WHAT ONE HAS BEEN
SPEAKING ABOUT FOR SO MANY
YEARS.
AND THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN
INDIA TODAY IS LIKE SOMEWHERE,
YOU KNOW, WHERE CORPORATE
MEDICINE MEANS GOD MAN QUACKERY
AND ALMOST NOTHING IN BETWEEN.
YOU HAVE A COUNTRY LIKE INDIA
WITH 1.2% OF ITS GDP SPENT ON
HEALTHCARE, WHICH IS ACTIVELY
EFFECTIVELY 0.35% IS SOMETHING
WE HAVE CALCULATED BECAUSE
DEDUCTED ARE THE THINGS WHICH
HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH HEALTH.
SO YOU HAVE A SITUATION WHERE
THE CAPITAL CITY WHERE ALL THE
CAMERAS, ALL THE PRESS, ALL THE
POLITICIANS CONVERGE IS BREAKING
UP, CRACKING UP.
PEOPLE CAN’T BREATHE, AND THEN
YOU HAVE THIS MASSIVE HINTERLAND
WHERE THE VIRUS HAS SPREAD, AND
YET WE HAVE NO NEWS OF WHAT’S
HAPPENING THERE.
THERE ARE NO DESKS, THERE ARE NO
HOSPITALS, THERE IS NOTHING TO
BE DONE ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON
THERE.
>> DID YOU SEE THIS COMING, I
WONDER?
BECAUSE YESTERDAY 400,000 COVID
CASES WERE RECORDED IN INDIA, A
WORLD RECORD.
BUT AS RECENTLY AS JANUARY INDIA
ONLY HAD AROUND 9,000 COVID
CASES A DAY.
AND FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS
OF MINE IN INDIA WERE TELLING ME
THAT COVID WAS OVER IN YOUR
COUNTRY, WAS GONE, THERE WAS
COMPLETE COMPLACENCY AT ALL
LEVELS OF SOCIETY, WASN’T THERE?
>> WELL, YOU KNOW, HONESTLY,
WHETHER I SAW IT COMING OR NOT,
WE WERE JUST CAUTIOUS BECAUSE WE
KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE
EUROPE AND IN U.S. BUT THE FACT
IS THE GOVERNMENT APPOINTED
COMMITTEES WARNED THE GOVERNMENT
THAT IT WAS COMING.
THEY WARNED THE GOVERNMENT THAT
THERE WAS GOING TO BE A SHORTAGE
OF OXYGEN.
THEY WERE RED-FLAGGING THIS FROM
APRIL LAST YEAR AND THEN AGAIN
IN NOVEMBER.
NOTHING WAS DONE.
AND, IN FACT, THE REVERSE WAS
DONE.
GLOATING, ORGANIZING PILGRIMAGES
WITH MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF
PILGRIMS ORGANIZING ELECTIONS,
THE RESULTS OF WHICH CAME OUT
TODAY.
AND YOU HAVE THE OPPOSITION
PARTIES THAT WON REALLY CALLING
THE ELECTION COMMISSION OUT ON
THIS.
YOU KNOW, EVEN THE MADRAS HIGH
COURT HAS ACCUSED THEM OF
MURDER.
BECAUSE YOU HAVE MASSIVE SPIKES
OF CASES WHERE THESE HUGE CROWDS
WERE GATHERING, NOT LEAST THE
PRIME MINISTER BOASTING ABOUT
HOW MANY PEOPLE HE COULD GATHER
IN A RALLY WITHOUT MASKS,
WITHOUT ANY FEAR OF COVID.
>> YEAH.
>> SO, YOU MENTIONED THE
GOVERNMENT IGNORING WARNINGS.
>> SORRY.
>> YOU MENTIONED THE GOVERNMENT
IGNORING WARNINGS FROM
SCIENTISTS AND EXPERTS.
HERE IN AMERICA, HERE ON THIS
SHOW, WE’VE TALKED ABOUT WHETHER
DONALD TRUMP IS NEGLIGENT, EVEN
CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT FOR THE
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF COVID
DEATHS ON HIS WATCH.
WITH REGARD TO NARENDRA MODI,
THE PRIME MINISTER THERE, YOU GO
MUCH FURTHER.
YOU SAY, WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING
IS NOT CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE BUT
AN OUTRIGHT CRIME AGAINST
HUMANITY.
STRONG WORDS.
EXPLAIN TO OUR VIEWERS WHY YOU
SAY THAT.
>> WELL, AS I SAID, THERE ARE
TWO PARTS TO THIS.
ONE IS THE CRISIS THAT IS HERE
AND NOW, THE CRISIS OF PEOPLE IN
HOSPITAL, PEOPLE DYING ON THE
ROADS AND SO ON.
AND THE FACT THAT WE DID NOT
HAVE A SYSTEM.
THAT SYSTEM WAS SYSTEMATICALLY
DISMANTLED BY THIS GOVERNMENT AS
WELL AS THE PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT
INTO WHICH THIS CRISIS HAS
FALLEN.
AND, AS I SAID IN "THE GUARDIAN"
PIECE, YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THIS
CRISIS AS IT DEVELOPED OVER SO
MANY YEARS.
AND AS YOU AND I HAVE SPOKEN
BEFORE, MEHDI, IT’S NOT JUST
THIS HEALTH CRISIS BUT SO MUCH
OTHER, LET’S SAY, POGROMS,
MURDERS, LYNCHING, ALL OF WHICH
PLAYED INTO WHAT IS GOING ON
NOW.
LAST TIME THIS YEAR MUSLIMS WERE
BEING HUNTED DOWN CALLED CORONA
JIHADIS.
YOU HAD A WHOLE SORT OF
GENOCIDAL LANGUAGE.
THEY WERE BEING SHUNNED.
THEY WERE BEING SHUT DOWN
ECONOMICALLY.
NOW, THIS HAS HAPPENED WHERE
YOU’RE HAVING EVEN THE PEOPLE
WHO ADORED THIS PRIME MINISTER
JUST FALLING BY THE WAY SIDE.
IT’S HARD FOR ME TO EXPLAIN IN
TWO SECONDS, WHICH IS WHY I
WROTE ABOUT IT.
BUT IT’S SUCH A HUGE CRISIS,
WHICH CAN NOT JUST BE REPORTED.
IT HAS TO BE UNDERSTOOD WITH ITS
POLITICAL UNDERPINNINGS.
>> THAT WAS PART ONE OF MY
INTERVIEW WITH AWARD-WINNING
INDIAN AUTHOR ROY.