Ranjona Banerji: Ask no question, hear no lies

As MP Yogi had raised several questions about Japanese encephalitis Why then was the bill to the oxygen supplier not paid in spite of 40 reminders PicAFPIts not that we dont know that public hospitals in India can be demonic or dismal or both Its not that we dont know that public health gets as little attention as possible in government budget allocations Its not that we dont know that thanks to insurance companies private healthcare costs are unreasonable and often just criminal So why are we horrified by what happened at the BRD Hospital in GorakhpurThat in a few short days 65 children died that 30 died in one night because the hospitals oxygen supply ran out because of unpaid bills despite at least 40 reminders mdash definitely very upsetting But even worse The reaction of the government in Uttar Pradesh the reaction of the Centre and the reactions of the Bharatiya Janata PartyIt is true that Yogi Adityanath has been the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for a few months only But he has been the Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur for five consecutive terms He runs a temple in Gorakhpur as well as a militant Hindutva group And our hyperventilating TV media fell over itself to describe to us how well he knew Gorakhpur how powerful he was there and how all the cows calves and goats of Gorakhpur loved him dearlyYogi Adityanaths first much publicised actions after becoming chief minister were to start an antiRomeo squad to stop men from stashylking women and to shut down all the illegal abattoirs to save cattle from being killed Let us set aside the various appalling side effects of these actions And let us ask why the BRD Hospital in his own constituency was of so little consequenceAs MP he had raised several questions about Japanese encephalitis we are told by the BJPs vast and enviable PR machinery both paid and voluntary And yet after he became chief minister what was done about it Why was the bill to the oxygen supplier not paid for months in spite of 40 reminders UPs health minister is Siddharth Nath Singh the grandson of Indias second and one of its most loved and admired prime ministers Lal Bahadur ShastriSinghs grandfather was famous for his strong silent moral stances mdash most notably resigning as railway minister in Jawaharlal Nehrus cabinet after a railway accident Anyone who saw Singh on TV after the news of the deaths would have seen only entitlement and arrogance mdash the sure signs of a politician who mdash like so many others mdash cares more for his standing than the people he has sworn to serveWe were also horrified because the state passed the buck as far as it coshyuld changed the reasons for the deashyths slapped a criminal case against the oxygen supplier and then claishymed that lack of oxygen was not the reason for the deaths The CM a greshyat proponent of the prime ministers Clean Indian Mission blamed lack of sanitation and open defecation for the deaths The BJP president Amit Shah informed the nation that such incidents happen all the time The prime minister whose heart breaks on Twitter after terror attacks in Manchester and forest fires in Portugal remained silent for too longThe parents of the children described in horrific detail how their babies died gasping for breath Are they all liars according to the state administration Or who exactly is lying to us To put matters in perspective two days after the 30 children died the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh ordered the police to prepare for a grand celebration for Janmashtami the birth of Lord Krishna I leave you to contemplate the sensitivity of such exemplary and extraordinary thought given the circumstancesAs I write this there are flags going up with pride all over India and people standing to sing our beautiful national anthem except for those who have apparently chosen the national song instead August 15 2017 was our 71st Independence Day and we have now reached a remarkable and celebratory landmark of 70 years of independence from British ruleAnd yet old restrictive systems ingrained inefficiency political chicanery and social oppression coshynshytinue to dog us In addition there was bloodshed in our birth as many remind us and we have not yet sought or got closure for that and still suffer from its effects So heres to freedom from divisive thought and actions and freedom from the petty and parochialRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on Twitter ranjona Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom