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Opinion | After Xi’s China and Trump’s America, Modi’s India is stepping up to battle the coronavirus
- Modi has declared a 21-day national curfew and started a South Asian emergency fund, displaying leadership when global coordination against Covid-19 is lacking
- India’s success could help disprove the idea that authoritarian regimes are better placed than democracies to tackle a pandemic
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Why you can trust SCMP
India has taken an unprecedented and tectonic step to deal with the Covid-19 public health crisis. A nation-wide 21-day curfew has been imposed that will affect almost 1.3 billion people. In a televised address on March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “There will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes.”
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The decision was taken following a spike in coronavirus infections that has now reached 562 cases, and 10 deaths. The numbers, alas, are climbing by the hour.
Panic buying of food and essential goods has ensued across India since Modi’s announcement and given the vast number of Indians at the poverty line or below it, considerable social unrest is expected.
While the government has sought to allay fears that there will be no shortage of essential services, the next few days will be critical. Will the coronavirus be the bigger threat to citizen safety or the curfew?
Earlier, in a remarkable display of national solidarity to avert the public health crisis triggered by Covid-19, more than a billion citizens complied with Modi’s appeal to remain indoors as part of a janata (people’s) curfew on Sunday.
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