Can you win a battle without casualties?

Yesterday, "As many as 3,15,660 cases and 2,091deaths were recorded in the country as of 11.15 p.m. IST on April 21. No country has recorded more cases in a single day," The Hindu. The US held the dubious honor of the highest number of cases in a single day with 3,00,310 till now. Between 7-13 April, 3.44 million doses of vaccine were administered daily but the average daily doses fell to 2.70 million by 20 April. But, even these record breaking figures may be understating total numbers of infections and deaths, Reuters. According to Worldometer, graphs of the number of daily new cases and the total number of active cases in India have been rising vertically since 1 April. "Uttar Pradesh (UP), India's most populous state, is among the worst affected in the country and its people are suffering even as authorities insist the situation is under control, reports BBC's Geeta Pandey." "On Monday, as the active caseload hit 2,08,523 in UP, the ferocity by which the infection has spread in the second wave could be gauge from the fact that in nearly three weeks, the active cases increased by nearly 21 times. Also, the current active cases are three times the last year's September peak. Notably, the state added the last one lakh (100,000) active cases in mere five days," The Indian Express (TIE). If all this is shocking, the actions of the UP government and the Supreme Court are completely baffling. Earlier this week the High Court imposed restrictions on five cities in UP. "The Allahabad high court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to close all establishments private of government-run in these cities," Hindustan Times (HT). The court emphasised that it is not imposing a total lockdown. In complete denial, the UP government appealed against the high court order to the Supreme Court, which instantly granted a stay and will hear the matter after 2 weeks, Business Standard. This is completely incomprehensible. In 2 weeks, another million people could have been infected and many thousands could have died. This surely has nothing to do with assembly elections to be held in UP in February-March 2022. UP is ruled by the BJP, the party of the prime minister. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said current strategies to contain the rapid resurgence in Covid-19 infections were aimed at ensuring least loss of lives and livelihoods and appealed to states to resort to lockdowns only as the very last resort," Times of India (TOI). Is this the same Modi who imposed a lockdown with only 4 hours notice in March last year when the total number of cases in all of India was just over 500? The lockdown was rated as the most stringent, with a score of 100, by the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker, HT, and resulted in millions of migrant workers having to walk hundreds of miles back home to their villages, often with little children, TOI. This time migrant workers are taking no chances and escaping while they still can because they have no trust in authorities. Not surprising, is it? In January 2021, the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, a doctor, claimed that "India is gradually heading towards victory against COVID-19" and said that vaccines would be like "Sanjeevani", Zee News. 'Sanjeevani' was a plant used to save the life of mortally wounded Lakshman in Ramayana. If he really believes in the efficacy of vaccines he should have ensured coverage of the entire adult populations, starting with big cities, moving to second tier cities, to towns and finally to villages. Instead the Union health secretary made the egregious statement that "the aim is not to administer the vaccine to  those who want it, but to those who need it", HT. No one "wants" a vaccine, it is a national necessity. Modi's call to reject lockdowns has nothing to do with West Bengal assembly election, which is into its sixth phase today, TOI. The Election Commission has refused to club the last 3 phases to reduce transmission due to crowded campaigns. Modi is absolutely obsessed with winning Bengal, The New Indian Express. Elections are battles. Any number of casualties are worth it, it seems.