Contrition needs feelings for others.

 Prof V Anantha Nageswaran focuses on positives in an article on how the second wave of the coronavirus caught India totally unprepared, Mint. Apparently, the government handled the first wave last year rather well when Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed the strictest lockdown with 4 hours notice when there were only 500 cases, Hindustan Times (HT), triggering a massive exodus of migrant workers from cities back to their villages,walking hundreds of miles, often with little children, Times of India (TOI). Modi lost elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, proving that our electoral system is fair. "The media has been strongly critical of the government on covid. This is not a sign of a society where free speech is throttled, not withstanding the attempts of many commentators to paint India in such a light," insists Nageswaran. Indeed. Just one week back, "The Delhi Police have arrested 25 people over posters criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi related to the management of the Coronavirus crisis in the country. These posters were put up in many parts of the national capital with messages like: Modiji, why did you send vaccines meant for our children, abroad?" abp. 25 arrested for such an innocuous message! Not a sign of a free speech society, is it? Nageswaran suggest some solutions to the crisis. "The government could appoint a national task force -- with chief ministers of different states -- on public health. Its task should be to improve India's ratio of hospital beds, doctors and nurses to its population, taking it to acceptable levels." Instead, the government is spending an estimated Rs 200 billion ($2.7 billion) to construct a new parliament building in the center of Delhi, including a palace for the Prime Minister, ndtv, while asking states to pay for vaccines to protect their citizens against the virus, Business Standard. If states are spending their health budgets on vaccines they can't possible build new hospitals and employ more doctors and nurses. "There is no policy success without managing perceptions and politics." In an attempt to cover up Modi's complicity in deaths of thousands, his supporters say now is not the time for politics or to find faults, now is the time to unite and support Modi for the sake of the nation, knowing full well that as soon infection levels fall Modi will claim victory and use his expertise at mendacity to paint his opponents as losers. "Adversities are supposed to unite us -- to rise to the occasion and defeat the common enemy which, in this case, is a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic," wrote well known actor Anupam Kher. First the stirring words to support Modi, then abuse of opposition. "Never before has every death been met with such back-handed joy just because it can potentially embarrass the government." "The system hasn't collapsed. The government has failed. Perhaps 'failed' is an inaccurate word, because what we are witnessing, is not criminal negligence, but an outright crime against humanity," wrote an angry Arundhati Roy. "But that is only one part of the story. The other part is that the man with no feelings, the man with empty eyes and a mirthless smile, can, like so many tyrants in the past, arouse passionate feelings in others," The Wire. "In north India, which is home to his largest voting base, and which, by dint of sheer numbers, tends to decide the political fate of the country, the pain he inflicts seems to turn into a peculiar pleasure." "If Bal Narendra had spent some more time in school instead of rushing of to sell tea at a railway station which did not even exist at that time, he would have imbibed some wisdom from a couple of old adages: 'Don't burn your bridges behind you because you may need them again tomorrow' and 'Be courteous to the people you cross on your way up because you will meet them again on your way down'," wrote a contemptuous Avay Shukla. "Given today's public perceptions, the government's top leadership should consider offering a reassuring message to the nation that mixes contrition, composure and confidence." Modi doesn't do contrition. His strength is his lack of empathy.