NEW DELHI, May 15: Breaking his silence on the Covid-19 situation in the country, the RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday blamed the negligence of the people and the government alike for the current second and more deadly wave of the infectious disease.
He said the negligence displayed by all sections of the nation following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic which led India into the ongoing nationwide medical crisis.
“After the first wave, we all became negligent. People, governments, administration. We all knew this is coming. Doctors had warned us. Still we were negligent,” Bhagwat said.
“Now they tell us a third wave could be here. So should we fear it? Or have the right attitude to fight and win against the virus?” he said as part of the ‘Positivity Unlimited’ series of lectures organised by the RSS to infuse confidence and positivity among people as they fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
He sought to channelise the nation’s focus towards the future so that the people and the government will be prepared for it by learning from the current experiences. Brushing aside the difficulties faced by India, Bhagwat encouraged Indians to develop the confidence to face a potential third wave by learning from today’s mistakes.
Coordinated by the RSS’s “Covid Response Team” in association with various civil services groups, the series is being held over five days since May 11 and has Wipro Group founder Azim Premji and spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev among the online speakers.
The RSS chief quoted a statement that, he said, was always placed on former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s table. It read “There is no pessimism in this office. We are not interested in the possibility of defeat. They do not exist.”
Indians, too, need to attain a complete victory over the pandemic, Bhagwat said. “The cycle of life and death will continue…these matters cannot scare us. It is these very circumstances that will train us for the future,” he said. “Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. The courage to continue is the only thing that matters.”
(Manas Dasgupta)