In Madhya Pradesh, March 20, 2020 will be remembered for two things. It was the day when Kamal Nath bowed out as Chief Minister, bringing to a close a month-long power tussle in the State. It was also the day when four people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Jabalpur.
Around noon, a political spectacle, long coming, played out at Nath’s residence in Bhopal, atop the Shyamala hills, overlooking the Upper Lake. Among the hundreds of journalists who had assembled there for a press meeting was a 62-year-old man, unknowingly carrying the virus. On the dais, in the open-air hall, stood a sullen set of Ministers. The government had been rocked by desertions from within the ranks. At the centre, a chair and table were set, from where Nath would later announce his resignation.
“Please come forward, and closer,” Narendra Saluja, media coordinator for the Chief Minister, gestured to journalists. Chairs were pulled with a screech, and arms and knees rubbed against each other as journalists, perspiring in the heat, huddled together to catch sight of the Congressmen on the dais.
“I had no idea I was carrying it,” the journalist, who remained asymptomatic through the 10 days of his treatment, said after his recovery. His daughter, 26, a postgraduate student in London, tested positive on March 22, days after her return. Hers was the first case in Bhopal.
Despite being faced with an unprecedented health crisis from March, by when cautious States had already closed down public places, prohibited gatherings, and ramped up health infrastructure and marshalled doctors, Madhya Pradesh was embroiled in political wrangling. The virus was knocking furiously at its gates. By April 12, SARS-CoV-2 had gripped Indore, where 10% of the infected had died, the worst case fatality rate for any Indian city. Worse, it had penetrated the State health unit. By April 24, as many as 110 health officials and their family members were infected in Bhopal. As for the police in Bhopal, 41 personnel and their family members have contracted the illness so far.
Coronavirus | Confusion over source of infection in Indore
The signs of an impending crisis were clear. On March 2, when the Centre issued its fifth travel advisory, the Congress was busy rescuing its MLAs reportedly being held hostage by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a Manesar hotel. On March 10, abandoning the State’s preparation for the pandemic, Health Minister Tulsiram Silawat was cooped up at a Bengaluru resort with 21 rebel Congress MLAs, who quit later. Until that day, 63 COVID-19 cases had been reported nationwide. By March 16, the virus had infected 126 people and killed two. It had entered 13 States, including neighbouring Maharashtra and Rajasthan. That was when a vexed BJP, sniffing power, chided the Speaker’s decision to adjourn the Vidhan Sabha session, in view of the pandemic’s threat, as a ploy to buy time.
A single-man Cabinet
Madhya Pradesh reacted late to the pandemic owing to Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s zeal for power, claimed Jitu Patwari, State Congress working president. “Otherwise, the State could have been saved. Around the time we planned to procure additional medical equipment, the Health Minister ran away. He had sold himself to the BJP,” he said.
On March 4, Nath held the first secretary-level meeting on the illness. The next day, a helpline was set up. Next, the IIFA awards ceremony, Nath’s long-cherished dream, was cancelled. On March 7, schools and colleges were ordered shut. Patwari alleged that the BJP “punctured a moving vehicle”.
The day after Chouhan took oath as the Chief Minister on March 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide curfew. Nath alleged Parliament was made to function just to offer a chance to the Speaker to run the Madhya Pradesh Assembly too. “This was so that my government could be toppled,” he alleged.
The turmoil not just delayed the State’s reaction, but the Centre’s too, said Sachin Jain, of the Right to Food campaign. “The lockdown was imposed 10 days late. Airports could not have shut operations as MLAs had to be flown to different cities citing horse-trading,” he said.
The day after taking charge, Chouhan looked away from the uptick in the COVID-19 cases to seven, instead preferring to reverse decisions taken by the outgoing regime first. He ordered the closure of the case of an economic offence against Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had crossed over to the BJP, cancelled appointments made to various commissions, and shunted out the Rajgarh Collector.
For nearly a month, Chouhan ran a single-man Cabinet. An opinion piece published by the public relations department even dubbed his role heroic, describing him as a “one-man army”. It was only on April 21 that five Ministers were appointed. Two of the Ministers, including Silawat, have held the health portfolio in the past. “Along with Chouhan, they did not develop the health infrastructure in the State, for which they owe an explanation now,” said Rasheed Kidwai, Visiting Fellow, Observer Research Foundation. In addition, the setting up of a COVID-19 task force, headed by State BJP president V.D. Sharma, has drawn flak for having on its ranks only politicians and their lackeys. “Compare Maharashtra’s team, comprising health experts, with ours, composed of only political lackeys,” said Kidwai.
An unlikely hotspot
On April 3, at 11 p.m., the Bhopal district administration released a list of new patients after deleting one name from it. The virus had penetrated the Health Department, the institutional bulwark supposedly meant to guard the State against its advance. Two days later, it was declared that an IAS officer, tasked with procuring drugs and equipment for the State, and also the Ayushman Bharat Yojana MD, had tested positive. No one knows where he got the illness. Today, the office of the Directorate of Health Services has turned into Bhopal’s biggest, and most unlikely, hotspot.
Coronavirus | IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh Health Department tests positive
Cases within the department, to its embarrassment, have refused to ebb. The virus is taking down at least two officials every day. Directors heading different verticals, doctors, peons, personal assistants, clerks and drivers have all have been infected. The six-floor office complex, Satpura Bhawan, was evacuated, sealed for 15 days, and sanitised repeatedly. Officials self-quarantined, as operat