The lockdown has ‘saved’ the Middle Class for the time being

For me the enduring memory of this lockdown will be that of the 23-year-old young man trudging all the way from Nagpur to Namakkalin Tamil Nadu, a distance of 1450 km.

Stuck in Nagpur as the lockdown was clamped, the youth and his friends, with no place to stay or money to sustain themselves, hit the road to reach home. It was a long arduous journey on the road with temperatures over 35 degrees Centigrade and the hot Sun beating down on them. The youth ate sparingly managing whatever little donors gave them on the way.

A few days and 500 km later the group reached Hyderabad where they secured night accommodation at a relief centre set up by residents of West Marredpally. But the marching had sapped all his energies and the youthful 23 years old – with a world of possibilities before him-left for his eternal abode after a massive heart attack.

When the pandemic ends (or reduces) we will all be looking at the number of victims of Carona, but nobody will count the collateral damage: the poor dying as they are wrung out of their environment. Last week I was confronted by a picture showing thousands at Anand Viharin New Delhi who had collected to catch a transport to their native UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh or Haryana. They had all come to Delhi in search of fortunes but out of a job and locked out of their rented accommodations these workers had no option but to head for home.

How many have reached one does not know, but reports suggest that many on arriving at their destinations had been turned back. The villagers at home did not want ‘suspected’ Carona virus carriers amongst them. At another place, authorities wanted to ‘clean’ these travellers so subjected them cruelly to a spray of water and chemicals through a hose pipe.

The police forced by their bosses into Caronaservice don’t know how to react and are behaving in different ways: some in good ways and others in cruel fashion. Kolkata police has formed a band of their own men who have adapted a Bangla pop song which they are singing soulfully on the roads to warn denizens from stepping out of their homes.

In Mahbubnagar district of Telangana, the police have tied up with social organizations to feed stranded laborers who are from West Bengal, Odisha and other places. “It is our moral duty to feed the hungry,” says Rema Rajeshwari, the SP of Mahbubnagar.

But in other places, videos have emerged of police beating up members of the public just because they were out of their homes. Some of them are elderly people. In one case police ‘caned’ three men on their buttocks even as they were made to kneel (in true old public schoolfashion) for playing cards outside their homes. There are other pictures floating around of police assaults.

For the large bourgeoning middle class, the lockdown is not a story of happiness. However, they are the real beneficiaries of the lock down because if the dissemination of the Carona virus is curtailed they will limit damages.

Most are locked at their homes finding their own way of enjoyment. Open the Facebook and you will find many of the women posing in a new Sari everyday (this is part of a game called Sari challenge) and other men and women announcing the new movies they are watching every day; or the books they are reading.

But with the domestic servant having disappeared (or not allowed entry, to ostensibly prevent the spread of Carona) many working couples are now forced to do the domestic chores– sweeping swabbing and cooking- with even children pitching into help.

Some thinking types are however averring that the lockdown would impact on the economy leading to an intense slowdown with loss of jobs and incomes in the coming few months. This will severely affect the fortunes of the middle class and halt the process of liberalization that brought focus on them.

In fact the social- economic consequences of lockdown are going to be terrible. India began as a welfare state in 1951 after the country became free but in 1991 the process of liberalization was initiated. This increased the rate of growth in the economy but the less privileged began losing out.

To cater to them governments started giving out free grains and other subsidies which the economy could ill afford. In the aftermath of this lockdown the need for subsidies will increase pushing the economy to the edge. Not a good augury that.

(The author is a former editor and journalist based in Hyderabad)