Nihad Amani
Hyderabad: In the midst of the lockdown that has been extended in Telangana where mainstream media is painting a rosy picture of containment efforts in Hyderabad, the ground realities are different. Noted city activist Sheela Sarah Matthews elaborated upon this in a video panning GHMC, city police, ulemas (clerics) and others spreading propaganda blaming a specific community for this outbreak.
“The mainstream media shows a hunky-dory picture of what is happening here but the way authorities are going about containment efforts is just ridiculous. The way the city has cancelled the e-passes of NGO personnel and those doing relief work on the ground is uncalled for” she lambasted.
Alongside the cancellation, the way the NGO community was cut out any consultation or regarding how to go about relief efforts is worrisome. Matthews also stated that even those partaking in these initiatives are bearing the brunt of some police brutality.
Matthews asserts, “The powers that bee have not been able to deliver the 12 KGs per person or even deposit the Rs. 1500, yet we have been blanketed as enemies.”
Be it civil society or common folk, they have been unnecessarily excessive with many people who are out and about even for essential needs.
Despite the necessity of police officials to enforce the lockdown, a vehicle carrying pregnant woman carrying for six months was stopped and the driver of the car was questioned. She also cited the instances of both an auto driver going to get gas and a gentleman going to urgently withdrawn money from an ATM being shouted at by law enforcement officials.
The activist points out, “Ugly videos that show such treatment have been exhibited. While policemen are undergoing stress of being overworked, they cannot take this out upon civilians and civil society alike. They are meting out treatment to taxpayers.”
“The malicious propaganda solely scapegoating the Tablighi Jamaat does not help either,” she adds.
Although she praised certain advice ulema regarding adherence to lockdown protocol by not holding iftars or partaking in shopping trips, Matthews pertinently asks, “What about the iftar and sehri of the common man? Have they bought this up with the government.”
At the end of the video, Matthews aptly lent some historical context to these circumstancesby saying that the poverty, humiliation and hunger, which have multiplied due to COVID and certain draconian methods to contain it, were what triggered the French Revolution.