As corona cases spike, Gurdwaras run oxygen langars, provide free food

Syed Aamir Sharief Qadri

At this time, when all religious groups are silent, watching people die at hospital gates, inside wards, for the want of oxygen, the Sikh community, like always, took a lead to serve humanity by opening doors of Gurdwaras to provide free oxygen. This kind act of Sikhs won the hearts of those people whose relatives are battling for life due to shortness of breath. Where Muslim clerics and Hindu priests are busy making prayers at mosques and temples by chanting holy verses from sacred texts to ward off the pandemic crisis, the Sikhs are busy providing breath to breathless. Where distance is maintained in temples and mosques, the Gurdwara volunteers embrace the COVID19 patients and feel their pain. Where temples offer Prasad, masjids serve Iftaris; the Gurdwaras run Oxygen Langar to save precious lives of people. In Delhi and adjacent areas, Gurdwaras are providing free oxygen amid the COVID19 surge.

The enormous wealth of the country is concealed in religious institutions under the trusteeship of religious heads. People hesitate while paying taxes, but they happily give away wealth in the name of God. Bigger than the public account of the Indian government, huge riches are kept veiled in religious shrines. Both Hindus and Muslims have failed to utilize resources in a proper way.  They failed in every way such as in mitigating poverty, establishing schools, colleges, hospitals, providing assistance to widows, relief to underprivileged class by extending kind hands, etc. They also remain unsuccessful in upbringing orphans and make arrangements for their food, shelter and education. Instead, these religious places encourage the poor to make begging a profession. The wealth in the name of God is used extravagantly in building spacious massive structures provided with lofty minarets, domes, arches, kiosks, chhatris, idols, and pleasing interior designs. They try to please God by decorating mosques and temples and have the least concern for his creation.

The Muslims and Hindus alike serve God by offering prayers and holding religious rituals. Here is one community that makes both God and his creation happy at the same time by serving humanity. That is why I admire this community like always when I talk about human values. I am greatly thankful to the Sikh community who always come forward to lead at the front without caring for their lives to serve humanity. They are always ready and one step ahead of other communities. Their religious places are beautifully designed attached with hygienic community kitchens. The shelter houses they built for itinerants are not less comfortable than hotel rooms. The Sikh Gurdwaras make appropriate use of wealth by balancing acts between God and his people. In a crisis like situation, they handle pressure and manage things in such a manner to make a way out of it and win millions of hearts. This time Sikh community is busy providing health care facilities, oxygen, ambulances, and other services to people in distress. They walk along with Hindu and Muslim brothers to crematories and graveyards and participate in last rites to bid a final adieu. Again they make it clear that Sikhs not only believe in the philosophy of humanity but they act whenever needed.

While India didn’t face the severe jolts of the first wave of Corona it created havoc with the onset of second wave. The country watched silently when the most developed nations of the world faced huge crises in the previous year. The same show as that of Delhi was seen in the streets of Europe where death had held a stage to display the worst sufferings. We have seen nation’s collapsing and in utter confusion the heads of state crying for divine help. At that time the least affected India got involved in corona politics. The leaders, claiming to represent the majority community, blamed Muslims for the spread of Coronavirus in India. They used many derogatory words like ‘COVID bomb’, ‘Corona Jehad’, etc. to defame the largest minority community of India. Instead of indulging in baseless arguments if the government had thought of mitigation measures the situation would have been better now. Medical experts all over the globe had already warned people and existing governments about the consequences of the second corona wave. Possibly it was declared earlier the second wave would be much disastrous than the first one. If India should have taken notice of this and had started working since then we must have achieved desired results.

To save the nation from external and internal threats, the architects of the Indian constitution have mentioned three types of emergencies in the constitution. What if, one more type of emergency i.e. Medical Emergency is included in the list by amending the constitution. In this way, the government may be able to control the situation from getting worse. We know our hospitals lack some basic facilities. Not every hospital has a facility of oxygen beds, ventilators, and some necessary staff. Since independence health sector witnessed slow growth and the successive governments were reluctant to spend much in this sector. Today we are paying for such kind of negligence and indefinite attitude of different governments. From 1947 onwards India has to fight many wars with its neighbouring countries and this thing continues in present also. For that reason, the defence receives the highest budget allocation. The public spending on health line and education has been low. That is why India strengthened its borders to a greater extent and became weak internally by neglecting other sectors. Though government mustn’t compromise on the defence of the country, there is a need to increase the health budget by a few percents so that people can avail better health facilities.

We are repeating the same mistakes the second time by accusing political parties of their participation in election rallies and curse the government’s decision for giving permission to held Kumbh Mela. We are running too late. The Oxygen Express trains carrying liquid oxygen containers will not last long. Though friendly countries are offering help in this bad time but India needs its own oxygen generating plants and that too in great numbers. To deal with this tough situation let us together share the burden. Being a responsible citizen, this is the best time to work with government agencies and save more and more lives. Don’t get started to criticize government policies on social media, mainstream media, and talk shows? Not Now? If possible provide valuable suggestions to get over it. The Sikh community took a lead. Let us join them and work together for the betterment of the country.

A poet and writer, Syed Aamir Sharief Qadri has done his MA in History from the University of Kashmir and MPhil from Punjabi University Patiala. Presently, he is a freelance columnist with a number of leading publications of J&K. You can contact him at aamirsharief45@gmail.com