PR using the dead: BJP leaders pounce at a photo-op opportunity

Unironically, BJP leaders held Asthis of people who lost their lives which they could have saved.

A dearth of oxygen cylinders, lack of hospital beds, an array of ambulances lined up outside civil hospitals, a queue to cremate the bodies, and five bodies burning on one pyre. As these visuals ran on news channels, BJP leaders and members held a photo-op while holding the Asthis of the deceased who passed away due to COVID in Vadodara.

The media persons were notified beforehand, the Asthis of multiple people were placed neatly on a table, BJP members stood behind them and waited for the cameras to flash. With three mics closing in on their face at the Khaswadi cremation ground, one of the members of BJP said, “As per the Hindu tradition, the final step during the last rites is the Asthi Visarjan. Hence, BJP members collected the abandoned Asthis from 6-7 crematoriums and decided to float it away in the Chanod river.”

After the stagnant photo-op, it was time for some action. Led by Dr. Vijay Shah, BJP’s party president in Vadodara, many members walked out slowly with earthen pots in their hands as videographers and photographers backtracked at an unhurried pace. Ironically, the earthen pots in their hands contained Asthis of people who died due to the lack of health infrastructure in the country, the exact thing that these members were elected to build.

Atul Gamechi, a social activist, visited numerous crematoriums after the photo-op. He found that very few Asthis were taken for the PR stunt, while many still lie abandoned in Vadodara’s crematoriums. He said, “It is my request to the BJP to disperse all the Asthis from all the crematoriums.” He also posed questions to the BJP and asked if they were doing everything just for the photos.

This hoard of BJP members at the crematorium was neither to be seen at SSG hospital nor the testing centers. People crying for help are left stranded in queues, and after they die, they are used for PR campaigns.

1,79,795 dead. Maybe the BJP had thought it through. If the healthcare system had not failed its citizens, they would not have gotten this opportunity to get their photos clicked.