Nine days of India's complete lockdown has caused anxiety and impatience amongst people. The positive cases are escalating and fear is in the vibe. When the PM of the country announced that he would address the company via a video, people thought it must be something realistic related to funds, medical kits, ventilators, but it wasn't.
PM NarendraModi addressing the nation via a video
The video message was all about inspiring people to continue staying in isolation for the next eleven days and expressing gratitude for the last nine days. He thanked the people of the country, administration, and the healthcare professionals for uniting in the tiring times. But, there was no real talk of how we are going to deal with the escalating situations. He talked about how other countries got motivated by the gratitude movement of banging "thalis." He further added that soon we will emerge victorious from the pandemic, but could not explain how.
The PM also had a new activity planned for us. The citizens were supposed to do. Prime Minister NarendraModi personified Coronavirus as the darkness that is engulfing the world, and he felt that only by igniting a "diya" or "candle" can we remove the darkness. Therefore, he urged his countrymen to give him nine minutes of their life on 5th April i.e., Sunday at 9 pm. He requested the countrymen to switch off the lights of their houses to ignite a candle and stand in their balconies or windows.
The act is noble undoubtedly as the thought is to dispel the darkness by igniting candles, but it received severe backlash. Netizens expressed their disappointment and tweeted hateful messages on Twitter. Even the opposition party attacked the PM, stating, "Lighting Diyas is not enough."
Many people tweeted on twitter, and a trend began “where people started backlashing him, started trolling him and expressed their disappointment. People feel that his speech was a joke and started trolling it.
This is no accident: the PM spoke on Ram Navami at 9 am for 9 mins, asked us to light diyas & candles on 5/4 at 9 pm for 9 mins. He is invoking all the auspicious elements Hinduism associates with number 9. Back to Ram Bharose?! #COVID19 must be more serious than we thought!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 3, 2020
घंटी हो गई, दीया हो गया
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 5, 2020
हो गया दक्षिणा-दान (#PMCARES)
क्या एक बार में कर सकते हैं?
सब पूजन विधि-विधान? #9MinuteLightUp https://t.co/g4d1w45WNM
I won't celebrate 64000+ global deaths coz of #CoronavirusPandemic by lighting diyas ..#Hum_Light_Nahi_Bujhaenge
— Niraj Bhatia (@bhatia_niraj23) April 5, 2020
However, if we see the bright side the essence of 9minutes at 9pm on 5th April is profound. At one side astrologers feel it is the way of invoking blessings of nine planets and on the other side people it is a way of uniting in the face of adversity. Even the developed nations that are ten times more equipped than us are not able to control the deadly disease and the number is escalating. Whereas our efforts of lockdown and social distancing have kept the number less in comparison to the US or Europe.
These 9minutes are the way to show solidarity to the infected ones, to the healthcare professionals and to the world that together we can dispel the darkness. So, today, sharp at 9pm let’s switch off the lights and be the part of the movement that will bring us all together.
