Trudeau should have known that the situation developing on the US-Canada border was in his favour. He should have opted to “wait and watch.”
The farmers’ protests in India pitted farmers against the government and popular sympathies were with the farmers.
In Canada, the truckers were fighting vaccine mandates and the overwhelming support was for vaccine mandates. The truckers were putting everybody at risk.
Trudeau could have just waited it out. But he chose to pull in the heavy artillery, giving a moral boost to the anti-vaxxers, not just in Canada and the USA, but worldwide. Let’s be candid, Justin Trudeau goes into history with the ‘Emergencies’ tag etched on his forehead.
This, when the World Health Organization is warning that the retreat of Omicron does not mean that the novel coronavirus is not hovering over our heads. The Delta variant hit us bad and the death toll touched unexpected heights.
Today, there seems to be a lull in Omicron, but that does not mean the coronavirus will stop mutating further and not come out with a deadlier variant.
The problem is that people everywhere are thinking that the worst is over, and countries across the globe are announcing new and less stringent Covid-19 rules. Indians are walking the streets like there never was a pandemic.
The very public election rallies are back with a vengeance after a stint of virtual rallies with the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister leading the way.
Chemists in the cities are reporting drastic falls in mask sales. Markets are milling with the milieu. Colleges and schools have reopened. There are also colleges and schools which are preparing to open.
There should have been stricter adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour, which it isn’t because everyone is in celebration mode. There is a sense of bravado due to the fewer deaths from Omicron.
