The more than 60 deaths, among them several new born babies, in Gorakhpur is a tragedy that defies description. No words are enough to mourn the deaths or condemn the apparent negligence of the hospital authorities.

The fact that there have been over 25,000 such deaths in Gorakhpur since 1978 (and an estimated double that number who died without reaching the hospital) cannot be a justification. It is a matter of national shame that even after 70 years of Independence we have such pathetic state of healthcare in the country.

In an inept defence of the administration, the Health Minister of Uttar Pradesh said there is surge of encephalitis deaths every year in the months of August and September. That itself is a reason why the hospital – the only one equipped to treat patients of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome – should have been better prepared and makes it a matter of criminal negligence. Therefore, the media is entitled to ask tough questions.

It might sound a tad disingenuous and an attempt to deflect the issue, if one were to ask the counter-factual question, why similar tragedies in other States did not attract so much attention in the past? But, a fairer query would be, if Encephalitis has been an annual scourge, why has the media ignored it for so long?

That does lead to the inevitable, is it because a BJP Government that is in power and Gorakhpur is the home constituency of the Chief Minister, who has been a five-time MP from the region, that it is getting such magnum coverage?

Still the mainstream media, whose avowed objective is to garner eyeballs, may be said to be doing its job. A senior anchor of a leading English Channel, who was moved enough by the tragedy to do a midnight Periscope podcast, snidely accused one of his peers for “spoiling the market” by his journalism of perpetual outrage. But, the venom unleashed in social media against Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi Governments comes across as another type of pathological disorder.

Moving away from the real issues and unfolding developments, so called anti-Right Wing voices, journalists and politicians descended to a slanging match. It soon became a matter of venting angst and settling scores. Constant references were made to the Chief Minister’s recent comments about raising the Tricolour and singing the National Song, Vande Mataram, in schools, as if those constitute the root cause of encephalitis.

While righteous indignation was understandable, some of the comments were downright reprehensible. A celebrity editor's tasteless tweet, asking how many of the dead would be sent to shamshan and how many to kabristan, in an obvious reference to a speech of the Prime Minister before the UP election, fetched condemnation.

A politician quipped: The government does not have money to pay for oxygen cylinders because it spends the budget in advertising “the face of the Prime Minister”. In their anxiety to find “secular” stalwarts, the media declared a doctor with dubious professional antecedents as a “Patriot”. The discourse could not have sunk any lower.

There was hardly any sign of genuine compassion and mourning. Fake angst was masking voyeuristic delight at seeing the Government trip badly, that too in the Chief Minister’s home ground. The Government’s embarrassment was a matter of glee that made the real tragedy appear almost incidental.
The Chief Minister himself had visited the hospital, Baba Ram Das Medical College, just two days before the tragedy struck to conduct a review with Medical Officers of the region on the preparedness to tackle the annual surge in Encephalitis cases that usually happens at this time of the year.

It is indeed intriguing that no one gave him any indication of the problems. That eradication of encephalitis has been a personal mission for Yogi Adityanath and also a plank for his electoral victories. Therefore, seeing him fail would please many of his opponents.

While the casualties cannot be denied, there is debate about the cause of the deaths. The Government insists that it was not because of oxygen supply running out. No doubt enquiries will follow, many heads will roll and, hopefully, some inkling of the truth will emerge.

But, meanwhile, the narrative has been hijacked by the 'oxygen' theory that has in turn been seized by political opportunists to cut-off oxygen supplu, as it were, to the new government.

Trust this tragedy will not derail Yogi Adityanath and only redouble his resolve to not only banish encephalitis but also improve the general state of healthcare in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He owes it to the lives that were literally nipped in the bud and his own people.

(Author is a writer and popular blogger on current affairs. His Twitter handle is @SandipGhose)

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