By Matters India Reporter
Bengaluru, April 4, 2020: Archbishop Peter Machado has promised to light candles at 9 pm on April 5 as recommended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the country’s campaign against coronavirus pandemic.
“May this gesture of lighting of candles and recitation of prayers bring our families closer together and also with our countrymen in these very anxious moments,” Archbishop Machado says in a message to the priests, nuns and friends in the archdiocese with headquarters in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state in southern India.
The prelate said he has written to the state chief minister “promising our prayers and support, and expressing our sincere appreciation and gratitude to him, and to his ministers and the public personnel (doctors, nurses, police etc.) for their dedicated and selfless service in this time of Coronavirus crisis.”
The prime minister in an address to the nation on April 3 appealed citizens to switch off electric lights for nine minutes at 9 pm on April 5, and light candles or lamps, or flash torchlights or mobile lights standing at their doorsteps or balconies.
“Amid the darkness spread by the corona pandemic, we must continuously progress towards light and hope,” said the premier who on March 24 had imposed a 21-day nationwide lockdown starting from midnight that day.
Earlier on March 22, Modi had called for a 14-hour Janta curfew from 7 am. Even on that he had urged citizens to come to balconies and front doors to clink plates and spoons or ring bells for five minutes at 5 pm to express their gratitude to healthcare workers.
Supporting the prime minister’s latest call, Archbishop Machado wrote, “Let us continue our prayers and supplications to the Almighty God at this time of great challenge and difficulties in our lives.”
The prelate urged his people to follow the prime minister’s calls as “a mark of concrete gesture and a manifestation of our solidarity with our countrymen.”
He wants them to light candles at the altar in churches, chapel or religious houses and recite evening Rosary or any other appropriate prayer interceding God for relief and deliverance from the Coronavirus.
“Remember, Christ, the Light of the World, will certainly ward off any evil,” he added.
The prelate also thanked God for the Church’s social service organizations and volunteers who reach out to the poor around them, irrespective of religion and language.
Archbishop Machado said he has requested parish priests to use Whatsapp groups and other means to communicate the his message about lighting candles in their homes.
Meanwhile, the prime minister’s appeal came amid criticism by Opposition parties that the lockdown, while necessary, was unplanned, resulting in more than 600,000 daily wagers and families leaving on foot for their hometowns and villages across the country.
On April 3, the Congress party accused the Modi administration of not thinking through its ideas to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Responding to Modi’s video address, Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram said the need of the hour was for the government to announce a generous livelihood support package for the poor.
Human rights activists such as Vrinda Grover, a New Delhi-based lawyer, have criticized the prime minister for indulging in antics.
“I’m a citizen of the Republic of India, not a clown to perform to the tune of the ringmaster,” Grover, an alumnus of Delhi’s prestigious St Stephen’s College, says in a message.
She also points out that many countries conduct daily press briefings to inform their people about the state of preparedness against COVID19. “Questions are asked by the Press. We are being asked to perform antics,” she regrets.
She also wants to know about availability of PPE or personal protective equipment for doctors, nurses and health staff.
”I want to know how many hospitals, ventilators, ICUs are ready. I want to know if COVID19 testing will be made accessible and affordable. I want to know about government arrangements to feed the daily wagers, homeless, the unemployed. I want to know who and how the food and medical needs of the migrant workers are being addressed. I want to know how farmers will cope with this distress. I want to know how women will escape domestic violence trapped in their homes. I want to know what is being done to enable trans persons and sex workers to survive this period of lockdown.”