Rajiv Bajaj has had some harsh words for India’s battle against the covid-19 pandemic. In an interview with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the managing director of Bajaj Auto said that our lockdown was meant to flatten the infection curve, but ended up flattening the economic curve instead.
Bajaj was also critical of the government for adopting what he saw as a Western model of virus containment, rather than going the way of Japan or South Korea, which had not imposed draconian curbs and had kept commerce going.
Much of Bajaj’s critique appears to draw upon thindsight. When coronavirus began to spread its spikes beyond China, there was little clarity on its characteristics.