Ask yourself these questions: Would a government that cared about the people it has been elected to care for turn away in the face of such an obvious crisis? Would any sane government ignore these pleas and simply pretend these things weren’t happening? Wouldn’t it be a morally bankrupt government to say nothing in the face of so many deaths, if these deaths were real?

The government of India may be a lot of things, but no one can accuse it of being morally bankrupt. Yes, our ministers may shy away from press conferences that compel them to answer questions from the people who have elected them as representatives, but this doesn’t make them dictators. Yes, they may refuse to share details about where our taxes are being spent and why crores collected for relief efforts aren’t accounted for, but this doesn’t make them thieves. This may be a government formed by the most awful human beings on the planet, but no one can ever accuse them of being cruel and heartless. It’s why I believe the pandemic was manufactured, and I thank the government for using its silence to shout out this truth the loudest.

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No one died of Covid-19 in India. The numbers were obviously fake, as were the reports of overflowing ICUs. The fact that very few media houses wasted time and resources focusing on these so-called deaths should have been my first clue, but I was blinded by my desperate need to believe news sources from the West. I should have dismissed my fears, spurned the mysterious vaccines now coursing through my veins, and simply walked into the nearest emergency ward to see for myself. I have no one to blame but myself.

I intend to spend 2022 by opening the eyes of everyone who is still as blind as I once was. I want them to look at the government of India and consider its silence. I want them to ask themselves why the prime minister has never acknowledged the deaths of so many Indians, or apologised for things like a lockdown, inadequate facilities, poor decisions, or a failure of leadership. It’s because he doesn’t owe anyone an apology for things that simply didn’t happen.

This manufactured pandemic has also encouraged me to look at other things I once believed to be true, such as attacks against minorities, failed economic policies, illegal hacking of smartphones with spyware, or incarceration of activists. There has been no word from the government on any of these issues, except for statements refusing their veracity. I now believe that if the government of India says that something didn’t happen, it obviously didn’t happen.

Cynics believe this silence stems from cowardice and ignorance. They accuse the government of being bought by vested interests, which does our ministers a disservice. If this really were such an incompetent government, would two Indians rise to the top of lists citing the wealthiest people in Asia as quickly as they did? Would we have the tallest statue in the universe, or the world’s finest airport in Uttar Pradesh?

If you are reading this column, I urge you to put aside your doubts and embrace the truth. 2021 was the best year of our lives because of our government. No Indians died. Everything you have been told is a lie.

When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.