It is becoming clearer with every passing day that the laxity of the J&K administration may have aided and abetted the spread of the novel coronavirus in the union territory. When the first wave subsidized last year, economic activity started resuming slowly and steadily. As people started recovering from the aftermath of the crippling lockdown announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the intermixing of populations was going to be take place. At such a crucial juncture, the state and UT governments across the country seemed to have lowered their guard, encouraged by false beliefs that somehow Indians were genetically better built to handle the Covid-19 infection. These beliefs were strengthened by callous and reckless statements of political leaders who made false claims that India had managed to defeat the virus. Very less attention was being paid to the advice of scientists and public health experts. Testing of suspected patients had fallen significantly and the urgency shown by various state and UT governments to ramp up the healthcare infrastructure for tackling high number of terminally sick patients also fizzled out. Even the world looked at India with amazed eyes as the country showed a remarkable departure from the trends witnessed by other countries. But it is now visible who is on the losing side. By not paying heed to experts, the country has reached a tipping point. By allowing and encouraging mass gatherings like election rallies and religious festivals like the Kumbh festival, we have endangered millions of lives who are now struggling for a breath of oxygen in different parts of the country. The catastrophic scenes playing out in the hospitals could have been avoided if we had we listened to experts. The ugly dance of agony, misery and death on the streets of the country could have been stopped if our leaders were not so callous. But we still have times. Instead of getting bureaucrats and police to decide how to break the chain and contain the spread of the virus, the state as well as the UT governments across the country must involve scientists and public health experts. We need to take lessons from our healthcare professionals in order to effectively deal with the raging pandemic that is threatening to wipe off humans from the face of the earth. If we are serious about defeating Covid-19, politics has to take the back seat for now. Then only we can hope that normalcy will return.