New Delhi: On April 17, ahead of a State election, a maskless Prime MinisterNarendra Modi boasted to a sea of cheering supporters: “I’ve never ever seen such huge crowds at a rally.”
His country was on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. That day, India recorded more than 261,000 new coronavirus cases — more than many countries have seen during the entire pandemic.
And it was only going to get worse. Each day since April 22, the country has reported more than 300,000 new cases — at times, up to half of the daily cases reported globally.
The capital New Delhi is now running out of wood for cremations. Hospitals are full and lacking oxygen. Only 2 pc of the population has been fully vaccinated. Foreign leaders are now rushing to India’s aid.
While Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Narendra Taneja told this week that responsibility for India’s second wave belonged “first and foremost” to the government, he maintained the crisis could not have been foreseen — despite countless countries being battered by second waves as new variants emerged globally.
Indian PM could have prevented devastating Covid-19 crisis
Others in Modi’s orbit have argued state governments are to blame for not imposing regional lockdowns and mismanaging their health care systems. Last weekend, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said oxygen shortages at hospitals were a problem not of supply but distribution, which he claimed was the responsibility of state governments.
But many in India believe responsibility lies with Modi and his Hindu nationalist government, which not only didn’t prepare for a second wave but also encouraged mass gatherings at Hindu festivals and political rallies, including in a closely contested battleground state.
“The government has failed us all,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the General Secretary of Opposition party Indian National Congress, said in a statement this week. “Even those of us who oppose and fight them could not have foreseen a complete abdication of leadership and governance at a time as devastating as this.” Modi has been keen to tie himself to positive aspects of India’s pandemic responses.
