When cases plummeted this winter, India disassembled extra coronavirus wards it had set up in 2020. 'As consequence, many crucial lessons we could and should have learned - what we needed to do to strengthen the health system and prepare for a second wave - were simply not learned.' 'There was a sense that we had crossed the hump and Indian exceptionalism was winning the day,' she says. Case numbers had been creeping up, but officials didn't want to believe it, Aiyar says. 'Politics overrode any concern about the health crisis that was unfolding,' says Yamini Aiyar, president of the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi think tank.Ībout six weeks before Modi's April 20 televised speech to the nation, his health minister had declared that India was in the 'endgame' of the pandemic. Naga sadhus (Hindu holy men) take a holy dip in the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar, India, on April 12. (Modi later advised that the festival wrap up early, but by then, thousands of pilgrims had already tested positive for the coronavirus and at least one religious leader died.)

An Indian investigative magazine has since reported that a state official who urged that the pilgrimage be restricted was summarily fired by Modi's government. At the time, West Bengal had none of the pandemic restrictions reimposed in some other Indian regions.įor weeks, Modi's Hindu nationalist government had also refused to halt the huge Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, in which millions of people gathered to bathe in the Ganges River throughout April. Nevertheless, there were few masks and scant social distancing in Modi's crowd. That day, India confirmed 234,692 new coronavirus cases - more than 20 times its daily tallies from late January and early February. 'In every direction, all I can see is people! You are wonderful!' Modi exclaimed to the crowd.

Together we'll change the conditions.'īut three days earlier, Modi had held a massive political rally with thousands of attendees in West Bengal, a state that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to win in local elections. 'With your courage, patience and discipline, the country will leave no stone unturned. 'Discipline is needed to win the battle against corona,' Modi said, asking Indians to stay at home if they can. That was when he ruled out another nationwide lockdown (he had previously imposed one in March 2020) but urged Indians to take precautions to halt the coronavirus's spread. The prime minister hasn't given a televised speech to the nation since April 20. Observers say they've never seen such anger against Modi, and at least one poll has logged a decline in his support. India's quick descent into COVID-19 chaos, along with the resulting public ire, now amounts to the biggest challenge yet for the country's most powerful and popular leader in decades.

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