It was predicted that India would be the most affected country from the coronavirus in the world. It was said there would be a tsunami of infections in India. Somebody said 700-800 million Indians would be infected, while others said 2 million Indians would die. This was PM Narendra Modi, in a virtual address to the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of January. He went on to add: “A country that is home to 18 per cent of the world population has saved humanity from a big disaster by containing Corona effectively.” As if this was not enough, the BJP passed a resolution filled with nationalist pride in February: “It can be said with pride that India…defeated COVID-19 under the able, sensible, committed and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Modi…. The party unequivocally hails its leadership for introducing India to the world as a proud and victorious nation in the fight against Covid.”
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The triumphalism is in keeping with the ‘new India’ shaped by Modi and the BJP. Yet it was much too soon to celebrate. “Even as there has been an outpouring of sympathy from around the world for India’s sufferings, the PM’s image has been badly tarnished because of his premature boasts about Indian exceptionalism and chest-thumping about aatma nirbhar India being the global pharmacy,” says retired diplomat Rakesh Sood. Brand Modi has taken a beating and how. The second wave of the pandemic has ripped apart Modi’s carefully cultivated image of a powerful and decisive political leader. Mishandling of the pandemic affects not just India, but the global fight against the virus.
The prime minister’s adoring fans regard him as a man of destiny: a Hindu nationalistic leader committed to reshaping India’s image as a major player in the world stage. His spin doctors built this larger-than-life image of a man who brought India into international focus, and fans lapped up every bit of the propaganda. “Indian leaders have long proclaimed that the country is destined to be a global power, and many around the world have been cheering India along,” says Aparna Pande of the Washington-based Hudson Institute. “India’s inability to prepare for this crisis, one year after it struck the world, however, has exposed the weakness and unpreparedness of the Indian State to provide even basic amenities to its people.”
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In keeping with his strong-man image, Modi’s foreign policy has been muscular, especially when it comes to dealing with Pakistan. But it is circumspect with China, keeping in mind the asymmetry in military and economic might. Ties with China began well with much-hyped informal summits between Modi and President Xi Jinping in Wuhan and Mahabalipuram. The love-fest came to nothing after the assault in Ladakh last summer.
Modi started off well in 2014, when he—a relative outsider to Delhi’s closed political club—burst into the scene after a massive Lok Sabha victory. His election campaign was all about development. People were hopeful and bought the BJP line of progress for all. The Western democracies that had restricted Modi’s entry to their country, following the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat under his watch in 2002, were now falling over each other to welcome the new PM.
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Modi, who has a flair for the spectacular, invited all SAARC leaders to join the celebrations at his swearing-in in May 2014. In the early years, he initiated peace moves with Pakistan, but they fizzled out soon. He was keen to woo the big western powers. Indian-Americans, British-Americans and others in the Indian diaspora also bought into the larger-than-life narrative. With much of the groundwork already done by RSS ideologues who were spreading across the US and UK since the turn of the century to promote Hindutva ideology, Modi used the diaspora to his advantage. No Indian politician before him had dared to hold a political rally in a foreign country, but this was Modi’s way to introduce himself to the world. His first mega show was in New York’s Madison Square Garden in September 2014. The rally, with all the noise and colour of an Indian election carnival, was noted in every major US publication. Modi was the “rockstar” who mersmerised his audience with his eloquence. He repeated this in 2015 during his visit to London. Sixty thousand Indians gathered to hear him at Wembley Stadium, and he was accompanied by the British PM. “There is no reason for India to remain a poor country,” Modi declared with a flourish.
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All this was music to the ears of western leaders and the capitalist press, waiting for the second-generation economic reforms in India that the UPA did not have the political capital to push. Modi was given much traction by the international media and his followers lapped it up.
At the Howdy Modi event in Houston in 2019, where 50,000 Indian-Americans greeted the Indian leader, Donald Trump was also in attendance, possibly with an eye on Indian-American votes. Though Modi openly endorsed Trump at the event, the external affairs ministry later tried to wriggle out of it by saying it was misreported. On his return visit to India in February 2020, Trump was given a massive public reception in Ahmedabad. The crowds delighted Trump. But, towards the end of the trip, the celebratory pieces were pushed to the background as the accompanying media also reported on Hindu-Muslim riots in Delhi.
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Today Modi’s international image is at an all-time low, thanks to his government’s utter incompetence in dealing with the second wave of the pandemic. Stark images of people gasping for breath and dying in front of hospitals, the frantic search for hospital beds and medicines, and funeral pyres lighting up the night sky are being beamed ontelevision screens across the world.
“This incompetence has done immense damage to Modi’s international image,” says writer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. “At one point, despite his pro-Hindu mindset, the west placed trust in him as a reformer. Modi often said his government would remove red tape, but not the red carpet for foreign investors. Many in the West were looking at Modi with the hope that he could shake things up and bring in second-generation economic reforms.” Modi was celebrated in the international press as a man who got things done.
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India managed the pandemic’s first wave relatively well and then rested on its laurels. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Delhi felt it had beaten the virus. Once the vaccine was out, any responsible government would have ensured that adequate amounts were available for all citizens. But India decided to launch its ‘vaccine maitri’ programme—in essence, an attempt to promote India’s soft power in the neighbourhood and beyond. Clearly, it didn’t work. “India’s soft power has also been affected: normally the first respondent for any humanitarian crisis, India now needs assistance from others and even its neighbours are supplying aid to India,” says Pande. “Instead of India countering China’s moves in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, China is now providing vaccines to these countries.”
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