BBC News
By Aparna Alluri
image captionMr Modi held election rallies even as Covid cases spiked in India Modi leads India out of a lockdown and into a Covid apocalypse, declared a recent headline in the UK Sunday Times.
The Australian newspaper re-published the story with a scathing summary: Arrogance, hyper-nationalism and bureaucratic incompetence have combined to create a crisis of epic proportions, critics say, as India s crowd-loving PM basks while citizens literally suffocate.
It earned a rebuke from India, but there s no denying the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi s cherished image has taken a bad hit.
Stories from India s punishing second wave have dominated global news and social media feeds - people gasping to stay alive as they wait for critical care beds and treatment; desperate families scrambling for everything, from oxygen cylinders to a doctor s appointment; mass funeral pyres and parking lots turning into crematoriums to accommodate the rising numb