No top-10 economy has seen its 2021 unravel faster and with greater suspense than India’s.
Narendra Modi’s podium-thumping January 28 Davos speech sure does seem a lifetime ago. There, the prime minister detailed how “India beat all odds in coronavirus fight.”
Modi complained “a lot of experts had said India will be the worst-affected country, there will be a tsunami of cases.” He also said: “India is among countries that have succeeded in saving the maximum lives” and “the world from disaster by bringing the situation under control.”
It’s hard to think of words that aged more poorly as a fresh Covid crisis brings India to its knees and shocks the globe. Thanks to complacency and downright hubris on the part of Modi’s government, a new Covid-19 tsunami is imperiling his nation of 1.3 billion – and its neighbors.