Prime Minister Narendra Modi began 2021 proclaiming that India had defeated Covid-19 – and would now help the world defeat the virus with Made-in-India vaccines. Since then, just about everything has gone downhill for his government. The large-scale farmer protests against three new agricultural bills became even bigger, garnering greater global attention. This drove Modi’s government into a bitter fight with social media networks, Twitter in particular.
Then, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s top leadership put aside questions of governance over March and April to focus on winning West Bengal polls. The party ended up losing the elections – and the government failed to act effectively as a massive Covid wave engulfed the country. India’s healthcare system crumbled, making global headlines.
Meanwhile, Modi’s much-touted plan to maximise vaccine diplomacy fell to pieces as India experienced severe shortages: all exports were halted as domestic criticism mounted of…