It needs a Dante to write about India’s seething purgatory. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is a vision of hell that has literally brought India to its knees: never before have people in their bewildered, helpless masses not known where to turn. Stark photographs frame the tragedy—of funeral pyres lighting up the night sky, of hospitals running out of oxygen and of people gasping for breath, then dying in front of hospitals gates. It is an unending horror show. It is also a story that has grabbed international media interest.
Yet, over-sensitive Indians are upset at the harsh, bold headlines and stark images being splashed across the world. Supporters of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are now decrying the international press for its negative coverage. Is the foreign press biased in its coverage of the pandemic in India?
“Where you stand depends on where you sit,” says analyst Sandeep Shastri . “In the highly polarised society we live in, it all depends on your politics; issues are no longer important.” For admirers of...
