The words are harsh, merciless, without appeal. For the first time since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, voices are rising in civil society to demand the departure of the Hindu nationalist, re-elected in 2019 for five years, but unable to anticipate and manage the second wave of Covid-19, which plunged the country into immense chaos.
“You are no longer worthy of being our prime minister”, writes Arundhati Roy, the most famous Indian writer, in a text published by the online news site Scroll.in and titled “We Need a Government”. The author of God of little things and Ministry of Supreme Happiness is known for opposing the Prime Minister of India in the name of defending freedoms. But she had never gone so far.
“We cannot wait until 2024, she writes. I never imagined that one day I would beg the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to do something for me. I would have preferred to go to jail rather than ask him anything. But today, as death mows us down in our homes, in the streets, in hospital parking lots, in large and small towns, in villages, forests and fields, I, an ordinary citizen, I swallow my pride and join my voice to that of millions of my fellow citizens to beg him, yes, beg him, to step down. At least for a while. I beg you, resign. “
Absent subscribers
With the onset of the crisis, the word resign (“Resign”) has appeared on social media. The anger of the Indians which is released more every day is commensurate with the drama that India has been going through for a month. The country recorded, Thursday, May 6, 414,188 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths, and now accounts for 46% of new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the world and one in four deaths. The situation in New Delhi is as critical as ever, despite the arrival of international aid. The shortage of beds, equipment and oxygen has spread to a large part of the territory, in particular the state of Karnataka (south) and its capital, Bangalore, or Uttar Pradesh, the most populous.
Since his defeat in the regional elections on Sunday, May 2, Narendra Modi has been absent subscribers, as is his ally, the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, with whom he had led an intense campaign in West Bengal to try to delight this State. He made no comment on his loss. Not a word. He just sent a congratulatory message on Twitter to Mamata Banerjee when his opponent, whom he decked out during his campaign with a “Didi o didi (A “Hey, my sister,” perceived as sexist), was sworn in in Calcutta for a third term.
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