Have people seen through the hollow man?

"Great leaders cannot escape testing times," wrote Prof Makarand R Paranjape. "For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will it be the covid pandemic of 2020-2021?" So, "the question on everyone's mind is whether he will emerge stronger after weathering this storm", Mint. "Modi has so far donned the mantle of the solitary, heroic leader, centralizing power and authority, taking risks, leading by example, almost taking on the electoral mandate of single-handedly transforming India." On the 7th anniversary of his government Modi said that the nation followed the mantra of "sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas", (meaning all together, development for everyone and everybody's trust), during his rein, Economic Times (ET). "He underlined that the Centre and the states are working together to mitigate the sufferings of the people." Not all states, surely? West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that people are not interested in Modi's 'mann ki baat' (wisdom of the mind) broadcasts but want to know about "covid ki baat" (discussion regarding covid), NDTV. Can Modi erase the memory of hundreds of bodies floating down the holy River Ganga? "Hundreds of copses have been found floating in the river or buried in the sand of its banks," BBC. To deflect responsibility, Modi called the epidemic "once in a century" and "a big challenge for the world", Times of India (TOI). But, "Mamata is not the only CM on a warpath against the PM and his office," News 18. "In recent months there has been a peculiar behaviour exhibited by several CMs." "Opposition chief ministers are with increasingly outrageous actions and behaviour attacking the PMO primarily because the PM is Modi." "In the last seven years, Narendra Modi has been a colossal figure in Indian politics," wrote Rajdeep Sardesai. "Modi will be the fourth Indian PM to complete seven years in office." Jawaharlal Nehru lost a bloody war with China in 1962, wikipedia, Indira Gandhi faced rising prices and growing political unrest which culminated in the Emergency, ET, and Manmohan Singh faced the anti-corruption campaign of Anna Hazare, The Week, all after 7 years. "Modi too now faces his moment of truth." "The Covid-19 surge is the first time that the glossy protective veil around the PM's persona is being lifted and a governance deficit lies exposed: the optics of the tika utsav for example cannot compensate for a floundering vaccine policy," Hindustan Times (HT). "This has been the year Narendra Modi ran out of luck and leadership. Could this be the reason why the second anniversary of his second term went almost unnoticed last week?" asked Tavleen Singh. "However, there is one thing about the future that is no longer uncertain. It is about the economic condition of the people of the country. It will be worse than it should be, inequality will increase and the vast majority of people will be poorer, deeper in debt and unhappy," wrote former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Has the Indian economy improved in the 7 years of Modi's rule? "Contrary to the perception advanced by the Union government, the GDP growth rate has been a point of growing weakness for the last five of the past seven years," wrote Udit Misra. "The GDP growth rate steadily fell from over 8% in FY17 to about 4% in FY20, just before the Covid-19 hit," "between 2012 and 2018, the total number of employed people fell by 9 million", fiscal deficit was high, inflation was increasing during lockdown and the rupee has fallen against the dollar, Indian Express. "Every party, institution, expert, state or service which could have helped Modi combat the pandemic has been deliberately bent, twisted hollowed out or contemptuously discarded in his dispensation and rendered useless, and the prime minister is now like a general with no troops or weaponry," wrote Avay Shukla. Modi has 70 million followers on social media and has used those platforms against his opponents, so his assault on Twitter and WhatsApp is hypocrisy, wrote MK Venu and Maya Mirchandani. "Welcome to our Susu Potty (referring to cow urine and dung) Republic!" said TMC MP Mahua Moitra with disdain. Modi has been exposed as hollow. India is facing a horror future.