The devastation and trauma which is being inflicted on Indians, rich and poor alike, by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented. Given the fact that the State (both the Union and the state governments) had more than a year to prepare for this, and has yet been found wanting in terms of both prevention and treatment, it will be interesting to see the political fallout of this.

India entered a new political epoch in 2014, which has been described as the fourth party system by political scientist Milan Vaishnav. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Narendra Modi is the dominant political hegemon today. An important pillar which supports the BJP’s current political dominance is the centralisation of welfare benefits where everything from health insurance to a toilet and now portable water connections to the voter is attributed to Modi. Neelanjan Sircar and Yamini Aiyar have described it as the politics of vishwas (trust).

This begs an important question. If voters have rewarded Modi and his party for achievements, tangible and non-tangible — enhancement in India’s prestige post-2014 being a good example of the latter — then will the Centre not receive a disproportionate share of the blame for the current crisis? And will this not be reflected politically?