As a second wave devastates India, Narendra Modi vanishes

OVER THE past seven years Indians have watched Narendra Modi’s neat hair and trim beard grow whiter and longer. There was no way to miss the change, because there was no escaping the prime minister’s face. He was on television snipping ribbons, waving to adoring crowds and grappling foreign leaders; on posters doling out subsidised cooking gas or cheerleading for pilgrimages to Hindu holy sites; and even, in recent months, gazing benignly out of vaccination certificates next to the words “Together, India will defeat covid-19”.

Yet, as covid casualties rocketed up in mid-April, the omnipresent Mr Modi started fading like the Cheshire Cat. For weeks he scarcely appeared at all, and now that his handlers are producing more of what they call “interactions”, these tend to take the form of stilted Zoom calls with panels of officials, or, more recently, a helicopter tour over his own storm-battered state of Gujarat.