The cartoonists leading the backlash over Modi’s handling of India’s Covid crisis

As condemnation of Narendra Modi’s handling of India’s Covid crisis grows, it is cartoonists who have handed out some of the most stinging criticisms, reports Namita Singh in Delhi

A cartoon criticising Narendra Modi’s decision to focus on winning elections while ignoring the rising death toll from the coronavirus pandemic (Supplied by Satish Acharya)

The decision by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to hold huge political meetings during the run-up to voting in the state of West Bengal, even as the country was being devasted by the coronavirus pandemic, enraged Manjul.

He was left “aghast” as he watched the situation unfold.

“I had to draw what I saw,” the 49-year-old freelance editorial cartoonist tells The Independent. “[Modi] was holding rallies day in and day out even as pyres burned across the country.”