One cannot escape the irony that some Indians now have to resort to comparing their economy to Bangladesh' two-bit tiny economy as a last resort, when they really should be comparing themselves to China. That would require some soul-searching.
It is a rather sad commentary - don't you think?
when,
- Indians are dying and being floated downriver for want of "Chita" funeral wood. Dead bodies are turning up thousands of miles downstream.
- Indians are planning to deploy flesh eating turtles to get rid of bodies in the Ganges.
- Indians are suffocating and dying on sidewalks after using 3-wheelers as ambulances. I have seen videos on this.
- Richer Indians and intellectuals cannot be saved either (no amount of money can buy oxygen or treatment), it is a horrific situation even in larger cities, out of control. We have friends in India, we know through personal accounts.
- Indians are dying in hospitals because they cannot get Oxygen which India cannot produce (neither concentrators, nor the Oxygen itself).
- Modi govt. is totally incapable of controlling the situation, it is apparent that they had no concrete plan either. On top of it Modi encouraged rallies, gatherings and made super-spreader situation far worse.
- How irresponsible can a leader like Modi get? More importantly, how can gullible Indians keep voting this incompetent person to power, repeatedly? Do they have no sense?
I think this realization that certain things have to occur (like good governance/planning and raising standards of living for Aam Janta - yes, compared to even Bangladesh whose HDI in many areas are better than India with far smaller funding outlay) has to come sooner or later before declaring India a superpower.
How long can India as an entity go on ignoring these basic civic needs by its govt., which is now the laughing stock of the world? Should Modi have some shame?
Should Indians try to convince the whole world by propaganda and try to muzzle the foreign press like you do at home in India - that India is doing great and is a super-power comparable to China?
If these realizations never come to Indians of any stripe, then maybe it is time to write off India as a sham democracy and a failed state already.