Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe: ‘We are witnessing a crime against humanity’

It's hard to convey the full depth and range of the trauma, the chaos and the indignity that people are being subjected to. Meanwhile, Modi and his allies are telling us not to complain

During a particularly polarising election campaign in the state of Uttar Pradesh in 2017, India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, waded into the fray to stir things up even further. From a public podium, he accused the state government - which was led by an opposition party - of pandering to the Muslim community by spending more on Muslim graveyards (kabristans) than on Hindu cremation grounds (shamshans). With his customary braying sneer, in which every taunt and barb rises to a high note mid-sentence before it falls away in a menacing echo, he stirred up the crowd. If a kabristan is built in a village, a shamshan should also be constructed there," he said.

Shamshan! Shamshan!" the mesmerised, adoring crowd echoed back.