Bringing forth a deeply analytical break-down of the key themes surrounding India’s second wave of COVID-19, and debunking common misconceptions around its emergence, a book ‘Modi Stole My Mask: The Truth About India’s COVID-19 Crisis’, co-authored by Amit Bagaria and Savio Rodrigues, has been brought out by Garuda Prakashan.

In India, the COVID-19 pandemic has already infected more than 3.26 crore people (2.3% of our entire population) and has killed more than 4.37 lakh people in 18 months. This timely, well-researched book makes a comprehensive case and deliberates upon pertinent questions including: Is the SARS-CoV-2 virus a Chinese bioweapon purposely unleashed upon the world? How bad was India’s second wave, and was it planned in advance? If yes, by whom and why? Were the Kumbh Mela and the state elections responsible for the second wave? How did co-vultures profit from it?

In addition, the authors contemplate on why India faced a shortage of vaccines, hospital beds, oxygen, and COVID-19 treatment drugs. Other key debates in the public domain, surrounding the new Central Vista construction, money from the PM CARES Fund, media bias, and dirty politics, also find space in the book, apart from a detailed analysis of vaccination.

Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs & Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri says, “The book is very refreshing and congratulated Authors for reforming the false narrative created during the COVID-19 second wave. With well-researched facts & numbers to counter the allegations against the Central Government, the book is a robust reply to the distorting facts about the vaccines and the Central Vista Project.”

Explaining the book’s genesis, author Amit Bagaria says that he decided to write his 14th book, as he was deeply pained to see India being maligned domestically and globally.

“Ever since April 6, 2021, when daily COVID-19 cases crossed one lakh for the first time, people started blaming Modi for India’s ‘second wave’. The attacks did not come from China or Pakistan. It came from within—from political opponents of Modi, their supporters, journalists who have always been against Modi/BJP, and from thousands of armchair ‘experts’ through social media. Tens of lakhs of Modi supporters turned against him. As Chief Executive, the primary blame for the lack of preparation for the second wave must definitely go to Modi. But was Modi the only one to blame? Or was there a shared blame? Was there a larger story?” says Amit Bagaria. He is a serial entrepreneur-turned author who has written 14 books, including eight No.1 bestsellers.

While Bagaria carried out deep research, well-known journalist Savio Rodrigues joined him as a co-author.

“I decided to join Amit in co-authoring the book because of the vicious political and media propaganda in the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic focused on targeting PM Modi for the failure of containing the pandemic and forgetting about the health crisis affecting the people of India. People’s lives were immaterial to propagandists. We both come from strong research and analytical backgrounds; we decided our skills should be used to investigate the truth behind the second wave of COVID-19 in India,” says co-author Savio Rodrigues, a serial entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience in journalism and communications.

The Kindle version of the book was launched on June 4 and instantly became a bestseller in three Amazon categories. In the first 100 days, more than 3,670 copies have been sold.

The book is available on garudabooks.com, Amazon, and leading bookstores.