A crowd of supporters gather to listen to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he lays the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh state on Jan. 2, 2022. Coronavirus cases fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant have rocketed through India and the country is scrambling to ward off its impact by swiftly introducing a string of restrictions that the population thought were history. But India’s political leaders, including Modi, have largely flouted some of these guidelines and traversed cities in a massive campaign trail ahead of crucial state polls, addressing packed rallies of tens of thousands of people without masks. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)
