The new — actually, the old — Congress identity is clear from the new Bharat Nirman ads: catering to deprived people, offering identity cards and cash transfers. From being the party that liberalised and opened up the economy, the rhetoric is back to the mai-baap state of the 1950s-70s. The throwback to the 1970s and garibi references become specially stark in Rahul Gandhi's recent speeches.

He not only improvises some old slogan about "eating one roti" but makes it very clear who he represents, "We promise that our government will be a government of the poor, Dalits and adivasis." So, the CII address was just a gimmick? Read More

Jyothi Shankaran

    Jyothi’s last role was as Senior Editor with the business news channel Bloomberg TV India. He also worked as News Editor at business-standard.com, the online version of the business newspaper Business Standard. Jyothi is a chemical engineer from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar.