Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week,...
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The Big Story: Peak PK
There are a standard set of questions posed to any effort that seeks to drum up a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s electoral juggernaut, at least on the national stage:
Can a group of disparate Opposition parties put aside their differences to actually work together? Do they have a platform that goes beyond the desire to battle anti-Bharatiya Janata Party hegemony? Do they have access to resources to match the BJP’s massive, electoral bond-stuffed war chest? And – most frequently brought up – do they have a face? A leader who can be projected to match up to Modi?
As we approach the mid-way point of Modi’s second term, few of those questions have concrete answers. Yet something has changed.
Modi’s catastrophic mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis has dented his popularity far more than other policy messes, such as the disastrous demonetisation episode and the broader economic downturn. The last two...