Pinstripe Politics And The Deadly Design
R K Misra Celebrities can raise stakes to sell suits but a feather-light fabric often betrays a deadly design. Prime Minister Modi’s pacesetter pinstripe suit may have fetched palpitation-inducing Rs 4.31crore – and it might help cleanse the sinfully polluted River Ganges, as is projected. But, those who watched the exercise undertaken to the drumbeats and cymbal sounds over three days in Surat- the commercial capital of Gujarat-know for sure it was a fixed match. The suit that cost the BJP the Delhi gaddi, and Modi his sheen was put under the hammer in a desperate bid to reclaim the remnants of a tattered ego. Put up along with 400 other gifts received by Modi after taking over as PM, the suit remained the focal point of attraction for the rich and the famous as well as the poor and the bunched. In the fray were textile magnates and diamond merchants and even a school teacher. Was it a mere coincidence that many of these who went around with cheque in hand had figured