Budget 2016: Enter, The Dhoti Kurta Sarkar

With one of India’s largest ever allocations to lift the farm sector and alleviate poverty, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hoping to shed the suit-boot tag, boost the economy and win a second term.

- Raj Chengappa

Question: Which of the Indian prime ministers do you think Narendra Modi has modelled himself after?

Answer: Definitely not his party predecessor Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The jury is still out on which past prime minister Modi resembles a third of the way into his term. But uncanny similarities were being noticed between him and Indira Gandhi in the run-up to the Union Budget, and after it was tabled in Parliament on February 29. It is not just their way of functioning (both are regarded as autocratic) or their charisma (both led their parties to famous victories on their personal popularity) but increasingly in how they define their common enemies and priorities once the odds stack up against them. If Indira spoke of the “foreign hand” that constantly plotted to destabilise her regime, a week before the Budget Modi lashed out at foreign-funded NGOs whose “aim has been to finish Modi”.

In the face of the challenge to her leadership after the Great Congress Split of 1969, Indira Gandhi announced ‘Garibi Hatao’—the single-largest anti-poverty programme since Independence. It helped her appeal directly to the rural and urban poor and saw her win the 1971 general elections by a landslide. Her 20-point programme included a massive rural employment guarantee scheme, drinking water for all villages and rural electrification.