This must have taken the wind completely out of the sails of the ruling dispensation. For years they had a favourite weapon. It was ridicule. Every speech, every television discussion, every social media exchange seemed to contain the same word aimed at the opposition leader. “Pappu.” It was repeated so…


Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.