The Marie Antoinette of Indian politics

Clearly, the FM, who has emerged in recent weeks as the PM's most articulate spokesman, believes that a farmer is someone who owns a farmhouse in Delhi's Chhattarpur

Shri Narendra Modi-ji doesn’t have to be the “Jagadguru of Jhoot” just because a Congress functionary says so. But Nirmala Sitharaman is surely the Marie Antoinette of Indian politics. She would not otherwise have spoken of an annual income of “only” — stressing the only — Rs 18 lakh. Nor would she have dismissed those who wallow in such wealth as the “lowest rung” of the middle class, again emphasising the “lowest”, in the same television programme.

Clearly, the finance minister, who has emerged in recent weeks as the Prime Minister’s most articulate spokesman and ardent champion, believes that a farmer