1984 and 2002: Comparison is galling

The comparison with Gujarat 2002 is even more galling. During the last 11 years, thousands of prosecutions have been filed and hundreds of people sentenced. A cabinet minister stands indicted on charges of murder and is currently in prison. The chief minister has had to face the most rigorous scrutiny and has been cleared at every stage, including by the Supreme Court appointed SIT. In retrospect, it is clear that the charges itself were based on fabrication of evidence and a litany of lies.

The prime minister blamed the adverse external environment for the country's economic problems post 2005. He sought comfort in food inflation resulting in better returns for producers. Even here, somehow, the picture does not add up. Consumers reel under food inflation and the producer commits suicide.

Objective assessments, it could be argued, come only with a little distance in time. There is inbuilt tolerance for some corruption provided there is growth and generation of employment. Rampant corruption and falling growth are toxic and judgements instantaneous. It is unlikely that history, even if written by sympathetic Congress historians, will be any kinder.