Buffaloes in government

Every other week, traders community thinks of innovative ways to protest against FDI in retail that it insists will impact livelihoods

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail may be a signed, sealed and delivered deal as far as the government is concerned, but the traders’ community is unfazed. Every other week, its representative organisation thinks of innovative ways to protest against the policy that it insists will impact livelihoods. The latest in this line is a bulk text message that said complaining about the FDI policy was like “reciting the flute in front of buffaloes” (sic), a somewhat clumsy translation of the popular Hindi saying “bhains ke aage been bajana”, an allusion to a buffalo’s apparent indifference to music.