Dress code

White churidar-kurta or safari suits have long been a mark of the Indian male politician. But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wishes to use white outfits to establish that its members, especially the chief ministers, are Mr Cleans. At a public meeting in Raipur over Coalgate, Rajnath Singh, the former party president, made the eccentric suggestion that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh should continue wearing white “because a small blot will focus on the white colour”. Now, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister normally wears white trousers and shirts, so he doesn’t have to make much of a change. But it is unlikely that anybody else in the state BJP will wear coloured clothing any longer, lest they be accused of corruption.