In 2018, a year before the Lok Sabha election, a distribution agent for a state-owned cooking gas corporation in a small north India town did the rounds of his customers and sheepishly handed out wooden plaques that listed the key achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had been instructed to tell his bemused customers that they should display these plaques prominently in their homes.
With the 2024 elections looming, the ruling party has gone a step beyond using the public sector networks as a campaign resource. Starting early, it has emphatically sought to claim direct ownership of the subsidies and
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