Under the wheels

The Confederation of All Indian Traders (CAIT) has a well-established position against e-commerce and foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and had pitched all its hopes on the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to defend this agenda. So Modi's highly publicised speech late last week at a CAIT event suggesting that e-commerce should be welcomed took the association by surprise. What underlines the association's embarrassment is that the traders had also promised Modi a "Bullet bike rally" in support. If the association makes good on that promise, it will end up supporting a politician whose views are incompatible with its agenda.