When it becomes obvious that the move to win an advantage point has failed, shifting strategy to the lowest common denominator becomes the immediate go-to for politicians. Many leaders of the past have reaped benefits by reciting the ‘garibi hatao’ slogan, but they did not really succeed in eradicating poverty. Though the expenditure on programmes for the poor have been ever increasing in subsequent annual budgets, the gap between the poor and the rich has not yet been breached to the expected proportion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi proved no different on New Year’s Eve when the people of the country with access to television tuned in anticipating the unexpected and earth shattering — something that would punish the dishonest, and in relief that would save them the unending troubles of cash crunch.

Under fire for demonetisation — the PM’s learned supporters (not necessarily die-hard bhakts) do accept humbly that the move hasn’t yielded major political gain for the BJP or economic gain for the country as a whole — Modi needed to dispense a salve to the affected people, in keeping with a tradition of earlier governments. So instead of making new announcements related to his latest pet project of demonetisation, the PM promised a prosperous 2017 with a series of sops for the urban and rural poor, farmers, small businessmen, senior citizens and pregnant women.