Kamal Nath rarely misses the opportunity to make a point. When India’s influential trade minister took time out from the international policy circuit to campaign in November’s state election in Madhya Pradesh, he was the first to admit that questions about the World Trade Organisation were not a staple concern of voters.
But still, he claimed time and again that the uncompromising stance he took in the so-called “Doha round” of global trade talks stood him in good stead as a champion of India’s poor. “They know I stand up for them,” he said. “That’s why they support me.”
