Political consultant Prashant Kishor has a knack of creating a buzz around himself. His luncheon meeting with Sharad Pawar had the grapevine buzzing about the possibility of the latter spearheading an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party. Weeks later, Kishor’s meetings with the Gandhis triggered speculation that he might be joining the Congress. It now seems Kishor will be deployed to restructure the party, particularly in the Hindi heartland, where it has been moribund for years.

Kishor is a symptom of the unhinged times we live in. For someone who does not have a mass following, Kishor’s importance in the political realm mimics the role consultancy firms play in India’s corporate sector. They are supposed to possess the skills to answer questions such as these: Does a firm’s fortunes decline because of flaws in its functioning? Or is it because the firm is no longer in sync with the changing ecosystem?