Tulsi to titan: Performance politics
Comebacks in politics arrive cloaked in symbolism, charged with subtext, and choreographed for resonance. Hence, the Tulsi-Irani redux isn't nostalgia; it's narrative warfare. Once Tulsi was the sanskari sovereign of Indian television. Now, back to being Tulsi again, Irani is showing off a shrewd recalibration of power, presence, and persona.
Born in 1976 in a modest Delhi household, her political ascent was not bestowed; it was built by her from scratch. From wiping tables at McDonald's to ruling the primetime as Tulsi Virani in Ekta Kapoor's cultural colossus, she embodied middle-class mythos with magnetic precision.
But ambition is a hungry beast. Irani, never one to be typecast, pivoted to politics in 2003, entering the BJP without pedigree but with panache. The nation scoffed. The party watched. And she worked relentlessly, rhetorically, ruthlessly.
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