The problem was always there. Sections of the middle class never really understood the nuances of complex issues like poverty, the caste conflict or why our development indices have been so poor even as the nation crowed about economic growth. The problem is worse with the ruling elite who have lately assumed control of important governance structures. Consider that it was none other than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi attributed stunted growth and malnutrition in Gujarat to the middle class being beauty and figure conscious rather than health conscious. He did it again when he compared Kerala to Somalia and invited the wrath of a State that is in many ways a model for public health care systems. Yogi Adityanath did the same when he said hospitals in Uttar Pradesh were better run than those in Kerala.