India, May 3 -- We had walked into a village in Jalpaiguri tucked between the Jaldhaka river and the Sonakhalo forest in North Bengal. Before we could speak, a woman asked us, "Are you from I-PAC?"

The question was unhesitating. It was also the most precise diagnosis of West Bengal's contemporary politics. She did not ask what I-PAC was saying, or whether we knew anyone there. She asked whether we were from it. Confronted with outsiders showing up in a remote village to ask political questions, the most plausible explanation for her was that we belonged to a political consultancy.

That misidentification tells something fundamental about how parties interact with voters. It would not have been possible five years ago. It is possible now ...