India, Sept. 19 -- It was a given that companies, political allies and individuals would wish Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 75th birthday on September 17. So, the burst of newspaper advertisements carrying his large pictures didn't come as a surprise. What one didn't expect, perhaps, is the recent flood of print ads from corporate houses, brands and industry associations that carried his pictures, thanked him profusely for revised GST rates and announced their price drops.

Last week, in a post on professional networking site Linkedin, communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan put out a collage of such ads and simply asked: "Why?" In their response, some people found nothing wrong with the ads, while others speculated th...