For a septuagenarian member of India's somnolent upper house, five years out of government, Palaniappan Chidambaram is a man much in demand. He served as finance minister in 2004-08 and 2012-14, and as home minister during the interim, in governments led by the Congress party. After Congress was crushed at the polls in 2014 by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi, Mr Chidambaram receded from the spotlight. On August 21st, however, an armada of satellite dish-topped tv trucks appeared at his house to watch plainclothes police officers vault over his garden walls and arrest the ex-minister on corruption charges.
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