Indian politics: All's well, honest AN OPEN hand is the Congress party symbol. A pair of ears with fingers sticking in them might be better. India's Congress-run government is ever more prone to denial. Economic planners, grumpy that the World Bank always ranks India as a rotten place to do business, are said to be planning a rival survey of their own. Officials who grumble at credit agencies" "biased agendas" say the government will somehow rate itself. In politics the habit is more pronounced. Polls suggest misery for Congress in elections under way in states that have a combined population of 185m. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expects to topple Congress in Rajasthan and easily keep hold of power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (where turnout in Maoist-affected areas on November 11th was an estimable 67%). Most intriguing is Delhi, the capital which ranks as a state and has been run by Congress since 1998. Congress's support there has slumped. Recent polls point to a humiliating three-way tie with the BJP and a year-old anti-graft group, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Any further slide in popularity could translate into a huge loss of seats. Now Congress must brace for worse. Polls also show that Narendra Modi, the hardline chief minister of Gujarat, is gathering steam as the BJP's proposed prime minister. Despite bombs at one of his rallies that killed seven in Bihar in late October, big crowds flock to see him. Remarkably, he sometimes charges a fee (a nominal 10 rupees) for attendance. Reportedly 300,000 such tickets have already been sold for a Bangalore rally on November 17th. His personal, charismatic approach stirs excitement on television and online. Investors also look giddy: a recent stockmarket surge was said to reflect optimism that Mr Modi could win at general elections expected in May. Congress has reacted as an ostrich might. Prompted by the Election Commission, it demanded a ban on opinion polls in election campaigns, claiming that they mislead voters. Oddly, it did not air such concerns when the party rode high. "Calling for a ban was absolutely stupid," retorts Yogendra Yadav, India's best-known psephologist, now in politics himself with the AAP. After a roar of protest about free speech, Congress is left looking more defensive than ever. No doubt, Indian opinion polling has its faults. Statistically illiterate editors too often trumpet shoddy surveys from fly-by-night pollsters. Bad sampling methods, Mr Yadav says, often mean respondents are not picked at random. Worse, some opinion-poll results are simply invented. Yet reliable polling outfits also exist, and the best publish their base data and methods. Rather than banning more polls, the aim should be higher standards, something a handful of pollsters and editors could agree on. That still would not help Congress, now flailing. Bleak prospects undermine its policymaking. The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, was this week told by his party boss, Sonia Gandhi, not to attend a Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka on November 15th. So low is Congress's stock that she dare not annoy potential coalition allies in Tamil Nadu who sought a boycott. No wonder some in Congress are dismayed. Mrs Gandhi is gradually ceding more work to her son, Rahul Gandhi, the party vice-president, who so far shows little aptitude for it. Jairam Ramesh, a bright and loyal Congress minister, spoke on November 5th of his "frustration" with Mr Gandhi for being "too forward-looking." Translation: a reluctant Mr Gandhi looks as if he has already given up on next year's election, and might welcome a spell in opposition as a chance to shake up the party. In politics, perhaps the only thing more deadly than denial is defeatism.