While performance politics remains relevant, there is a sense in which politicians feel they will only get to “perform” if they can first mobilise votes through identity-based appeals. (File Photo) 6 min read Apr 29, 2026 04:47 PM IST First published on: Apr 29, 2026 at 04:47 PM IST I have long been an advocate of what I thought in the 1990s was an emerging shift in India from the politics of identity to the politics of performance. I took this as the hallmark of a maturing electorate, one that stopped voting based on “who we are” and chose instead to vote after assessing “what they do”. However, recent years have seen the resurgence of identity politics nationwide — and surprisingly, as I realised during the recent election campaign in Kerala, even in the country’s most progressive state. Kerala has long been celebrated as a state where politics was defined less by identity and more by performance.…