The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TNC) unveiled a series of surprising candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, not the least being Sabeer Bhatia, founder of Hotmail. Bhatia, who has no background in politics?and has as much chance of being caught in a Bengali michil (political rally) as Mamata Banerjee has of being in stilletos?represents the rather extreme example of what is now an acknowledged trend in politics and governance, the lateral entry of professionals and corporates into the heat and dust of electoral politics.
TNC, in fact, is a rather interesting example of a party that canvasses wide for talent and has a rather eclectic mix of people at the helm of affairs. While filmstars like Tapas Pal and Shatabdi Roy make up the glamour quotient, Saugata Roy represents a more genteel academic face of the party. Sultan Ahmad is a tough-guy politician in the traditional mode while Dinesh Trivedi, a businessman, represents the English-speaking chattering class.
Mamata Banerjee?s recruitment drive, which has also managed to rope in Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra as the party?s candidate against West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta, is an attempt to make her party appear attractive to a wide audience, not just the rural, but the urban, as well as to soothe industry fears. Both Bhatia and Mitra are not your average business/ professional entrants into politics. Bhatia is an entrepreneur for the new class of hip-tech millionaires while Mitra, in his stint at Ficci, influenced opinions and policy, but can hardly be classed in the same class as other politicians from business backgrounds.
As a political trend however, it also points to an interesting aspect of India?s political evolution. The point to note here is that businessmen and professionals were a class that kept away from the dirt of Indian politics. In the case of businessmen, they chose to bankroll political parties and wield the power that comes from holding the purse strings, while the professional class has more or less pitched for backroom jobs, restricted to strategising and, in some stray cases, taking on special projects in government.
Recent events, however, seem to show these are classes that are now interested in entering the political class directly, rather than wield power indirectly.
This could be due to two reasons. Let us be charitable and say that the first reason is sheer altruism, a genuine desire for public service. The second reason is a little less innocent. Over the last few years, especially the last two, a series of events have shown that when push comes to shove, the political class closes ranks within itself, and in most cases the crony capitalist or the compromised professional becomes the fall guy of any scam.
A Raja was perhaps the only exception, that too after the pressure was exerted by the Supreme Court. By and large, politicians who fall from grace, especially in graft cases, rise from the ashes, are given tickets by their parties and get some sort of rehabilitation.
Politics is a fraught profession and the cost of success is high, both monetarily and in terms of effort, but once you are in the club, it has unbeatable perks. Apart from the sheer networking potential, access to the way things are run gives you an unbeatable edge in whatever you do.
Whatever the reasons, the entry of career professionals, apart from the traditional ones like law and government service, into politics will in time be a transformative force. Until now, governance and politics was shaped by the sensibilities of those in the establishment, that is, the traditional political and bureaucratic class, which runs things in the sarkari way, or the ideological guerrilla of NGOs, conscientious objectors and perennial dissenters who provided the ?alternative voice? to the establishment.
A third way of doing things will surely emerge from this influx of new blood, assuming of course that this notoriously gun shy class holds its nerve.
nistula.hebbar@expressindia.com