The Candidate
Author: Anirudh Bhattacharyya
Publisher: Penguin, Rs 299
Anirudh Bhattacharyya’s debut novel, The Candidate is important because it is a fresh attempt to underline the Indian political scenario employing a hitherto offbeat narrative technique in Indian political fiction in English — satire. More so, because it arrives at the time of the high voltage drama during the General Elections of 2014, writes Ananya borgohain
The country is drawn in a tumultuous political mayhem at present. A new Government is due to be formed and nuances of varied hues — personal, political, social, historical — await with bated breath to scrutinise and document whoever takes over the baton. literature too has always been a tool of both political propaganda and dissent, and various narrative techniques have been employed to underline the same. However, in Indian English fiction, satire has not been frequently consumed to mirror the socio-political reflections, to evoke laughter and amusement, more so, in a self-deprecating fashion.
Anirudh Bhattacharyya’s debut novel, The Candidate has the advantage of being a fresh attempt to reflect the Indian political scenario without a jargon-filled, preaching tone. It also comes at an exciting time when there is such high voltage drama associated with politics in the country. “My publisher, Penguin, was pro-active enough to co-incide the book’s arrival in the market with the lok Sabha elections.” the writer says.
The novel chronicles the hurly-burly ride of Jay Banerjee, 50, who comes to Delhi from the United States after he loses his job owing to the recession in the US. Once back at home, Jay happens to meet his childhood friend Govardhan Ray, a politician who has a large share of controversies and conscious scandals in his kitty, the current one being his alleged role in the 1984 riots in Delhi. Govardhan, morally corrupt and now socially outcast, fields Jay as his shadow-candidate, contesting on his behalf. As the experienced netaji explains, “It pains me to deprive my people of my leadership, but we all have to make sacrifices for the public. Actually, my withdrawal may even benefit us. A martyr, bravely exiting the public sphere till his name is cleared of misdoing. We can attract additional sympathy votes…yo-yo politics is exactly what works in India. Ideology just complicates retail politics.”
This ushers Jay into the big bad world of Indian politics, more specifically in the fight for the Narayanpore seat, wherein amidst the challenges posed to his integrity, he is familiarised with a vortex of dilemmas in the journey to ‘real India’. He is hilariously entangled in the manipulations of ‘paid media’, ‘the motif of proletarian revolution in Bengal’, hatching the propagandist agenda in campaigning, and so on.
Bhattacharyya, a political journalist now based in Toronto, has covered politics for both print and television in both the White House and Parliament. He says, “I have covered multiple kinds of elections, from students’ union elections to the Presidential ones. I have also travelled afar and followed both the lok Sabha and Assembly elections. My characters are inspired from the various shades of people I have interacted with; the many contrasting personas in due course of time. These characters are a collection of personality traits; some may refer to well-known personalities while some others may be figments of my imagination. I keep getting phone calls from people asking me if their guess about a certain politician being the inspiration behind a character is right. I will let the readers figure out the puzzle.”
The Candidate thus documents an inadvertent candidate. Its points of references are real and believable as well. Blurring the line of difference between the tragic and the comic, the novel subtly attacks the moral degradation that the country is struggling with. “Indian politics has always fascinated me. However, there has been a sincere dearth of humour when it comes to writing about the same. After all, our politicians are funny, even if unintentionally so!” says Bhattacharyya. He adds, “My objective was to bring politics to the literary arena. For instance, some time back, there were reports of the Congress demanding to hide lotus (the BJP logo) ponds in Madhya Pradesh under the pretext that it would persuade the voters to lean towards the BJP. That’s similar to my ideas for the book. The account of the election symbol in my book too, leads to a tremendous sense of mirth while effectively highlighting the hopeless immaturity of the circumstances.”
Does satire also attract the angst-ridden, somewhat delusional and somewhat disillusioned youths of the countryIJ Particularly, the urban, elite, ‘casual’ young personIJ “Well, we frequently criticise politics and politicians. WhyIJ Maybe because there is a candidate lurking deep within all of us. That is who my target is.” he answers. Maybe which is why his protagonist is substantially distanced from the web of Indian politics. He belongs to the Wall Street, thinks in English and has his own share of conjugal troubles at home to survive. But he lands up in Parliament. Such stark contrast between who one is and who one becomes is efficiently emphasised in the novel.
But then is Jay also a redeemer coming from the ‘superior’ world of the USIJ A condescending, western saviour who will clean all the gutter of desi politicsIJ After all, Govardhan too has his photographs morphed and posited himself next to Western figures such as Obama, lady Diana and Michael Jackson in them. “Not in the least. I did not want my protagonist to emerge from everyday politics which is why I, as you use the word yourself, ‘distanced’ him from our daily political controversies and manipulations. It gave the book a fresh experience and approach, both mentally and geographically. For instance, in that part of my book when they wait for the results of the election for a month, one of the characters shrieks at how severely different it is than in the US. It is not necessarily demeaning or painting a negative picture but is a comparison between India and the US”
So then, as an insider, what are his views on Indian governanceIJ “India is a much younger nation with much greater challenges. No one person can handle complexities all alone. The best way right now is to ensure efficient implementation of the laws that we already have before adding more. We have ignored a lot of what we possess and it is high time somebody focused on that.”
Most of us have read George Orwell’s 1984, or Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Moreover, we are familiar with the British political comedy series Yes Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister. In a scene in the latter, a conversation between Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby goes like this: “Make him something important. What’s he interested inIJ TelevisionIJ” “Hasn’t even got a set.” “Fine, make him a governor of the BBC.” The candidates of said novel seem to be subscribers of such skewered and warped dictums, which makes the novel an inviting and engaging roller-coaster ride, which also familiarise us with the harsh realities, employing both shock and delight.