Inclination to do good is there, but it needs backing of the system at large. Till politics in India is made transparent and is driven by hard work and real opportunity, there will be stagnation in growth, writes RWITWIKA BHATTACHARYA
About seven months ago, Ram let go of this dream to pursue politics and returned to New York from Bhopal. Ram was a partner at a private equity firm in New York.
He was every employer’s dream. He was hard-working, focussed and good at execution. But after spending ten years in the private sector he could no longer ignore his calling toward public service. It was this sentiment that led him to leave his six-figure salary and head back to his home State of Madhya Pradesh to pursue a life, tough by all means, in electoral politics.
Ram joined a national political party. He led the development of the social media team and helped the party re-think on its online communication strategy, given the modern context.
But he only made it through three years of grassroots politics before realising that politics had little to do with benefitting the community and more about the sentiments of individual leaders. He lost hope about ever getting a ticket to contest in elections and decided to head back to his old life in New York. India lost an incredible leader who could have made a real positive difference.
Unfortunately, our political system is fraught with issues that drive away talent like Ram on a regular basis. Most of us question the dearth of talent and conviction in the current crop of leaders without analysing the system that leads to the rise of less than optimal political leadership.
From an opaque political system that does not allow, for good, talent to rise up within the party system, to a lack of financial support extended to promising candidates, politics is clouded in processes that hinder and stunt the rise of promising talent.
Political parties, perhaps intentionally, do not provide concrete directions on how an individual can grow within the party. Knowledge is implicit and held by very few. Consider, for example, how none of the political parties lays out ways in which an entry-level volunteer can work to attain a party position.
Other than key decision makers in party leadership, few within any party system are aware of criteria required to fulfill various positions. For example, when a party spokesperson is selected, how exactly, is their ability to communicate evaluatedIJ Do party treasurers have to have a background in finance or fundraisingIJ Without these criteria being laid out, it is hard to even aspire to go to these positions. This is very much unlike in the private sector.
‘Continue working for the cause’ — is a standard line delivered by party leaders when young entrants ask for advise on rising within the party rungs. However, very few leaders can define the activities and actions one needs to pursue in order to succeed.
Party workers often deduce, in order to get the attention of senior leaderships, they might need to organise more rallies or mobilise party workers or get the word out about the party’s ideal. However, without defining the key areas of participation one often risks their efforts as being futile. With such opaqueness surrounding the party system it is unsurprising that politics no longer remains about the calibre of a person to deliver on a programme and has denigrated to a culture of sycophancy toward those in leadership.
The problem is further aggravated when we consider the controversial role of money in politics. Working with a political party is a full time job for most aspiring politicians.This means that most aspiring politicians can’t do much else.
In a survey amongst national leaders, the author found that an aspiring politician has to invest anywhere between one to nine years of working with a party before they get a ticket and are able to get a salary as a legislator. This is a significant amount of time to stay without any proper income.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) provide a minimal stipend of a few thousand rupees for full time workers, the amount is far from sufficient. Having no source of income during their time in working with a political party keeps even the most talented professionals away from the field.
This means that those who enter politics must come from wealth and are able to dip in to their existing resources to support themselves when in politics.
Moreover, they are willing to employ corrupt means of making money so they don’t need to look for other means of employment. While this is well recognised there is very little discussion about how aspiring politicians financially support themselves for several years as they pursue their political ambitions. Money is the black hole of bringing talent in to politics. Over the years, we are seeing a shift in what the electorate expects.
Politicians are expected to be well-speaking and educated. As the expectations of electorate are changing, political parties need to prepare themselves. They need to bring in talent.
However, if parties want to attract people of calibre, they need to begin by increasing transparency in the party system and providing financial support to aspiring politicians. Without the presence of such basic systems the Rams of India will leave politics.
(The writer is the author of a book on how the youth can enter into politics, to be released by Harper Collins in September 2017)