Jumping Jilania or Parachute politicians: Newbie politicians bypass hierarchies to launch themselves into Elections 2014.
Actor Moon Moon Sen says her political inspiration is Julius Caesar and by contesting the elections this time, she hopes to restore Caesarean nobility to politics. Her idea of Parliament, she recently told a TV interviewer, is "that poor lady Meira who says 'quiet' ineffectively". The voters of Bankura in West Bengal willing, Sen could be among those occupying the coveted green benches in the Lok Sabha when it starts business less than two months from now.
The combination of her Tollywood appeal, jatra stardom and a ticket from Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) make her a strong contender. But she wants more. So, when she introduces herself to the crowd at the Bankura stadium at a rally on March 23, she reminds them that she is Suchitra Sen's daughter ("My contesting from here is my mother contesting"), and Tripura royal Bharat Dev Varma's wife ("Darling stand up, please," she urges her husband who is also on the stage). Sen speaks to the crowd in affected Bangla. She has chosen Mamata's colour code but in a more appropriate fabric-a diaphanous blue and white leheriya print chiffon.
Sen is not the only star in the fray. This election is swarming with Page 3 debutants. In West Bengal alone, parties have fielded over a dozen stars, from films to music and sport. TMC has fielded seven celebrities aspiring to be lawmakers. BJP's list has singer Babul Supriyo, actor George Baker and singer-music director Bappi Lahiri, best known for giving Bollywood disco-hits in the 1980s and being clad in more gold jewellery than a prosperous Indian bride. Lahiri is the BJP's candidate from Serampore. TMC's Baichung Bhutia, the former soccer star, makes his political debut from Darjeeling.
In an election driven more by the social and traditional media than ever before, the rise of the celebrity politician is a natural fallout of the urge to create a spectacle of everything. According to sociologist Shiv Visvanathan, while politics in India still revolves around the great big families, the absence of ideology and identity gives rise to the celebrity culture. "The difference in this election especially is that many of these celebrities have an intellectual air. Like a Gul Panag or a Kirron Kher, they think of themselves as self-reflexive cultural critics and speak on national issues," he says.
Paradropping stars disguised as politicians is a pan-India phenomenon. As BJP tries to ride a perceived Modi wave and get past the 272 mark, the party is attracting a number of 'parachute politicians' in this election-30 'outsiders' of the over 400 candidates declared so far. "There is a BJP wave, we can't put up a 'no entry' board at our offices," says BJP Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The Congress this time has fielded a lesser number-nine so far-simply because it has fewer celebrities queuing up for tickets. The new challenger, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is relying almost entirely on public figures in this election.
Opportunism is a common trait among such candidates. Magician and illusionist P.C. Sorcar, Jr is trying a new trick that he has mastered rather well: Party-hopping. He was close to Mamata in the 1990s but ended up with the Left in the next decade. Now, as he makes his debut in the Lok Sabha elections, Sorcar is BJP's candidate from Barasat. And like several other celebrity politicians, he is also hopelessly out of touch with the people. "Entertainment too is a kind of social service. I am here to make bad governance disappear," he says. If Sorcar doesn't win, he might be among the first ones to disappear from BJP.
Visvanathan explains that having an articulate celebrity campaigner creates a new kind of instant politics. Such candidates are both useful and at the same time disposable or transferable. They are not people like BJP's Shatrughan Sinha who get involved with the party over a long period of time or like film star politicians in the south who formed an integral part of social movements. In a way, perhaps, Navjot Singh Sidhu, also of BJP, is a perfect example. "He is useful precisely because he does not have to be accommodated in the long term."
In Delhi, the list of debutants includes journalists and actors, even spokespersons who owe their fame and tickets to TV. When former TV news channel IBN7 managing editor Ashutosh joined AAP on January 9, many saw it as the inevitable culmination of the media's relationship with the party. Journalists are a key part of AAP's core team-from former Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia, 42, a former producer with Zee News, to the 26-year-old Rakhi Birla, a producer with Jain TV who became Delhi's youngest minister.
Allied to this was a growing sense in several newsrooms across Delhi that the media was responsible for the prominent position AAP held in the national discourse. Several journalists dreamed of joining the party themselves. Ashutosh is the embodiment of this ambition.
Towards the end of his journalistic career, he grew increasingly aligned with the anti-corruption movement he reported on. As the party's Lok Sabha candidate from Chandni Chowk, he now spends up to eight hours a day campaigning from Jama Masjid to Model Town, often having to defend the party's decisions during their 49-day stint in government. If AAP's list embodies the rather incestuous relationship that the activist-movement-turned-party has with certain journalists, there are others, from actors to retired generals, who have proven to be equally politically promiscuous.
The Lok Sabha contender from North East Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, has changed parties and constituencies in his bid for power. On February 13, the Bhojpuri film actor met Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi in Delhi. The two discussed a possible campaign by Tiwari for BJP in Bihar. Tiwari asked him for a Lok Sabha ticket from Buxar. The request was considered at the BJP Election Committee meeting but the seat finally went to Ashwini Kumar Choubey.
Tiwari instead bagged the North East Delhi seat after Patna Sahib MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha declined to leave his constituency and contest from here. BJP's hunt for a face from eastern Uttar Pradesh or Bihar ended with the Bhojpuri star on its doorstep. The 43-year-old was a Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate in 2009 from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. In April 2011, when Anna Hazare sat on a fast for Lokpal, Tiwari also made an appearance at Jantar Mantar and later shared the dais with yoga guru Baba Ramdev.
Tiwari joined BJP just before the Delhi Assembly elections. "It is (Narendra) Modi who is fighting the elections. I am just representing him," he says. Of course his knowledge of the area he might end up representing is limited. "If people of North East Delhi give me a chance, I will prove myself in five years. It's a premature question to ask at this moment."
Who would have thought that a magician and a Bhojpuri film star would have so much in common with a former Indian Army chief? All three have changed political camps repeatedly. Long before he worked his way into BJP, General Vijay Kumar Singh-who is now the party's candidate from Ghaziabad-was looking for a stage. The former paratrooper has used his training rather innovatively, sensing his moment and willing to engage on any terrain.
While he transitioned almost seamlessly into a social activist following his controversial retirement, Gen Singh's first dalliance with politics came while he was still in service. On April 22, 2012, a month before his retirement, he went to Ballia in Uttar Pradesh to unveil a statue of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar. It was unusual for an army chief to attend such an event and more unusual still that he was invited by Neeraj Shekhar, the former prime minister's son who is a Samajwadi Party MP.
In October that year, Gen Singh popped up in a press conference beside Hazare, launching a scathing attack on the UPA Government which he called "anti-people." On November 1, he was in Rewari in Haryana, sharing the dais with Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala. In early 2013, some sources reported that the general was trying to negotiate a way into AAP even though Hazare had distanced himself from the political party. On September 15, 2013, Gen Singh attended an ex-servicemen's rally in Haryana along with the BJP prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi. He made it clear however, that he would not be joining the party. On March 1 this year, he did.
"I stand for clean governance," Gen Singh says repeatedly as he settles into his campaign routine. He is pitted against the Congress's sitting Firozabad MP Raj Babbar and AAP's celebrity news TV anchor-politician Shazia Ilmi. The actor-turned-politician Babbar, who started his innings with SP and then moved to the Congress, changed his constituency after he sensed strong anti-incumbency against him. Babbar is not alone on the list.
Congress's Moradabad MP, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin too has changed his constituency. While Babbar has been active as a party spokesperson, his performance in Parliament is abysmal. He asked just 10 questions and participated in three debates during the 15th Lok Sabha while the average for other MPs stood at nearly 40 debates and 300 questions. Azharuddin's record was worse. He participated in two debates and asked just five questions. M.R. Madhavan, who heads PRS Legislative Research, points that most celebrity MPs fare poorly in parliamentary performance. "Though some others are equally bad," he cautions.
Obviously, traditional politicians resent this invasion of their turf. "You will only get to see them on TV," incumbent MP and former Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal says of both Panag and their BJP rival Kirron Kher, insisting that the "stars" have no real concern for Chandigarh. BJP General Secretary Varun Gandhi is worried that the part-time politicians are trivialising the campaign. "The true test of a campaign is the strength of the message of the political party and the credibility of the messenger," he says.
Stars such as Dharmendra and Govinda-from the opposites sides of the political spectrum-competed with each other in poor performance in the 14th Lok Sabha. Dharmendra had a low 24 per cent attendance and did not participate in a single debate or ask a question. Govinda participated in two debates and asked no questions. His attendance was 12 per cent. Yet, it suits parties to paradrop public figures as candidates or just have them around in the campaign.
TMC has fielded Bhutia in the hope that it can garner Gurkha support that had gone with BJP in 2009. In Gen Singh, BJP found a ready replacement for its party chief Rajnath Singh who insisted on moving to Lucknow. In East Ahmedabad, the party used Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal to oust seven-time BJP MP and Modi detractor Harin Pathak. Stand-up comedian Raju Srivastava, who quit SP and joined BJP in early April, admits that he campaigned for different parties and got paid for it in the 2009 elections.
This time, even though BJP did not give him the Phulpur ticket he was expecting, the party's campaign coordination committee has drawn up a long list of constituencies where he will be used in the campaign. "He is in great demand in a number of constituencies in Bihar, UP and Delhi,†says actor and BJP National Secretary Vani Tripathi.
Celebrities aside, this election has given rise to another form of parachute politician-the achiever. From candidates like Nandan Nilekani for the Congress, former Union home secretary R.K. Singh for BJP and banker Meera Sanyal for AAP, these are people who are seeking to bring their vast experience and track record into the political arena.
They may not have worked themselves up the party hierarchy but their entry is a wake-up call for many politicians who see party loyalty as an easy substitute for competence. AAP's pool of paradropped intellectuals and achievers is something other parties are now trying to emulate and many see it as a good thing.
Shiromani Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral believes this is a healthy trend because the infusion of talent is necessary where the needs of several social constituencies need to be counterbalanced. "After all, legislation is complex business," he says. As voters become smarter and better informed, it will be difficult to blind them each time with a sprinkle of stardust.
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