It’s strictly business, nothing personal
After listening to academics, poring over data, watching The Godfather and Hindi potboilers, some insights on Indian politics emerges
I started writing this piece a few months ago in the run-up the municipal elections in Mumbai. The thing is, as I have articulated in the past, politics is not a domain I am comfortable with because I haven’t done much ground reporting on it.
But with the benefit of hindsight, on the back of some conversations, and when looked at from the prism that is business, I think I see a pattern. Politicians aren’t very different from entrepreneurs—a breed I am familiar with.
Earlier this year, I was a part of the audience listening to Milan Vaishnav, now a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, talk about around the research that went into his most recent book, When Crime Pays.
The sum and substance of it was that the so-called criminal or lumpen elements exist in Indian politics because our society insists they be that way. Pressures on the organized ecosystem to deliver justice in a country as densely populated as this is enormously high. It is inevitable then that some elements step in and take charge.
The thought he voiced stayed in my mind. Multiple conversations with voters from different classes over the months, political workers including a few candidates, and after watching the first two parts of the Godfather trilogy, some ideas began to form.
Contrary to popular perception, politicians with criminal records are not “criminals" as people perceive them, but entrepreneurs trying to make it to the big time. They are hugely intelligent creatures who understand people, content, context and how to leverage each of these strategically at just the right time.
On the back of Vaishnav’s talk and after poring over multiple sets of data, some evidence emerged on what is needed to become a political creature in contemporary India.
1. Money and muscle are both important. The number of cases registered against an individual is a proxy for the kind of muscle the candidate wields.
2. But muscle need not be wielded if there is money to buy muscle and all else that may be needed to win an election.
Now, consider the following set of questions and obvious answers that follow:
1. Who’s got the money? Entreprenreurs, obviously.
2. How do you earn money? Either you have muscle on your side; or you have a Godfather to provide you with muscle.
3. I can’t think of any outliers. All outliers who come to mind have a dark side. Take Steve Jobs. Sure, he came up the hard way. But he stole ideas. History remembers Abraham Lincoln as the greatest president of the United States of America. But he could be high-handed, deploy the military to shunt opposition, neuter opposing voices and was a racist.
My limited submission is this: The monied are entrepreneurs. And entrepreneurs are attracted to politics to further their interests. What I have on hand are some stories that provide pointers to why the system may be such.
Story #1: The newspaper vendor
Before you read any further, take a close look at this image I clicked in the early hours of morning a few months ago. That man there with a pile of newspapers is indispensable to many Indians. The only days he takes a day off are when newspapers aren’t published. But that is not the point of this image.
When I took this picture earlier this year, it was in the wee hours of the morning—a little after I woke up around 4.00am. As is my wont, I went over and we got chatting.
I’ve known him for as long as I’ve lived here. He’s as old as I am. An armada of delivery boys report to him now. He’s an amiable guy and keeps me posted on what’s going on around our locality. In the past, when the both of us were younger, every Sunday, we’d play cricket together. But he was always busy. And today, even more so.
He is also the chief campaign manager to his older brother, who belongs to a political party. I sat down to ask him what chance his brother stood.
“We’ll win," he stated confidently.
“And why is that," I asked.
He laid out his reasons—the minutiae of which I don’t intend to get into. To cut a long story short: He was up until 2.00 am. But was back at work at 4.00 on the dot, as he always is. “It’s been crazy," he told me.
“Can’t you get some sleep? You’re emotionally attached to this newspaper vending business," I told him.
“It’s not personal. It’s strictly business," he told me in Marathi—the smile intact.
“Best of luck," I told him, and walked back home. I very much want him and his brother to do well. At the end of the day, these are guys I know of, have hung around with, and have no personal animosity against—in spite of the differences in our political ideologies.
Call it journalistic instinct or whatever, though, but a voice someplace in my head suggested I take a look at the publicly available records as filed with the Election Commission. I looked his older brother up—is someone I know as well. I always thought of him as a quiet guy, very unlike his younger brother, my newspaper vendor friend. This is what turned up.
• He has 12 criminal cases pending against him. This does not include two charges of “habitual dealing in slaves (IPC Section 3710), eight charges related to rioting (IPC Section 147), four charges related to joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons (IPC Section 144) and many others.
• He has declared assets of over Rs2 crore.
• No details of his movable assets are provided.
• There are no details of his immovable assets either, except a filing under “others", and that it is in excess of Rs2.63 crore.
His educational qualifications are unknown.
Story #2: The Godfather
This story will make no sense without first watching this clip—it’s the opening sequence of The Godfather, etched by Marlon Brando.
It is only pertinent then that you ask of me, why do I insist you watch this sequence? Well, for a simple reason. My friend owes his allegiance to someone bigger than him—a Godfather. I don’t know him personally. But I have seen from rather close quarters his meteoric rise from much the same lanes and by lanes my newspaper vendor’s older brother originates from.
Publicly available records have it that in 2007, when the 48-year-old Godfather to my friend’s older brother first stood for the elections, he had declared assets in the region of Rs1 crore. The last available public records date back to 2014. He is 55 now and has declared personal assets more than Rs20 crore.
A closer scrutiny reveals that contrary to popular perception, he would like to diversify into other businesses. On closer scrutiny, the structure of his holdings have changed as well to accommodate entrepreneurial interests that comply best with Indian tax laws—for instance, the formation of various trusts and the formal implementation of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). These are standard operating practices adopted by Indian entrepreneurs to ensure their wealth is protected.
Nobody is willing to come on the record on this one. That is why the Godfather cannot be named. But it seems in doing all of this, his attempt is to wipe all traces of his criminal past. He wants to be legitimate.
This is where, a chartered accountant told me, the trusts helps him comply with tax laws. In the long run, it furthers his cause as an entrepreneur and enhances his public image as well. Because in holding office as the chair of a public trust, popular perception is that of a do-gooder. Over time, wealth begins to grow as does the distance from crime.
Story #3: Becoming Godfather
A little later, our domestic help who knows the Godfather as well and lives in close proximity to his ancestral home walked in. “Tai (older sister)," I asked her in the Marathi we speak in, “What do you think of Mote Saheb (as the Godfather is locally called here)?"
And very unlike the pleasant Tai I know, whom I always imagined is his supporter, frowned and suggested in no uncertain terms that he is a con man.
“But, Tai, you always told me he is a good man and helps you out all of you when in need, haven’t you?" I asked her.
“They’ve changed," she said. “They con us poor people. He doesn’t even visit us anymore."
I could see the dilemma the Godfather was grappling with and why he needed to distance himself from crime. Getting to be Godfather was easy. You only had to sort out local problems. But as you grow bigger, the empire does too. But with it, the impression you create ought to change as well. The crowds are now larger, the ambitions bigger, and you are always under scrutiny. It is a tight rope walk. There are many constituencies to be satisfied. One man cannot do it all.
He has to create and nurture many pairs of muscles like my newspaper vendor friend—in his own mould. How do you do it? And how does you gain their allegiance? Else he stands a risk. He’ll never make it to the mainstream and will be laughed at forever.
At his presentation in Mumbai, Milan Vaishnav, presented the curious case of a comical lawmaker like Anant Kumar Singh (see picture below).
Those of us in urban India think of him as a farce. A joke and a proxy for all that is wrong with contemporary India. And why not? Singh is currently in jail and has 16 cases pending against him.
But Singh is playing to a plan. He aspirations are regional. He knows his voter base and how to keep them happy. He doesn’t see himself as a criminal though. Instead, in his eyes, he is a Robin Hood of sorts modelled along characters from Hindi films like the corrupt cop with a golden heart as etched by some of these characters. That is why in his absence, his spouse is contesting as a proxy for him.
Story #4: Staying Godfather
So, what makes him the Godfather? He’s got one trait those who report into him doesn’t possess yet. He sees himself as an entrepreneur. “Nothing personal. It’s strictly business," as that legendary line in The Godfather goes, mouthed by both the father and son played by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino in different situations.
Now, the man I know of is hard pressed to account for the Rs2 crore declared in his affidavits. He cannot explain it. That is why it is filed away under the vague term “Others". But why am I not surprised? For one simple reason—it is the norm across the country. Will he ever be able to? I don’t know. If he does, he will grow. Be that as it may, his Godfather can.
The country is dotted with many such men who report to many Godfathers who rule over many a fiefdom. They are not aberrations, but the norm, as Milan Vaishnav pointed out during his talk. Consider the data on the income of political parties here, which presented by Vaishnav during his talk and forms part of his thesis.
Like I said earlier, how far my vendor friend will go from here, I don’t know. But one thing I do know now. Aspiring to be Godfather is one thing. The ability to begin the transition to become one is another thing altogether—as this intense clip from Part II of the trilogy featuring Al Pacino amply demonstrates. It’s here where you transition from being the local toughie to a businessman who can deal with the suavest on their turf and talk a different language.
Based on some conversations, like with Tai at home, they will not vote for those who have ill-gotten wealth. Instead, she says, she will vote for somebody who is apparently “clean".
But the data suggests what the voter says is one thing. When they cast the ballot, they do something else. They vote for the entrepreneur who can protect them when push comes to shove.
Vaishnav’s data suggests just that. Now that I look back, most people who live around Tai’s home, a rather poor part of the city, were having a good time. Most of them hold part-time jobs and have no work to do. But as the local elections were getting closer, they were busy folks.
Turns out they had full-time work doing the rounds as foot soldiers. Candidates cutting across parties were wooing them to hold banners, walk around, shout slogans and exhort voters to come in large numbers. Tai doesn’t know how much they’re paid. But apparently, it must have been a lot she says. “They order Chinese every night for dinner, get free lunch, fresh clothes to wear every day, and a few hundred rupees."
The Indian political system is such that it does not allow in-ordinate spending. So where does all this money come from? I’ll let the Vaishnav’s data do the talking. Suffice to say, the more money and muscle you have, the higher your chances of getting to be the top dog.
Story #5: Can systems disrupt Godfathers?
Something happened before the local municipal election. The doorbell rang. When I stepped out, there were a voter slip lying by my door. It had my name on it, no address, and a penciled number that had got my apartment number right. The person in the picture didn’t look like me either. It is that of somebody else.
Now;
1. Who slipped it under my door?
2. If it was a government mandated authority, my address was incomplete. But somebody had got my block and apartment number penciled down there.
3. That person in the picture isn’t me.
I asked friends from the ruling parties and those in the opposition who could have penciled the exact apartment number on my voting slip in spite of my picture being the wrong one and a missing apartment number. Everyone I spoke to said pretty much the same thing. The parties they represent and their apparatus have me tracked down to the T. They must put their own systems in place. For which they expend monies from their pockets. But it is in their interests to do it. So, they do it.
There are no rights or wrongs in it. If an e-commerce company can serve up targeted advertising; or a company in retail use big data to build profiles of their consumers and predict behaviour, why ought political parties not to? After all, these are businesses as well. They have interests to protect—theirs, and that of the businesses they own. End of the day, like I was told often times during the course of my many interactions, they see themselves as entrepreneurs. And politics is just a route to control those interests.
It’s business. Nothing personal, you see.
Charles Assisi is co-founder and director, Founding Fuel.
His Twitter handle is @c_assisi
Comments are welcome@feedback@livemint.com
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