Mantris and their mobile mantra

A cell phone may be everyone’s best friend these days, but for politicians hounded by callers, it is, at best, a frenemy. In the landline days, managing phone interaction was a lot simpler — all one had to do was get the PA to respond with such patent replies that the caller would immediately understand that he was being avoided. Now, however, as mantris have starting taking calls themselves, the pressure to appear approachable has become a real problem, and each has devised a method to tackle the madness.

Out of reach
At one end of the spectrum is tech-savvy minister for parliamentary affairs Harshvardhan Patil who was taken by surprise when his family doctor cited excess use of cell phone as the primary reason for the persistent earache and fatigue. He was told that radiation from the cell phone, which the minister was using for more than seven hours a day, was the culprit, and was advised to give up its use altogether.

Patil says, “Initially, I was restless as the phone had become a part of my life. But then I decided to evolve a mechanism to moderate its usage. I entrusted it to my personal secretary who makes a record of all the calls. Only when there is an urgent call from ministers or the chief minister, do I take it. Else, I use the land line. After the initial restlessness, I have begun to enjoy the newly acquired freedom.”

Union minister in Prime Minister’s Office, Prithviraj Chavan, was known to be among the few politicians who would personally respond to every caller. After taking charge as the chief minister he tried to keep the habit, but gradually realised that it was becoming difficult to manage his day. He has now left it to his personal staff to list the callers, to whom he attends when possible.

Seasoned politicians also gauge from the timing and the caller, the significance of the call and take a decision on whether to attend it in brief or ignore it by asking staff to dole out an excuse.
Minister for public works department Chhagan Bhujbal says, “Whether we like it or not, we have to come to terms with cell phones buzzing round the clock.” Bhujbal, who was among the first cabinet ministers to start blogging about his work and chatting with voters some years ago, adds, “After some time, it became very difficult to keep pace with the growing demands from people across state.” Hence, he has now restricted himself to attending to calls. His officials admit, “He replies to calls personally. Even the text messages are read and replied to by Bhujbal.”

New tricks
To beat phone stress, some ministers have switched to hands-free sets, while others have acquired two to three phones, keeping the numbers of new phones discreet.
In the past, the mantris would beat the phone ‘menace’ by asking personal staff to respond with patent replies — If the minister wanted to avoid the call made to his residence, the PA would reply: ‘Sahab bathroom mein hain’ (Sir is in the toilet). And if the call was at the office, he would say: ‘Sahab meeting main hain’ (Sir is in a meeting). The replies were so common that the caller would immediately understand that he was being ignored. Now, however, it is difficult to lie as the ministers respond to calls themselves. The only choice left is to cut the conversation short by saying: “In important meeting”.

The maestros
And then there are those who have mastered the art of weeding out calls. Union minister for rural development Vilasrao Deshmukh was rated amongst the most cell-phone friendly mantris. Even when he was the chief minister, he would never skip a single call, which bolstered his popularity among MLAs, corporators and workers across the state.

Once, he was heading a cabinet meeting when his phone rang. The call ended abruptly. When his colleagues asked who was on the line, he replied with amusement: “A stranger wanted to check if the number he called on belonged to the chief minister of Maharashtra.”

A senior Congress MLA reminisces: “The conversation would always be brief. But we would get a sense of satisfaction after getting a response from the CM.” Unlike most politicians, who resort to changing numbers to hoodwink callers, Deshmukh has retained the same cell phone number since 1999. And, that’s the only one he has.

Not all can call
In sharp contrast, state home minister RR Patil, who is among most media savvy politicians, is very selective in taking calls. Nonetheless, he ensures that every call made is taken note of and responded to at the end of the day through the land line at his office or residence. Highly placed sources indicate: “When Patil became the home minister, he was cautioned to be careful in interacting with strangers. After all, the home minister could be trapped through conversations with criminals and underworld dons.”

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who begins his day as early as 6am, has put in place a fool-proof mechanism to deal with phone stress. At the end of the day, he returns calls between 8-9pm and 7-8 am. However, if the caller happens to be a bureaucrat, minister or an MLA, he attends to their issues personally.