People from various walks of life will fulfil their political aspirations in the coming elections.
Politics is changing, and so are people entering politics. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam was a scientist, while prime minister Manmohan Singh is a former bureaucrat. Now, there are people from other walks of life lining up to join politics. But there is a remarkable difference in their approach to the corridors of power: they do not want to be recognised as typical politicians who are corrupt and often find themselves on the wrong side in sting operations.
The election to the 15th Lok Sabha, for instance, will see candidates from sports, bureaucracy, armed forces, diplomatic cadres, judiciary and media. There are also some hopefuls seeking to capitalise on their names becoming known for various reasons.
There are some known ones, such as cricketers Azharuddin (hoping for a Congress ticket) and Chetan Sharma (contesting for Mayawati’s BSP). They may be new to politics but not to the people. Political parties do not need to tell voters who they are, although what they would do for the people may require a bit of explaining.
Shashi Tharoor, former UN under-secretary general for communications and public information and India’s candidate for the post of secretary general, will fight elections on a Congress ticket from Kerala. Then there is former diplomat MK Bhadrakumar who has thrown his lot with the communists. Another former diplomat, ex-foreign secretary TP Srinivasan, is also reported to have joined the BJP to contest from a constituency in Kerala.
A proud army man to the core, retired general BKN Chhibber would go to the people and seek their vote and support on a BSP ticket in Punjab. Similarly, a serving IAS officer CG Thomson from Kerala is leaving bureaucracy to join politics.
Besides, there is a judge, justice (retd) Shambhu Singh (seeking Congress ticket in Madhya Pradesh), several lawyers, former police officer Namo Narayan Meena from Rajasthan who is already a minister, the men with criminal cases against them such as Atiq Ahmad and the mother of a criminal’s victim, Neelam Katara.
Other recent non-political entrants include Dr Mahesh Sharma in Noida, and a former TV journalist Rohit Mathur, seeking a BJP ticket, both from Uttar Pradesh.
Most of these people have already done their bit in their fields and reached a certain position. After all, politics as a career to begin with is not easy. The amount of money and network required to become a politician is huge. So unless one is from a family with political background or is rich and famous, it is difficult. What difference and how much change these people bring about in politics and political climate remains to be seen.
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