The importance of being Nandan Nilekani, MP

Nandan Nilekani is a hugely successful man. He is also a good, decent, man. So, if rumours are to be believed, what on Earth is he doing entering the cesspool of electoral politics? Let’s be unambiguous. He’s doing the right thing. Four years ago, Nilekani traded the secluded comfort of ‘Imagining India’ with the considerably harder task of public office. As head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), he promises to deliver the infrastructure necessary to stem the vast leakages from India’s allegedly pro-poor but creaking welfarist state. If his ultimate goal still remains a promise and not a reality, it is not he who is to blame. The man who led Infosys in its glory years between 2002 and 2007 could have achieved more in his four years in Government if it were not for sundry politicians, like P Chidambaram (in his avatar as Union Home Minister), poking their nose into his business. [caption id=“attachment_425342” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Doing it the right way. PTI[/caption] It’s about time therefore that Nilekani poked his (much sharper) nose into the business of politics. There are things to be done beyond giving a billion Indians an unqiue identity number. And they need doers like Nilekani (not talkers like professional politicians) to get them done. Still, it helps to be in electoral politics. It lends legitimacy to actions which mere technocrats would never have. It also helps in the task of building the ‘coalitions’ necessary to affect change in complicated India. Nilekani could have chosen the Manmohan Singh route to politics. A Rajya Sabha entry would have saved him ‘getting his hands dirty.’ It would also have not created any insecurity among the elected politicians about an outsider stealing their thunder. But it would have also rendered him as ineffective as the good doctor. Manmohan Singh’s power is derived not from the people, but from his party bosses. That can make all the difference. Nilekani’s reported entry into politics will also be notable for the fact that he will be become the first non-crony capitalist (used in the broadest sense of the term) to become an active politician. So far, whenever a pre-eminent citizen of India Inc has entered politics, the specter of special interests has never been left behind. It may be more apparent in the cases of Naveen Jindal and Vijay Mallya (who depended quite directly on Government policies for the survival of their businesses) but it has lingered as a shadow even in cases like Rahul Bajaj (whose direct dependence on Government has reduced over time). Nilekani is different because he comes from an industry that has never ever depended on any Government support for its success. He is different because he has quite active association with even that business once he took on public office. India needs several Nilekanis to prove that the state and private capital can form clean, constructive, value creating partnerships. That Nilekani has chosen the Congress as his party of choice is also significant. The tenures of UPA 1 and UPA 2 have reinvented the Congress as a party that is reflexively against business and anti-free markets, a U-turn from the Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao eras. The Congress is also viewed as a party wedded to unsustainable populism with a minimal stake in economic growth and wealth creation. Needless to say it also increasingly seen as a party captured by dynastic politics at all levels. In such a scenario, the entry of a wealth-creating capitalist with no political antecedents into the realm of the party’s electoral calculus can only be welcome news, even if it’s just a drop in the ocean. So, take the plunge Nandan Nilekani. Who knows, you may eventually give us a reason to like the Congress again.