One lazy Sunday afternoon when moving an eyelid is also a herculean task, my father informs me of an impending visit by a hotshot astrologer / politician claiming to be close to the mighty and powerful from a northern state. Grudgingly I muster all my energy and move away from my weekend of Netflix Binge.

This gentleman arrives with his entourage with all the necessary peripherals i.e. wearing Starched Linen (bcoz linen is the new Khaadi) Kurta-Pyjama, carrying 2 Mobile Phones and couple of hanger-ons !! A few minutes in the conversation I realised his clout was definitely overstated and he was what is called in the corporate jargon – A midlevel employee, someone who draws power from the fact that the CEO knows his name and this very achievement is used to keep the subordinates in their place i.e. tiny cubicles!!

Having had a brief experience as a karyakarta of my party, I can sometimes easily find out the nature of a person in terms of their politics. I have realised the political workers can be somewhat be broadly classifies in set of categories across the party lines. Each has their own unique characteristics. To name a few:

• The Believers – The Believers are the true upholders of the party ideology. They implicitly believe in the principles of the party and its leaders. They are never hankering for party posts or draw personal advantage from the above beliefs. For them being in power or not is immaterial as long as the party is true to its cause. This is a category any party should be proud to have but sadly they are the most neglected ones only remembered during the elections.

 

• The Dissidents – The whole existence of Dissidents is derived from the fact they oppose a powerful individual from their own party with tooth and nail. They are usually in minority in their party but that’s what gives them visibility, acceptance and media space. They may not have any worthwhile accomplishments of their own but their own stature is only fed on the criticism of the other.

 

• The Followers – The followers is what every Leader/Neta wants to acquire. Party ideology be damned!! They have complete faith, trust and confidence in their leader whichever side he chooses to be in. They are similar to the believers in a sense that like them they are always standing with their leaders. There is however a downside of having them, they sometimes cloud the reason of their leader and also takes them away from the reality.

 

• The Fence Sitters – This category belongs to individuals who want to be close to power. They have no ideology and no loyalties. They can suck-up to whoever is calling the shots. Considering the fleeting nature of politics they can switch loyalties in a blink of an eye with no remorse or guilt. They are perfect in playing the subservient role and can give a true follower a run for his money and make the Neta even question The Followers. They are the most dangerous one cause you don’t know when they switch to the other side and show their true colours.

 

• The Professional – Politics now days for some are no more about service and this category symbolises this perfectly. For them politics is another profession they have chosen to be to earn their livelihood. Their politics is about the advancement of their business and are usually in an industry that is highly dependent of government liaison or interference. They sometimes have to suffer from being close to a political party but the profits earned during the good times help them glide over these hiccups.

To get back to the beginning, over a cup of चाय (u can say चाय-पे-चर्चा) we discussed politics, wrote off some people and then he left our place with big promises of putting a positive word for me to the higher ups. I just hope I don’t have to use his influence but like Mr. Bond said ‘Never say Never Again’, I am thinking of soon forwarding him फूल-पत्ती, चाय-कप वाला Good Morning message !!