There he is, standing stiffly next to Giani Zail Singh; trying to tease out a smile from Manmohan Singh; sitting next to MGR; leading Congress leader Vayalar Ravi by the arm; then in a business suit poised to sign a document; here sporting a beard holding a tennis racquet and posing with a boy, possibly in the US. That was the photo gallery, now the list of achievements: “publishing separate magazine for auto drivers called “Autokarar”; “suggested usage of ethanol mixed with petrol”, “participated in more than 300 TV Talk Shows”. But what might not make it to the personal website of Americai Narayanan, the regional spokesperson of the Congress from Tamil Nadu, is this: Last week, he was among the most ridiculed politicians on social media after an appearance on Arnab Goswami’s Times Now show, and this bizarre punchline, following his party’s thrashing in Haryana and Maharashtra, that became a popular hashtag: #Hellyeah. For a party that appears to have lost its voice after a series of electoral defeats this year, this politician who returned to India 18 years ago after a 13-year stint in the US is providing all the noise. Here’s Narayanan on that TV show: “Was there corruption during the UPA regime? Hell Yeah!” That line stunned partymen — Narayanan, apparently, was handpicked by Rahul Gandhi — and set Twitter ablaze, prompting historian Patrick French to issue a series of tweets, ending with this final one: “And still reeling from Americai V Narayanan’s epic performance last night. God Bless Americai.” Narayanan, meanwhile, tells The Indian Express that he wanted to serve the country better but could not do so because he “fell into the crack of two eras between Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi”. The word Am-ericai, he insists, “is not America, it means humble in Tamil”. But then, he also has this to say: “I was profiled on page 1 of Dallas Morning News for my decision to return to India leaving my well-paid job in Texas in 1988. I wanted to serve India and the Congress I found was the best party for that since 1988. However, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi spoiled everything.” Narayanan adds, “I first heard Rajiv Gandhi at a public meeting at Houston in 1987 and later in Delhi and Madras after my return. Rajiv told me that young professionals like me from the US are the ‘brain reservoirs’ of India and that his party needed us. But after his assassination, the Congress became a party that gave access only to those who were in power centres. After Rahul entered the politics, maybe I became too old for him to tap my ideas.” Narayanan has been a familiar face in Tamil news channels for a while — “at least two times a week,” he says. His political career never really took off in the Congress, he says, because he never had a “god father”. G K Mooppanar was a possible candidate when Narayanan was in Tamil Maanila Congress from 1996 to 2000. “(But) Moopanar did not give me a seat to contest though he knew me very well.” Asked about his latest punchline on corruption, Narayanan says, “Let it be about UPA corruption or the future of Congress party or Narendra Modi, I tell them the truth. Telling the truth is the most dangerous thing these days in TV shows. What had happened last week also was the news anchor silencing me in the middle and letting others attack me and ridicule me.” Narayanan says he left his US job at the age of 32 and returned to India with his 13-day-old daughter. “My father was an honest engineer and made all his seven children study well,” says this B.Com graduate from the University of Madras. He was born in a Brahmin family in Thirukovilur near Vilipuram, believes in God, and says he observes his evening prayer routine regularly. “But I am secular,” he says. He says he has been part of various charitable initiatives since his return from the US, including helping organise funds for victims of the Gujarat earthquake, and working for auto drivers and slumdwellers in Chennai. “I introduced telephone booths at autorickshaw stands in 1992, an idea that doubled the income of autodrivers in several parts of Chennai,” he says. As for politics, Narayanan says he is “not at all happy” with the Congress in Tamil Nadu, adding that it needs more ideas, and leaders with excitement and dreams. “Many ridiculed my decision to return from the US in 1988. Had I started a company capitalising on the favourable situation in the early 90s, I would have been a Narayana Murthy by now, instead of a Narayanan. Still I hope that there will be a day my party will listen to my words.” Narayanan says he has completed the first phase of ‘Operation 6263’ to revive the party by meeting cadres personally in 12 districts and over 256 villages in Tamil Nadu after the Lok Sabha elections. “I don’t believe in the cult of the Gandhi family. But I do believe in Rahul when (Narendra) Modi is fooling all of us, thinking that he can do it always.”
