Politics on the move

Congress veterans recount that the party had always given some vehicles to workers ahead of elections and the latter’s refusal to give them up was something the party leadership had come to live with. In the run-up to the 1989 elections, Rajiv Gandhi had sent fleets of Mahindra jeeps to party office-bearers across the country. They held on to the vehicles even after losing their party posts later.

Times have certainly changed since. But it was CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan’s shift from a rickety Ambassador to a sleek Honda City that created a buzz in political circles, even as his party colleagues defended the move, pointing out that the ailing octogenarian leader did need a more comfortable car.

Some things haven’t changed, however. Notwithstanding the SUVs and luxury vehicles parked in the driveways of party leaders in West Bengal, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat makes a statement of austerity as he sits on the front seat of a party-owned Tata Sumo and Omni. His colleague in the Politburo, Sitaram Yechury, continues to drive a Maruti Zen. Jyoti Basu still travels in an Ambassador.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi prefer the Tata Safari on the campaign trail. The young scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family has also used a Pajero to campaign in UP. For Jayalalithaa, it must be a Mercedes Benz or Tata Safari.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda converted a Tata 407 into a comfortable election rath with a toilet and sofa in the last election; his aides are not sure if the CM would require this rath in the next election given the proliferation of luxury vehicles in the market.

At Sonia Gandhi’s recent rally at Jhajjar in Haryana where she delivered the now famous rebuke to the Left, Congress workers and leaders were seen in Scorpios and Innovas. Qualis and Mahindra jeeps — which used to be the main vehicles of preference for political rallies — could be spotted at Jhajjar too but they were few and far between.

In Himachal Pradesh, where Mahindra jeeps, Gypsies and Maruti vans were used in previous elections, the Congress is planning to send a fleet of Boleros this time.

India’s political class is no more drumming up an image of austerity to impress voters. The party of the aam admi has made a smooth transition from Mahindra to Bolero to Innova. India is on the move. So are its politicians.