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Tracking a day of the toughest job in India
🎩 A politician's workday
What is the toughest job in India today?
I put it to you that it is the job of a sincere politician.
There are no fixed working hours. There are no weekends. Whatever be going on in your life and in your mind, you have to show that you are happy at seeing the people who have come to meet you. At 7 am. On a Sunday morning. All 200 of them.
And for all the voters that you keep happy, you will be known for the ones who are miffed.
But if you don’t put in all the effort, there are at least 10 people waiting in the queue to take your position.
It’s tough, but it’s equally fascinating. Tracking a day in the life of a politician in India is like zooming into a part of the mammoth Indian democratic machine and seeing how its bearings, valves and gears move.
My colleague Rajesh is doing precisely such a zoom-in exercise the last few couple of weeks, and spent a day with Dr Abdul Salam, BJP’s candidate from, what he calls Minority-Majority, Malappuram in Kerala. Here's his report.
Keep in mind that this is how Dr Abdul Salam’s day looks when the BJP has no MPs in Keralas. Essentially, these are the party-building days for a BJP leader in states like Kerala.
Imagine the same, if and when the BJP does manage to gain a foothold in the state.
Will it though eventually? The report discusses all the possible permutations and combinations that can play out in.
We will be watching Kerala, and the rest of India. You watch this space and if you like our work, please support our ground reports project this election season. Our aim is 50 and this one's third.
Until next time,
Arush Tandon
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