06-24-2004, 03:34 AM
India Today.
THE ESTABLISHMENT
<b>The New Orbit of Power</b>
On the wreckage of a nascent right-wing establishment rises a brand new elite that draws its power from its liberal past. These Soniaites and leftists are everywhere, altering the course of governance, if not history.
By S. Prasannarajan
Now that a planetary shift has taken place in politics, the dethroned raja from Madhya Pradesh thinks his time too has come. The buzz was that Digvijay Singh was likely to be rehabilitated in the Planning Commission as deputy chairman. It did not happen. Yet, last week, there he was, as just another aspirant in the corridors of South Block, where a cabinet meeting was in progress. Journalists who sighted him assumed that he was coming out of the prime minister's durbar. They could not have been more wrong. His appointment was indeed with the man who matters. His name? No, not Manmohan Singh, but Pulak Chaterji.
Chaterji who? The joint secretary in the PMO is more than another faceless bureaucrat. Faceless he may remain, but he is Sonia Gandhi's pointsman at South Block. And Sonia Gandhi, the power behind the throne, is larger than the most important occupant of South Block. His CV gives a fair idea of why this IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre is worthy of such high profile attention: deputy secretary in the PMO when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister; a stint in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation on Sonia's request after Rajiv's assassination; private secretary to Sonia when she was the opposition leader. A loyal servant of the dynasty.
More aptly, a representative face of the new Establishment. He is just a prominent member in an exclusive but unofficial club of men and women who are the arbiters of national destiny. They may be within or without the government, but they enjoy a special proximity to the system, which is culturally different from the ancient regime. Their power may not be direct, always. It may come from association or ideology, loyalty or utility. They are stars, some familiar, some fresh, in the brand new solar system of power whose axis is Sonia Gandhi.
They spread into every sphere of national life: politics, bureaucracy, industry, academia, entertainment and media. They reflect the attitude and ideas of the new Government; they have the privilege to alter, for better or worse, the course of governance, if not history. The most visible among them, of course, are the new Gandhians, not of the charkha-loincloth variety but designer khadi with an accent, Oxbridge with a Punjabi twang. They are the faithful, in permanent awe of the mystique of the dynasty, currently kept alive by three Gandhis-Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka.
THE OUTSIDERS
Still, Sonia's singularity has been compromised by the expediency of co-habitation politics. So there are partners, and, along with them, comes a new set of power players, from the Left, the DMK and the politicians of social justice. Suddenly, those apparatchiks who graduated from the class struggle of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, have first-hand experience of power, even if the hand belongs to someone else. And quite a bit of Bihar is bound to dominate Delhi, thanks to a steam engine called Laloo Prasad Yadav. Equally prominent will be the southern flavour, for M. Karunanidhi is the most decisive partner in the Manmohan-sorry, Sonia-Government.
And the government is run by the bureaucracy. Every politician wants his favourite babu in the right place, and the babus, with every regime change, position themselves to be at the right place. That is why some officers are more equal than others. They are the ones who become part of the power elite of the season. Like the industrialist who funds a particular brand of politics to be more powerful than what his wealth would allow him. Or, like the cultural czarina who earnestly believes that her ideological proximity to the regime makes her a chosen instrument of change. Or the professor who thinks he has now got the intellectual mandate to correct history. Or even the media maven who leaps out of his pages-or screen-to become a participant in the new system.
<b>P O L I T I C S </b>
RAHUL GANDHI, 33
POWER SON
THE BUZZ: The Congress' battering ram in Uttar Pradesh and the focal point of the young-guns strategy. Those in his inner circle are vastly outnumbered by those seeking admission. But gatecrashers, especially those who use the media to announce their proximity, are not welcome.
THE STING: Knows his mind and will not let anyone know what it is.
<b>H.S. SURJEET, 88</b>
RED RASPUTIN
THE BUZZ: He is neither a bhadralok nor an Oxbridge apparatchik, but this subaltern sardarji, one of the architects of the UPA, calls the shots.
THE STING: The CPI(M) general secretary tends to act like a PRO for the Samajwadi Party.
<b>SITARAM YECHURY, 51</b>
TELLY MARXIST
THE BUZZ: The JNU old boy is part of the CPI(M)'S think tank and its most visible face on TV.
THE STING: The youngest Politburo member is also its most powerful thanks to his close links with 10 Janpath and the prime minister.
<b>SATISH SHARMA, 57</b>
FAMILY TRUSTEE
THE BUZZ: He may be a flop politician but has been hugely success-fully in fealty to the first family.
THE STING: The haste with which Congress proposed his name for the petroleum portfolio makes it certain it wants to use it as an instrument of patronage.
A.B. BARDHAN, 79
THE HARDLINER
THE BUZZ: The CPI general secretary has twin weapons-the AITUC and his clout with the Congress.
THE STING: Tough conservative has checked rise of liberals and comrades from the heartland like Atul Anjan.
<b>DAYANIDHI MARAN 37</b>
SOUTHERN SHINE
THE BUZZ: IT minister may not be a Tamil hardliner but won't compromise on DMK interests.
THE STING: Is still new to the party his uncle and father built.
JAIRAM RAMESH, 50
THE IDEATOR
THE BUZZ: The man who hotwired Congress' victory has many friends in the UPA, from Dayanidhi Maran to Laloo. Most importantly, he has Rahul's confidence.
THE STING: His politics has subsumed his economics.
<b>AHMED PATEL, 55</b>
THE LYNCHPIN
THE BUZZ: Sonia's political secretary is a crucial link between 10 Janpath and 7 Race Course Road.
THE STING: Not inclined to lengthy political discourses, but is never economical with the truth.
M.K. STALIN, 52
DRAVIDIAN MASCOT
THE BUZZ: DMK general secretary's prospects get a leg up with his newfound proximity to the Congress.
THE STING: Not interested in games at the national level, M. Karunanidhi's heir apparent is more concerned with Tamil Nadu and becoming chief minister one day.
S. PACHAURI, 52
CARD HOLDER
THE BUZZ: The Rajya Sabha MP has got the plum personnel portfolio for steadfast loyalty to 10 Janpath.
THE STING: His stint in the Narasimha Rao cabinet is all but forgotten in talk about loyalty to the clan.
G. N. AZAD, 55
THE STILETTO
THE BUZZ: Smoothie parliamentary affairs minister who delivered Andhra Pradesh this year will have a major say in the AICC reshuffle.
THE STING: His heart is still in Kashmir and his mind set on becoming the chief minister.
SALMAN KHURSHID, 51
CLUB CLASS
THE BUZZ: In Uttar Pradesh, Sonia relies entirely on this Oxford-educated lawyer's political instincts.
THE STING: By stretching his personal biases to politics, he often goes beyond his brief.
K. NATWAR SINGH, 73
THE THOROUGHBRED
THE BUZZ: Recruited by Nehru, served under Indira and Rajiv, back with Sonia. For a foreign affairs expert, has had a great home run.
THE STING: Exudes erudition but thinks the non-existent NAM era is still relevant.
AMBIKA SONI, 62
THE FOLLOWER
THE BUZZ: Her clout in the new dispensation is not clear. She spurned the ministerial post but got an extra six years in the Rajya Sabha.
THE STING: Sonia may reward her with the Punjab chief minister's post. But when?
<b>OTHERS</b>
M.L. FOTEDAR, 72: The Kashmiri acolyte of the original Mrs G, he has stayed loyal to Sonia.
MOHSINA KIDWAI, 72: Another inheritance from the Indira Gandhi era. Calmly bypasses Ambika Soni in her dealings with Sonia.
PRAFUL PATEL, 47: The suave civil aviation minister is a regular on both Page Three and Page One.
<b>END OF AN AURA</b>
Together, they form the new power establishment. Post-independence history explains the difference. The Congress dominated the politics of free India for four decades. And in its shadow grew a parallel empire of courtesans and panegyrists, sycophants and commissars, united by the devotion to the Gandhi-Nehru legacy. In each stage of the Congress evolution sprang up a power elite loyal to the Family. Power and privilege institutionalised it, and various shades of left-liberalism coloured its mind. The BJP in power marked the end of an aura-and a historical shift in the politics of India. It was their first tryst with power, and the inexperience showed. They didn't inherit a conservative elite. They had to create one. Before they could complete the project, history intervened, and brought an old idea back to power.
So the new establishment is not all that new, genetically at least. Doctrinaire secularism-different from the democratic tolerance of the Indians that continues to hold the nation together-may be the convenient rhetoric. But connectivity is what makes the ruling elite a state within the state. Call it the matrix of loyalty.
It is this connectivity that defines the political elite. It is the family or those who are suffering from a family fetish. Camelot is once again an active political site, and the presiding deity is the widow. The Rajiv loyalists who stood by Sonia are now realising that patience has a place in politics. So, apart from the natural heirs, Rahul and Priyanka, there is Ahmed Patel. The Gujarati Muslim was parliamentary secretary in Rajiv Gandhi's PMO in 1984. Today he has direct access to Sonia's mind.
In the galaxy of the political VIPs, the old and the new exist in perfect harmony. Against every Jairam Ramesh, there is a Mohsina Kidwai or a M.L. Fotedar. Both started off as the original Mrs G's confidants and not only survived the generational shifts in the Gandhi parivar but nurtured it, clung to it. Kidwai was Indira's most trusted lieutenant when she contested and won the Azamgarh byelection in Uttar Pradesh after the 1977 Congress wipeout. The almost infallible Fotedar was political secretary to Mrs G and saw three generations of Gandhis growing up. He serves the new Mrs G with the same commitment.
<b>I N D U S T R Y </b>
RAHUL BAJAJ, 66
VOICE POWER
THE BUZZ: The God of Gumption stayed friends with the Right but kept his door open for the Congress.
THE STING: The habitual dissenter may find it hard to resist, well, dissenting.
SURESH NEOTIA, 58
QUIET NETWORKER
THE BUZZ: Chairman of Gujarat Ambuja Ltd. Arjun Singh's nominees to the IIM-Calcutta board included his son.
THE STING: Will he go be-yond suggesting what art Sonia should invest in?
NARESH GOYAL, 55
JET PROPELLED
THE BUZZ: Knows Sharad Pawar, is friendly with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and is close to several senior Congressmen. But then the chairman of Jet Airways has always managed to know the right person at the right place.
THE STING: Shadow boxing with the Government will continue.
<b>N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY, 58</b>
Mr CONSCIENCE
THE BUZZ: The rest of the fraternity blushed, but Infosys' chief mentor spoke out publicly against Murli Manohar Joshi.
THE STING: Politicians need him more than he needs them.
<b>C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y</b>
RAJEEV SETHI,55
CULTURE CZAR
THE BUZZ: The art impresario is in demand on the global festival circuit, with or without the Congress.
THE STING: Owes more to his talent than to the party.
ROMI CHOPRA, 60
FAMILY RETAINER
THE BUZZ: A Page Three fixture, his calling card remains his proximity to The Family. Madam relies on him heavily, from designing pamphlets to choosing saris.
THE STING: Is more odd-jobs man than strategist.
<b>OTHERS</b>
DILIP CHERIAN, 48: Post poll, makes leap from just plain PR to power PR.
RAM REHMAN, 45: Face of Sahmat, HRD's pet NGO.
KAPILA VATSYAYAN, 75: Scholar may be back, by default.
RUPIKA CHAWLA, 56: Sonia's old friend who shares an interest in art and restoration.
<b>RED STAR RISES</b>
As far as the power axis goes, Gandhi has to co-exist with Marx. The little red star over Delhi is twinkling to the delight of the orphaned ghosts of communism. H.S. Surjeet may be the ultimate dialectician of manipulative politics, but the one who is shuttling between the party office and TV studio is the virtual communist called Sitaram Yechury. On the eve of External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh's first foreign visit, to Nepal, it was Yechury who visited the minister's house with some sound advice. Before Manmohan could appoint Montek Singh Ahluwalia as Planning Commission deputy chairman, he had to get clearance from Yechury and Surjeet and agree that some Left nominees too would be accommodated. And it is the Congress that has offered a Rajya Sabha seat to Yechury, the secular, telegenic counter face to the BJP, from Andhra Pradesh. The commissar as VIP is back in vogue.
So is the bureaucrat with a family connection. The importance of being a Pulak Chaterji or a J.N. Dixit or an M.K. Narayanan cannot be over-emphasised. Take a look at the visitor's entry at the PMO and you realise how much the geography of power has shifted. More politicians come to see Chaterji than his boss, the prime minister. All the key appointments-secretaries or PSU chiefs-are okayed by him, on behalf of 10 Janpath of course.
<b>M E D I A</b>
SUMAN DUBEY, 60
THE ROCK
THE BUZZ: Sonia's confidant enjoys instant access to 10 Janpath. The Congress president trusts him implicitly knowing he will not misuse his proximity.
THE STING: As India's representative of Dow Jones, any political crisis surrounding the Government may embarrass him.
<b>SHOBHANA BHARTIA, 49</b>
MEDIA HEIRESS
THE BUZZ: <b>Vice-chairperson, Hindustan Times Ltd, inherits her Congress leanings from her father. </b>Forged her own rapport with Congress Young Turks like Madhavrao Scindia. Has friends in the BJP too.
THE STING: Adept at networking. But she will find it hard to resist using her newspaper to toe the Congress line.
<b>K. MARAN, 39</b>
SOLAR ENERGY
THE BUZZ: Sun Network's chief. With nine channels in his kitty and Union IT minister as brother, he is on the way to becoming far more powerful.
THE STING: Will push for CAS, which the UPA may put in cold storage.
GIRISH SANGHI, 49
SHEET ANCHOR
THE BUZZ: Runs Vaartha, the second-largest Telugu daily, and a Hindi daily Swatantra Vartha. Both are consistent in their attack on the TDP.
THE STING: Will Congress deliver on promises to new Rajya Sabha MP?
N. RAM, 59
WRITE ON LEFT
THE BUZZ: Editor-in-chief of The Hindu, took over the reins of the group last year. More than just an avowed sympathiser of the Left.
THE STING: Surjeet and Bardhan are bound to get more column space.
<b>KEEPING FAITH</b>
The foreign policy of a government is the international expression of its national interest. One of the real achievements of the A.B. Vajpayee government was that it got out of the mindset of third worldism and reached out to the brash new world after the Berlin Wall. For, even as history played havoc with the old stereotypes of bipolarity, the cold war continued to rage in the mind of the Indian establishment. The last regime's engagement with America was a historic beginning. The new policy wonk in the South Block is of Nehruvian vintage. J.N. Dixit, the new national security adviser, is so diplomatically familiar with the Gandhis that his post-retirement assignment looks like homecoming. He joined the Congress three years ago when the party was wallowing in defeatism. Today he has been rewarded. Another old face at the new PMO is M.K. Narayanan. As IB chief he was Rajiv's favourite. Post-retirement he has been advising Sonia on internal security matters. These new VIPs ensure continuity. The cartographers of future are the custodians of the Gandhi legacy.
More conspicuous, perhaps, is the continuity of business and politics. A few kilometres from Connaught Place in Delhi is the palatial Birla House where Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi spent the final days of his life. Jamnalal Bajaj was as much a businessman as a friend of Gandhi and in that sense a member of the inner circle. Today it is an N.R. Narayana Murthy or a Rahul Bajaj. The tech tycoon had openly opposed Murli Manohar Joshi's anti-elitist IIM policy. Bajaj has never been defensive about his support-mostly financial-to the Congress.
Still, businessmen try hard not to be too obvious about their affiliations. Like Naresh Goyal, a party hopper. Through the past 10 years three different regimes have come and gone but Goyal continues to fly high because of his uncanny knack of creating all-weather friends. In a partially privatised economy, the politician is indispensable to the industrialist. So the friends of Sonia in the board rooms are bound to make themselves more visible.
As visible as the left-liberal academics, who are at home with the comrades. The most easily identifiable Indian intellectual is secular, left and liberal. For years, under the Congress patronage, he dominated the academia. Talk nationalism to the average left-liberal historian and you are likely to be branded the enemy of civilisation. After a brief right wing interval that gave him nothing but the horror of Gujarat, he is back at work-at home. So Mushirul Hasan is a very important academic, and other friendly historians are being re-employed as history cleansers.
And there is, as with every government and in every democracy, a friendly media. India may not have a media as ideologically polarised as Britain's. Here ideology is as important as old loyalty. Take Suman Dubey of Dow Jones. He is perhaps Sonia's most trusted friend. Defying the Congress culture, he doesn't parade his privilege. After the election victory, as Sonia was going through her to-be-or-not-to-be crisis, the one constant presence at 10 Janpath was Dubey. But this VIP, despite being very visible, remains inaccessible to the gossip columns.
There is no such precaution in the culture or society circuit, where friends are made as ruthlessly as they are brushed aside. No one knows exactly what Sonia thinks about anyone-and talking about the odd evening with her is a sure precursor to being abandoned forthwith. The bylanes of Delhi society are littered with the corpses of those who spoke too soon, or too much.
<b>P O W E R P A I R S </b>
PRIYANKA VADRA, 32, AND ROBERT VADRA, 34
TWIN TOWERS
THE BUZZ: Politically savvy and flamboyant, she earned her spurs by single-handedly winning her mother's campaign. He is less flashy but vital to the comfort level of both his wife and brother-in-law.
THE STING: She speaks only when she wants to make a spectacle. He doesn't speak at all.
<b>PRAKASH KARAT, 56, AND BRINDA KARAT, 55</b>
COMRADES IN ARMS
THE BUZZ: He is the CPI(M) ideologue who gave finishing touches to the CMP. She is the champion of the Women's Reservation Bill.
THE STING: He is the party man. She resigned from the Central Committee alleging gender discrimination.
<b>PRANNOY ROY, 54, AND RADHIKA ROY, 54</b>
24/7 COUPLE
THE BUZZ: The couple went out on a limb using the NDTV to take on the BJP government on Gujarat. Hitched their wagon firmly to the Congress camp.
THE STING: With the Congress in power, the Roys will find it difficult to be fashionably critical of the Government's decisions.
<b>MONTEK S. AHLUWALIA, 60, AND ISHER JUDGE AHLUWALIA, 58</b>
PM's PEOPLE
THE BUZZ: Their re-entry into Delhi's power circle was certain the day Manmohan became prime minister.
THE STING: As deputy chairperson of Planning Commission, he will be a permanent invitee to Cabinet, but will have his task cut out.
<b>R.P. GOENKA, 74, SANJIV GOENKA, 43</b>
EASTERN COMFORT
THE BUZZ: A trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the senior Goenka's association with the Gandhi family is decades old.
THE STING: Father has access to 10 Janpath. Will it benefit the son?
<b>B U R E A U C R A C Y</b>
J.N. DIXIT, 70
PRIME TIME MAN
THE BUZZ: Known as Viceroy in Sri Lanka, the former foreign secretary strengthened his ties with the Congress by joining it in 2003.
THE STING: The NSA may have to do a lot of "damage-control" on foreign affairs.
RONEN SEN, 60
WHITE KNIGHT
THE BUZZ: He was Rajiv Gandhi's key joint secretary. Will now serve in the US after a dream run in the UK, Russia and Germany.
THE STING: After a couple of bypass surgeries, Ronen is not exactly fighting fit.
PULAK CHATERJI, 53
THE GO-BETWEEN
THE BUZZ: Sonia Gandhi's former private secretary is now the most powerful joint secretary in Manmohan Singh's office.
THE STING: Can forget his coffee breaks and driving holidays. Is now very much in the limelight.
KAMALESH SHARMA, 63
LONDON CALLING
THE BUZZ: Brother-in-law of Suman Dubey, this former career diplomat will grace India House in London.
THE STING: Will compete for social space among the diaspora with the other party light Pavan Verma.
<b>KANWAL SIBAL, 60</b>
BACK IN FAVOUR
THE BUZZ: Brother of Kapil Sibal, this articulate former foreign secretary will get a taste of Moscow. Fell foul of BJP politics and was denied an extension.
THE STING: Will not back off on Pak, US.
M.K. NARAYANAN, 70
THE OLD FOX
THE BUZZ: Rajiv Gandhi's all-time favourite bureaucrat, he has been used by governments as an authority on internal security.
THE STING: In these days of intense public and media scrutiny, Narayanan is a low-profile oddity. Silent, but gets his work done.
OTHERS
SUDEEP BANNERJEE, 54: Additional secretary in the HRD Ministry, he prefers academics from JNU to those from Jhandewalan.
<b>NAVIN CHAWLA, 59</b>: I&B secretary. Sanjay Gandhi's chum, never quite became a Rajiv pal. His wife is someone Sonia is comfortable with.
<b>A C A D E M I C S</b>
M.V. RAJEEV GOWDA, 40
THE PROFESSOR
THE BUZZ: Rahul favourite, the IIM-Bangalore don with a postdoctorate from Berkeley will soon head an institute that teaches management to Congress. There the twain shall meet.
THE STING: He is still in the party's second rung, behind Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal.
<b>M. HASAN, 54</b>
THE FAITHFUL
THE BUZZ: What a surprise. One of the first appointments made by UPA was his posting as Jamia Millia Islamia VC.
THE STING: Will be flooded with requests to head various committees.
<b>P. PATNAIK, 59</b>
MARX MAN
THE BUZZ: One of the brightest stars of JNU. The brain Prakash Karat and S. Yechury depend on.
THE STING: Patnaik's influence on economic policies can be profound. But it may be too indirect.
<b>K.N. PANIKKAR, 68</b>
THE DETOXIFIER
THE BUZZ: <b>The VC of Kerala's Sree Sankaracharya University has more than an idea of how to sweep ICHR clean.</b>
THE STING: Will rush more often to the AKG Bhavan than the HRD Ministry.
<b>ARJUN SENGUPTA, 70</b>
WORLD CLASS
THE BUZZ: Founder of the Marx Club when he was reader at the Delhi School of Economics, the frequent-flier professor has been executive director of the IMF and member secretary of the Planning Commission.
THE STING: What exactly will he do?
BIBEK DEBROY, 49
EVERYMAN ECONOMIST
THE BUZZ: Sought by the finance minister, prime minister and Mrs G. The Debroy discourse on world trade and law will echo in many anterooms.
THE STING: Can give elbow power to reforms, especially in law, provided the bureaucracy lets him.
<b>OTHERS</b>
J.S. GREWAL, 76: Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, another pro-changer.
S. SETTAR, 68: The former ICHR chairman is on the panel to review NCERT textbooks.
<b>NEW BAND, BRAND</b>
But even as the smart set gets used to not snorting on demand at ministerial one-liners and declines polite conversation about chat shows on invisible channels, it has to brush up on its knowledge of either art or the Blessed Mother Teresa (or preferably both). For, traditionally Congress governments have best understood cultural patronage. Not for them the mofussil academics and shloka-reciting scholars whom the BJP so fancied. Having created institutions like the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Indian Council of Cultural Relations, the new elite has every intention of reclaiming the symbols of their cultural advance over the aggressive usurpers.
Expect to see the return of defenders of the faith in these institutions. At a more superficial level, though, it remains a game of what is in, who is out. As the usual suspects of the past six years blend into the background, guest lists across town are changing at the speed of SMS. From housewarmings to birthdays, the Congress' rising stars are suddenly the new must-invitees. And since Congress is a party that also knows how to party, the Doon School brigade has been revived, with talk of Sunday brunches at Romi Chopra's home. Remember, though, as in every ruling establishment, there is nothing called free brunch.
For the rest of the country, as the airwaves, seminar rooms, op-ed pages and chat shows are certain to be colonised by the new VIPs, it is time to get familiar with the reflected glow of the Sonia age-and its brand managers.
-with Shankkar Aiyar, Kaveree Bamzai, Indrani Bagchi,
Priya Sahgal and bureau reports
THE ESTABLISHMENT
<b>The New Orbit of Power</b>
On the wreckage of a nascent right-wing establishment rises a brand new elite that draws its power from its liberal past. These Soniaites and leftists are everywhere, altering the course of governance, if not history.
By S. Prasannarajan
Now that a planetary shift has taken place in politics, the dethroned raja from Madhya Pradesh thinks his time too has come. The buzz was that Digvijay Singh was likely to be rehabilitated in the Planning Commission as deputy chairman. It did not happen. Yet, last week, there he was, as just another aspirant in the corridors of South Block, where a cabinet meeting was in progress. Journalists who sighted him assumed that he was coming out of the prime minister's durbar. They could not have been more wrong. His appointment was indeed with the man who matters. His name? No, not Manmohan Singh, but Pulak Chaterji.
Chaterji who? The joint secretary in the PMO is more than another faceless bureaucrat. Faceless he may remain, but he is Sonia Gandhi's pointsman at South Block. And Sonia Gandhi, the power behind the throne, is larger than the most important occupant of South Block. His CV gives a fair idea of why this IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre is worthy of such high profile attention: deputy secretary in the PMO when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister; a stint in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation on Sonia's request after Rajiv's assassination; private secretary to Sonia when she was the opposition leader. A loyal servant of the dynasty.
More aptly, a representative face of the new Establishment. He is just a prominent member in an exclusive but unofficial club of men and women who are the arbiters of national destiny. They may be within or without the government, but they enjoy a special proximity to the system, which is culturally different from the ancient regime. Their power may not be direct, always. It may come from association or ideology, loyalty or utility. They are stars, some familiar, some fresh, in the brand new solar system of power whose axis is Sonia Gandhi.
They spread into every sphere of national life: politics, bureaucracy, industry, academia, entertainment and media. They reflect the attitude and ideas of the new Government; they have the privilege to alter, for better or worse, the course of governance, if not history. The most visible among them, of course, are the new Gandhians, not of the charkha-loincloth variety but designer khadi with an accent, Oxbridge with a Punjabi twang. They are the faithful, in permanent awe of the mystique of the dynasty, currently kept alive by three Gandhis-Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka.
THE OUTSIDERS
Still, Sonia's singularity has been compromised by the expediency of co-habitation politics. So there are partners, and, along with them, comes a new set of power players, from the Left, the DMK and the politicians of social justice. Suddenly, those apparatchiks who graduated from the class struggle of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, have first-hand experience of power, even if the hand belongs to someone else. And quite a bit of Bihar is bound to dominate Delhi, thanks to a steam engine called Laloo Prasad Yadav. Equally prominent will be the southern flavour, for M. Karunanidhi is the most decisive partner in the Manmohan-sorry, Sonia-Government.
And the government is run by the bureaucracy. Every politician wants his favourite babu in the right place, and the babus, with every regime change, position themselves to be at the right place. That is why some officers are more equal than others. They are the ones who become part of the power elite of the season. Like the industrialist who funds a particular brand of politics to be more powerful than what his wealth would allow him. Or, like the cultural czarina who earnestly believes that her ideological proximity to the regime makes her a chosen instrument of change. Or the professor who thinks he has now got the intellectual mandate to correct history. Or even the media maven who leaps out of his pages-or screen-to become a participant in the new system.
<b>P O L I T I C S </b>
RAHUL GANDHI, 33
POWER SON
THE BUZZ: The Congress' battering ram in Uttar Pradesh and the focal point of the young-guns strategy. Those in his inner circle are vastly outnumbered by those seeking admission. But gatecrashers, especially those who use the media to announce their proximity, are not welcome.
THE STING: Knows his mind and will not let anyone know what it is.
<b>H.S. SURJEET, 88</b>
RED RASPUTIN
THE BUZZ: He is neither a bhadralok nor an Oxbridge apparatchik, but this subaltern sardarji, one of the architects of the UPA, calls the shots.
THE STING: The CPI(M) general secretary tends to act like a PRO for the Samajwadi Party.
<b>SITARAM YECHURY, 51</b>
TELLY MARXIST
THE BUZZ: The JNU old boy is part of the CPI(M)'S think tank and its most visible face on TV.
THE STING: The youngest Politburo member is also its most powerful thanks to his close links with 10 Janpath and the prime minister.
<b>SATISH SHARMA, 57</b>
FAMILY TRUSTEE
THE BUZZ: He may be a flop politician but has been hugely success-fully in fealty to the first family.
THE STING: The haste with which Congress proposed his name for the petroleum portfolio makes it certain it wants to use it as an instrument of patronage.
A.B. BARDHAN, 79
THE HARDLINER
THE BUZZ: The CPI general secretary has twin weapons-the AITUC and his clout with the Congress.
THE STING: Tough conservative has checked rise of liberals and comrades from the heartland like Atul Anjan.
<b>DAYANIDHI MARAN 37</b>
SOUTHERN SHINE
THE BUZZ: IT minister may not be a Tamil hardliner but won't compromise on DMK interests.
THE STING: Is still new to the party his uncle and father built.
JAIRAM RAMESH, 50
THE IDEATOR
THE BUZZ: The man who hotwired Congress' victory has many friends in the UPA, from Dayanidhi Maran to Laloo. Most importantly, he has Rahul's confidence.
THE STING: His politics has subsumed his economics.
<b>AHMED PATEL, 55</b>
THE LYNCHPIN
THE BUZZ: Sonia's political secretary is a crucial link between 10 Janpath and 7 Race Course Road.
THE STING: Not inclined to lengthy political discourses, but is never economical with the truth.
M.K. STALIN, 52
DRAVIDIAN MASCOT
THE BUZZ: DMK general secretary's prospects get a leg up with his newfound proximity to the Congress.
THE STING: Not interested in games at the national level, M. Karunanidhi's heir apparent is more concerned with Tamil Nadu and becoming chief minister one day.
S. PACHAURI, 52
CARD HOLDER
THE BUZZ: The Rajya Sabha MP has got the plum personnel portfolio for steadfast loyalty to 10 Janpath.
THE STING: His stint in the Narasimha Rao cabinet is all but forgotten in talk about loyalty to the clan.
G. N. AZAD, 55
THE STILETTO
THE BUZZ: Smoothie parliamentary affairs minister who delivered Andhra Pradesh this year will have a major say in the AICC reshuffle.
THE STING: His heart is still in Kashmir and his mind set on becoming the chief minister.
SALMAN KHURSHID, 51
CLUB CLASS
THE BUZZ: In Uttar Pradesh, Sonia relies entirely on this Oxford-educated lawyer's political instincts.
THE STING: By stretching his personal biases to politics, he often goes beyond his brief.
K. NATWAR SINGH, 73
THE THOROUGHBRED
THE BUZZ: Recruited by Nehru, served under Indira and Rajiv, back with Sonia. For a foreign affairs expert, has had a great home run.
THE STING: Exudes erudition but thinks the non-existent NAM era is still relevant.
AMBIKA SONI, 62
THE FOLLOWER
THE BUZZ: Her clout in the new dispensation is not clear. She spurned the ministerial post but got an extra six years in the Rajya Sabha.
THE STING: Sonia may reward her with the Punjab chief minister's post. But when?
<b>OTHERS</b>
M.L. FOTEDAR, 72: The Kashmiri acolyte of the original Mrs G, he has stayed loyal to Sonia.
MOHSINA KIDWAI, 72: Another inheritance from the Indira Gandhi era. Calmly bypasses Ambika Soni in her dealings with Sonia.
PRAFUL PATEL, 47: The suave civil aviation minister is a regular on both Page Three and Page One.
<b>END OF AN AURA</b>
Together, they form the new power establishment. Post-independence history explains the difference. The Congress dominated the politics of free India for four decades. And in its shadow grew a parallel empire of courtesans and panegyrists, sycophants and commissars, united by the devotion to the Gandhi-Nehru legacy. In each stage of the Congress evolution sprang up a power elite loyal to the Family. Power and privilege institutionalised it, and various shades of left-liberalism coloured its mind. The BJP in power marked the end of an aura-and a historical shift in the politics of India. It was their first tryst with power, and the inexperience showed. They didn't inherit a conservative elite. They had to create one. Before they could complete the project, history intervened, and brought an old idea back to power.
So the new establishment is not all that new, genetically at least. Doctrinaire secularism-different from the democratic tolerance of the Indians that continues to hold the nation together-may be the convenient rhetoric. But connectivity is what makes the ruling elite a state within the state. Call it the matrix of loyalty.
It is this connectivity that defines the political elite. It is the family or those who are suffering from a family fetish. Camelot is once again an active political site, and the presiding deity is the widow. The Rajiv loyalists who stood by Sonia are now realising that patience has a place in politics. So, apart from the natural heirs, Rahul and Priyanka, there is Ahmed Patel. The Gujarati Muslim was parliamentary secretary in Rajiv Gandhi's PMO in 1984. Today he has direct access to Sonia's mind.
In the galaxy of the political VIPs, the old and the new exist in perfect harmony. Against every Jairam Ramesh, there is a Mohsina Kidwai or a M.L. Fotedar. Both started off as the original Mrs G's confidants and not only survived the generational shifts in the Gandhi parivar but nurtured it, clung to it. Kidwai was Indira's most trusted lieutenant when she contested and won the Azamgarh byelection in Uttar Pradesh after the 1977 Congress wipeout. The almost infallible Fotedar was political secretary to Mrs G and saw three generations of Gandhis growing up. He serves the new Mrs G with the same commitment.
<b>I N D U S T R Y </b>
RAHUL BAJAJ, 66
VOICE POWER
THE BUZZ: The God of Gumption stayed friends with the Right but kept his door open for the Congress.
THE STING: The habitual dissenter may find it hard to resist, well, dissenting.
SURESH NEOTIA, 58
QUIET NETWORKER
THE BUZZ: Chairman of Gujarat Ambuja Ltd. Arjun Singh's nominees to the IIM-Calcutta board included his son.
THE STING: Will he go be-yond suggesting what art Sonia should invest in?
NARESH GOYAL, 55
JET PROPELLED
THE BUZZ: Knows Sharad Pawar, is friendly with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and is close to several senior Congressmen. But then the chairman of Jet Airways has always managed to know the right person at the right place.
THE STING: Shadow boxing with the Government will continue.
<b>N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY, 58</b>
Mr CONSCIENCE
THE BUZZ: The rest of the fraternity blushed, but Infosys' chief mentor spoke out publicly against Murli Manohar Joshi.
THE STING: Politicians need him more than he needs them.
<b>C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y</b>
RAJEEV SETHI,55
CULTURE CZAR
THE BUZZ: The art impresario is in demand on the global festival circuit, with or without the Congress.
THE STING: Owes more to his talent than to the party.
ROMI CHOPRA, 60
FAMILY RETAINER
THE BUZZ: A Page Three fixture, his calling card remains his proximity to The Family. Madam relies on him heavily, from designing pamphlets to choosing saris.
THE STING: Is more odd-jobs man than strategist.
<b>OTHERS</b>
DILIP CHERIAN, 48: Post poll, makes leap from just plain PR to power PR.
RAM REHMAN, 45: Face of Sahmat, HRD's pet NGO.
KAPILA VATSYAYAN, 75: Scholar may be back, by default.
RUPIKA CHAWLA, 56: Sonia's old friend who shares an interest in art and restoration.
<b>RED STAR RISES</b>
As far as the power axis goes, Gandhi has to co-exist with Marx. The little red star over Delhi is twinkling to the delight of the orphaned ghosts of communism. H.S. Surjeet may be the ultimate dialectician of manipulative politics, but the one who is shuttling between the party office and TV studio is the virtual communist called Sitaram Yechury. On the eve of External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh's first foreign visit, to Nepal, it was Yechury who visited the minister's house with some sound advice. Before Manmohan could appoint Montek Singh Ahluwalia as Planning Commission deputy chairman, he had to get clearance from Yechury and Surjeet and agree that some Left nominees too would be accommodated. And it is the Congress that has offered a Rajya Sabha seat to Yechury, the secular, telegenic counter face to the BJP, from Andhra Pradesh. The commissar as VIP is back in vogue.
So is the bureaucrat with a family connection. The importance of being a Pulak Chaterji or a J.N. Dixit or an M.K. Narayanan cannot be over-emphasised. Take a look at the visitor's entry at the PMO and you realise how much the geography of power has shifted. More politicians come to see Chaterji than his boss, the prime minister. All the key appointments-secretaries or PSU chiefs-are okayed by him, on behalf of 10 Janpath of course.
<b>M E D I A</b>
SUMAN DUBEY, 60
THE ROCK
THE BUZZ: Sonia's confidant enjoys instant access to 10 Janpath. The Congress president trusts him implicitly knowing he will not misuse his proximity.
THE STING: As India's representative of Dow Jones, any political crisis surrounding the Government may embarrass him.
<b>SHOBHANA BHARTIA, 49</b>
MEDIA HEIRESS
THE BUZZ: <b>Vice-chairperson, Hindustan Times Ltd, inherits her Congress leanings from her father. </b>Forged her own rapport with Congress Young Turks like Madhavrao Scindia. Has friends in the BJP too.
THE STING: Adept at networking. But she will find it hard to resist using her newspaper to toe the Congress line.
<b>K. MARAN, 39</b>
SOLAR ENERGY
THE BUZZ: Sun Network's chief. With nine channels in his kitty and Union IT minister as brother, he is on the way to becoming far more powerful.
THE STING: Will push for CAS, which the UPA may put in cold storage.
GIRISH SANGHI, 49
SHEET ANCHOR
THE BUZZ: Runs Vaartha, the second-largest Telugu daily, and a Hindi daily Swatantra Vartha. Both are consistent in their attack on the TDP.
THE STING: Will Congress deliver on promises to new Rajya Sabha MP?
N. RAM, 59
WRITE ON LEFT
THE BUZZ: Editor-in-chief of The Hindu, took over the reins of the group last year. More than just an avowed sympathiser of the Left.
THE STING: Surjeet and Bardhan are bound to get more column space.
<b>KEEPING FAITH</b>
The foreign policy of a government is the international expression of its national interest. One of the real achievements of the A.B. Vajpayee government was that it got out of the mindset of third worldism and reached out to the brash new world after the Berlin Wall. For, even as history played havoc with the old stereotypes of bipolarity, the cold war continued to rage in the mind of the Indian establishment. The last regime's engagement with America was a historic beginning. The new policy wonk in the South Block is of Nehruvian vintage. J.N. Dixit, the new national security adviser, is so diplomatically familiar with the Gandhis that his post-retirement assignment looks like homecoming. He joined the Congress three years ago when the party was wallowing in defeatism. Today he has been rewarded. Another old face at the new PMO is M.K. Narayanan. As IB chief he was Rajiv's favourite. Post-retirement he has been advising Sonia on internal security matters. These new VIPs ensure continuity. The cartographers of future are the custodians of the Gandhi legacy.
More conspicuous, perhaps, is the continuity of business and politics. A few kilometres from Connaught Place in Delhi is the palatial Birla House where Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi spent the final days of his life. Jamnalal Bajaj was as much a businessman as a friend of Gandhi and in that sense a member of the inner circle. Today it is an N.R. Narayana Murthy or a Rahul Bajaj. The tech tycoon had openly opposed Murli Manohar Joshi's anti-elitist IIM policy. Bajaj has never been defensive about his support-mostly financial-to the Congress.
Still, businessmen try hard not to be too obvious about their affiliations. Like Naresh Goyal, a party hopper. Through the past 10 years three different regimes have come and gone but Goyal continues to fly high because of his uncanny knack of creating all-weather friends. In a partially privatised economy, the politician is indispensable to the industrialist. So the friends of Sonia in the board rooms are bound to make themselves more visible.
As visible as the left-liberal academics, who are at home with the comrades. The most easily identifiable Indian intellectual is secular, left and liberal. For years, under the Congress patronage, he dominated the academia. Talk nationalism to the average left-liberal historian and you are likely to be branded the enemy of civilisation. After a brief right wing interval that gave him nothing but the horror of Gujarat, he is back at work-at home. So Mushirul Hasan is a very important academic, and other friendly historians are being re-employed as history cleansers.
And there is, as with every government and in every democracy, a friendly media. India may not have a media as ideologically polarised as Britain's. Here ideology is as important as old loyalty. Take Suman Dubey of Dow Jones. He is perhaps Sonia's most trusted friend. Defying the Congress culture, he doesn't parade his privilege. After the election victory, as Sonia was going through her to-be-or-not-to-be crisis, the one constant presence at 10 Janpath was Dubey. But this VIP, despite being very visible, remains inaccessible to the gossip columns.
There is no such precaution in the culture or society circuit, where friends are made as ruthlessly as they are brushed aside. No one knows exactly what Sonia thinks about anyone-and talking about the odd evening with her is a sure precursor to being abandoned forthwith. The bylanes of Delhi society are littered with the corpses of those who spoke too soon, or too much.
<b>P O W E R P A I R S </b>
PRIYANKA VADRA, 32, AND ROBERT VADRA, 34
TWIN TOWERS
THE BUZZ: Politically savvy and flamboyant, she earned her spurs by single-handedly winning her mother's campaign. He is less flashy but vital to the comfort level of both his wife and brother-in-law.
THE STING: She speaks only when she wants to make a spectacle. He doesn't speak at all.
<b>PRAKASH KARAT, 56, AND BRINDA KARAT, 55</b>
COMRADES IN ARMS
THE BUZZ: He is the CPI(M) ideologue who gave finishing touches to the CMP. She is the champion of the Women's Reservation Bill.
THE STING: He is the party man. She resigned from the Central Committee alleging gender discrimination.
<b>PRANNOY ROY, 54, AND RADHIKA ROY, 54</b>
24/7 COUPLE
THE BUZZ: The couple went out on a limb using the NDTV to take on the BJP government on Gujarat. Hitched their wagon firmly to the Congress camp.
THE STING: With the Congress in power, the Roys will find it difficult to be fashionably critical of the Government's decisions.
<b>MONTEK S. AHLUWALIA, 60, AND ISHER JUDGE AHLUWALIA, 58</b>
PM's PEOPLE
THE BUZZ: Their re-entry into Delhi's power circle was certain the day Manmohan became prime minister.
THE STING: As deputy chairperson of Planning Commission, he will be a permanent invitee to Cabinet, but will have his task cut out.
<b>R.P. GOENKA, 74, SANJIV GOENKA, 43</b>
EASTERN COMFORT
THE BUZZ: A trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the senior Goenka's association with the Gandhi family is decades old.
THE STING: Father has access to 10 Janpath. Will it benefit the son?
<b>B U R E A U C R A C Y</b>
J.N. DIXIT, 70
PRIME TIME MAN
THE BUZZ: Known as Viceroy in Sri Lanka, the former foreign secretary strengthened his ties with the Congress by joining it in 2003.
THE STING: The NSA may have to do a lot of "damage-control" on foreign affairs.
RONEN SEN, 60
WHITE KNIGHT
THE BUZZ: He was Rajiv Gandhi's key joint secretary. Will now serve in the US after a dream run in the UK, Russia and Germany.
THE STING: After a couple of bypass surgeries, Ronen is not exactly fighting fit.
PULAK CHATERJI, 53
THE GO-BETWEEN
THE BUZZ: Sonia Gandhi's former private secretary is now the most powerful joint secretary in Manmohan Singh's office.
THE STING: Can forget his coffee breaks and driving holidays. Is now very much in the limelight.
KAMALESH SHARMA, 63
LONDON CALLING
THE BUZZ: Brother-in-law of Suman Dubey, this former career diplomat will grace India House in London.
THE STING: Will compete for social space among the diaspora with the other party light Pavan Verma.
<b>KANWAL SIBAL, 60</b>
BACK IN FAVOUR
THE BUZZ: Brother of Kapil Sibal, this articulate former foreign secretary will get a taste of Moscow. Fell foul of BJP politics and was denied an extension.
THE STING: Will not back off on Pak, US.
M.K. NARAYANAN, 70
THE OLD FOX
THE BUZZ: Rajiv Gandhi's all-time favourite bureaucrat, he has been used by governments as an authority on internal security.
THE STING: In these days of intense public and media scrutiny, Narayanan is a low-profile oddity. Silent, but gets his work done.
OTHERS
SUDEEP BANNERJEE, 54: Additional secretary in the HRD Ministry, he prefers academics from JNU to those from Jhandewalan.
<b>NAVIN CHAWLA, 59</b>: I&B secretary. Sanjay Gandhi's chum, never quite became a Rajiv pal. His wife is someone Sonia is comfortable with.
<b>A C A D E M I C S</b>
M.V. RAJEEV GOWDA, 40
THE PROFESSOR
THE BUZZ: Rahul favourite, the IIM-Bangalore don with a postdoctorate from Berkeley will soon head an institute that teaches management to Congress. There the twain shall meet.
THE STING: He is still in the party's second rung, behind Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal.
<b>M. HASAN, 54</b>
THE FAITHFUL
THE BUZZ: What a surprise. One of the first appointments made by UPA was his posting as Jamia Millia Islamia VC.
THE STING: Will be flooded with requests to head various committees.
<b>P. PATNAIK, 59</b>
MARX MAN
THE BUZZ: One of the brightest stars of JNU. The brain Prakash Karat and S. Yechury depend on.
THE STING: Patnaik's influence on economic policies can be profound. But it may be too indirect.
<b>K.N. PANIKKAR, 68</b>
THE DETOXIFIER
THE BUZZ: <b>The VC of Kerala's Sree Sankaracharya University has more than an idea of how to sweep ICHR clean.</b>
THE STING: Will rush more often to the AKG Bhavan than the HRD Ministry.
<b>ARJUN SENGUPTA, 70</b>
WORLD CLASS
THE BUZZ: Founder of the Marx Club when he was reader at the Delhi School of Economics, the frequent-flier professor has been executive director of the IMF and member secretary of the Planning Commission.
THE STING: What exactly will he do?
BIBEK DEBROY, 49
EVERYMAN ECONOMIST
THE BUZZ: Sought by the finance minister, prime minister and Mrs G. The Debroy discourse on world trade and law will echo in many anterooms.
THE STING: Can give elbow power to reforms, especially in law, provided the bureaucracy lets him.
<b>OTHERS</b>
J.S. GREWAL, 76: Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, another pro-changer.
S. SETTAR, 68: The former ICHR chairman is on the panel to review NCERT textbooks.
<b>NEW BAND, BRAND</b>
But even as the smart set gets used to not snorting on demand at ministerial one-liners and declines polite conversation about chat shows on invisible channels, it has to brush up on its knowledge of either art or the Blessed Mother Teresa (or preferably both). For, traditionally Congress governments have best understood cultural patronage. Not for them the mofussil academics and shloka-reciting scholars whom the BJP so fancied. Having created institutions like the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Indian Council of Cultural Relations, the new elite has every intention of reclaiming the symbols of their cultural advance over the aggressive usurpers.
Expect to see the return of defenders of the faith in these institutions. At a more superficial level, though, it remains a game of what is in, who is out. As the usual suspects of the past six years blend into the background, guest lists across town are changing at the speed of SMS. From housewarmings to birthdays, the Congress' rising stars are suddenly the new must-invitees. And since Congress is a party that also knows how to party, the Doon School brigade has been revived, with talk of Sunday brunches at Romi Chopra's home. Remember, though, as in every ruling establishment, there is nothing called free brunch.
For the rest of the country, as the airwaves, seminar rooms, op-ed pages and chat shows are certain to be colonised by the new VIPs, it is time to get familiar with the reflected glow of the Sonia age-and its brand managers.
-with Shankkar Aiyar, Kaveree Bamzai, Indrani Bagchi,
Priya Sahgal and bureau reports