The best route that students an take to enter politics is the grass route one. The question is, if people are highly qualified, will they want want this option because it basically means tons of hard work.
I came in through the grass route level at the age of 35. I was doing reasonable well in my business yet I decided otherwise. One day I was travelling by flight, the other day I was on the road as a political activist. It is not easy starting from ground zero but it is best to learn from scratch. Not that this path is without obstacles, there will be many, some from your own party and others from the opposition who will try to scuttle you.
One skill that all politically ambitious people should have is good communication skills. If not, do not enter politics because plain intelligence will not work. It is important to communicate to people and people have to feel that your communication is genuine and true. When I entered politics, we had just 4% share in Goa. I and a few others took that to over 50%. It took 17-18 years to complete the task.
Did IIT help me?
Of course IIT helped me. First time my party used it to get me elected easily in Panaji. Fact is I am from Mapusa, not Panaji. Panaji is perceived to be more intellectual – today we have some 400-500 engineers in Panaji and some 200 doctors and a big bunch of CAs and other professionals.
More than elections, IIT learning helped and continues to help me with administration. Engineers are good administrators. We tend to think logically to arrive at a conclusion. My national presence happened because of my personal skills. I did what I wanted to do. Instead of sticking to people who were rising, I did it on my own.
Funding 2014 elections
BJP is home and people accuse the party of spending too much money on its campaigns that ensured its victory but that’s not true. Congress is talking about BJP spending Rs 10,000 crores – how did the Commerce minister come up with this figure? As a mathematics student, the calculations are simple. If you take about Modi, a helicopter or a plane for a day cost some Rs 10-15 lakhs per day. Take Rs 15 lakhs for 60 days of campaigning and it works out to some Rs 9 crores. Take television publicity; – for one television channels, an entire day of advertising cost Rs 20 lakhs and if this went on for 60 days and if you take a . Some 12 crores per channel and I give the same amount to 10 other channels too – it works out to some Rs 120 crores.
Add to this travelling by the MPs and other forms of publicity like print media, the figure is definitely not more than Rs 1,000 crores.
I wonder about the Congress guys. They do everything but yet have the audacity to point fingers at others.
Congress and BJP are old parties. There are many donors who will gladly donate to the parties. But Kejriwal keeps asking about the funding. One must find out how his money has come through? How much is it from foreign donors? How did a new party attract Rs 150 crores? The idea may be good and people may donate Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 20 lakhs but more than that can be questioned. BJP and Congress got the money because they are old parties. Last elections, Congress got Rs 900 crores and BJP got Rs 800 crores so getting Rs 1,000 crores is not a big thing for a national party. By seat, it is not a big amount – works to some Rs 2 crores per seat.
A political set up requires this kind of money, since a politician needs to project himself. People tell me my PR is bad but if that is the case why do I get response even from remotest of areas. Even good, honest work can actually be PR for the politician. It is like gold – you keep it for 20 years and it will still shine = good value will always shine. And that shine is more powerful than just something gold plated. IITians and IIM graduates have to realise that if they want to enter politics, character is an important hallmark.
Goa
People talk about all kinds of problems in Goa – Russian mafia, sand mining. I like to ask people what or who is the mafia. Whoever has seen the Russian mafia please come ahead and show me. Just because people buy property in a row and have some signs put up in Russian, does that make them the mafia? Of course, I am going to ensure that people also use the local language soon though.
Mafia is a harsh word. In Goa people talk all the time. Instead of talking if they pick up litter and throw in the bins, it will help our state.
About sand mining, the problem one must remember that not everything can be solved by judgments. Across the nation there is a ban on sand mining so people are doing it quietly. Sand mining is stopped but has construction stopped in the country? The rate of sand which was Rs 400-500 per cubic metre has gone to Rs 2,000. And this is because of the hafta to the concerned officers and people have increased.
Every time a restriction is put, the premium on it increases. US failed in trying to ban alcohol. With sand, if this goes on, then there will be a mafia because people will have enough money to kill. I cannot have police all night patrolling just because people who want to make money will ply the illegal sand by trucks at night!