Politics D-graded by B-grads

From The Times of India, Feb 14, 2005

JAMSHEDPUR: There is some bad news for the Rabri Devis and Chautalas of the country. B-school grads are disillusioned with the political system in the country and some of them are all set to take the political bastion by storm - armed with a vision of "people management".

If this assembly election has seen more than two MBAs, both from foreign universities contesting against political veterans, Jharkhand can expect more management gurus in politics in future - if concern expressed by a student of the Xavier Institute of Labour relations (XLRI) for the country is any indication. Shashank Abhishek who hails from the mica town of Giridih has a sincere urge to weed out "the crop of politicians who are dividing the country on caste and community lines.

The first-year student of this management school, which dominates the human resource segment in Asia, visualises himself as a political leader in future but not before he establishes himself in the corporate world to earn some big money. "Both business and politics are about managing people and if I can manage my business with elan, why not politics?

However, a majority of students, who had just graduated into voters and gathered at the cafeteria on Sunday evening, preferred to remain aloof from politics and politicians and most of them did not have the urge to even exercise their franchise. "It's a waste really since my vote will neither change the system nor will it raise the poor voter turnout in the country," said Kaushik Venkatraman, who was registered as a voter in Chennai.

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