Unraveling Vijaykumar

"Nodi Swami, Naavu Irodhu Heege"

Can you and me ever become a Corporator, MLA, Minister? Never! People like us don't have money to burn, don't have power contacts, and many of us don't even belong to, let us say, 'power castes'. Politics and position is for only those who are NOT ordinary citizens, you have to be out of the ordinary - like a filthy rich industrialist, a corrupt police officer, land shark, underworld don, rowdy, murderer, illiterate, and so on and so forth.

That is why you have to meet BJP leader B.N. Vijaykumar. He is the ideal example of People Like Us. He lives in a pucca middle class house in 3rd Block, Jayanagar, and his lifestyle, way of speaking, etc is not at all like a typical politician with airs.

Don't be surprised if you find him bargaining about the price with a vegetable vendor in Jayanagar Shopping Complex, with a polythene bag in hand.

When was the last time you saw a MLA leaving his ego and status at home and behaving just like any of us?
When our MLAs are so conscious about their status, you can imagine how status conscious a Minister is! BMWs, an army of hangers-on, bureaucrats kowtowing to their every silly request, et al, they live and behave as if they world goes round because of them.

Recently, a group of his well-wishers and voters hosted a reception for Vijaykumar. "We were a little excited to meet the shining new face of the BJP in Bangalore," observed one of the organizers. An expectant public had some pre-conceived notions about how an MLA would behave. "Oh, he will praise the people for voting the BJP, say he was sure of winning from the beginning, will repeat that the BJP is not anti-minorities, make all kinds of promises to transform Bangalore, and so on and forth," remarked a man in the audience, with a knowing smirk.

Well, the audience got a shock alright, when Vijaykumar took the mike. They were shocked to find that the "MLA" seemed too real. If they were disappointed (!), they did not show it!

For one, Vijaykumar praised the Election Commission for educating the people "like us" to come and vote. Two, he conceded that he was not "sure" of winning. Three, he also acknowledged that he was wary of which way the minority vote would go. Four, he did not promise the moon, but said given time, he would do everything that could be done within that time realistically speaking, and that the effort on his part would not be found wanting.

Vijaykumar's candour instantly hit it off with the gathering. "This assembly election was significant because it enabled middle class, educated people like us to contest the elections and win," Vijaykumar explained. "This was possible because the educated middle class also came and voted in large numbers, thanks to the initiative taken by the election commission."

Recalling that he had narrowly lost in the previous elections, Vijaykumar said - without any trace of arrogance - winning from a prestigious assembly constituency like Jayanagar was even more significant, as he did not have and believe in "money power or muscle power".

In politics, winning is everything and more often than not, the winner takes all. You can't expect humility from a person who is freshly elected to office. This is another thing noticeably different about Vijaykumar. "I may have been lucky, as the Congress put up a weak candidate and improved my chances of winning," he confessed.

The minority vote - who formed almost a third of the overall voters in his constituency - was another potential roadblock. Vijaykumar showed that he was never one to fake circumstances. "We were unsure about how the minority votes would affect us," he said frankly, "But as it turned out… I won with the highest majority ever recorded by a winner in Jayanagar."

Giving full credit to his party's corporators, Vijaykumar said his main strategy was what many claim to do, but in reality don't - house to house campaigning. And even this had his trademark: there were no hangers-on, no noisy flag waving supporters, etc tailing him. "It was me and a couple of others," he stated.

About his plans for his constituency, Vijaykumar said first time MLAs like him needed time to "settle down and understand how the wheels of administration work". "Give us about three months and then you will see things moving," he said. Stating that first time MLAs would bring more enthusiasm to the job and be more focused, he said they would help in monitoring the implementation of the promises made.