JAIRAM Ramesh would like to be Prime Minister. “Every politician has
that secret desire,” claims India’s latest Congressman, comfortable
in his ethnic chic-and-crystal sitting room in Delhi, five days after
joining the All India Congress Committee (AICC) as joint secretary.

Though no one who knows him well was surprised at his joining politics,
few would possibly be able to answer one key question: just what is
Jairam Ramesh? An engineer, and an MBA, but he’s has hardly ever worked
as either. He has been in the Planning Commission, and the PMO, but
isn’t a bureaucrat.

He has anchored TV programmes, but no, he isn’t a mediaperson. He’s
helped shape national economic policies, but isn’t an economist. He
has rubbed shoulders with the top Indian leaders, but can’t be mistaken
for a politician, other than due to his archetypal kurta pyjama attire.
And that too, isn’t made of khadi.

Ramesh would rather call himself “a man of ideas”. In the late 1980s,
he claims to have authored, along with economists Rakesh Mohan and Arvind
Virmani, the agenda for industrial liberalisation: a significant chunk
of what we call ‘economic reforms’ today. This, after he came into the
limelight in those ‘into the 21st century’ days of Rajiv Gandhi, as
one among the English-speaking, computer-friendly ‘Chicago Club’ boys
inducted into the PM’s inner coterie. He trod on a lot of toes: some
called him a CIA agent, some, Rasputin. But he had powerful mentors:
Rajiv, Sam Pitroda, Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram. Says one of them, former
Planning Commission member Abid Hussain: “He has the highest IQ that
I have ever come across in anybody, and energy levels that 10 horses
can’t match.”

When the Congress lost the 1989 elections, Ramesh bided his time and
surfaced to provide “intellectual inputs into Rajiv Gandhi’s election
campaign” in 1991. When Narasimha Rao became PM, Ramesh surfaced at
the PMO. But the friendship did not last�amidst speculation that he
had antagonised Chandraswami and leaked sensitive information to the
media�so he reappeared in a new avatar: television host and columnist.
Till Chidambaram became finance minister, and Ramesh returned triumphantly
as his advisor. And now, another re-invention of Jairam Ramesh.

With the UF government falling, Ramesh may have decided to make a comeback
as consultant to the private industry, but people in the know claim
the thrill of power and policymaking may have been too tempting. He
has no natural place in Chidambaram’s TMC�despite being a Tamilian,
he hardly has any links with his home state. So when Pranab Mukherjee
made the offer, Ramesh grabbed it. What does Ramesh bring to the Congress?
Given the fact that he still remains close to Chidambaram, is he going
to be the bridge between the Congress and TMC? Ramesh himself is only
too pleased at the suggestion. “Chidambaram and Moopanar are natural
Congressmen. The C in TMC stands for Congress. Their re-entry will only
enrich the Congress.”

Others see his role differently. Since the Indian industry isn’t exactly
ecstatic at the prospect of doling out funds to the Congress this time
around, Ramesh’s closeness to industrialists such as the Ambanis is
expected to come in handy. Ramesh, of course, denies this possibility.
“My agenda for the next 60-odd days is to communicate effectively what
the Congress has done, what it proposes to do and what it stands for,”
he adds. The Congress, he admits, has, by virtue of being in power for
45 years out of 50, become a metaphor for India’s failure. But, he says,
it is also the only centrist formation of liberal, open-minded, secular,
middle-class Indians.It’s the only party not identified with any one
section, but a party that all sections can identify with. All it needs
is management skills of the highest order.

Of course, it isn’t power he’s after; he’s in politics to counter the
increasing cynicism and disillusionment in the public mind about political
parties. “This cynicism is the first step towards fascism. We are seeing
a balkanisation of political parties. Middle classes are comfortable
with the politics of charity. The time, however, is for the politics
of parity,” he says. “Politics need not be a demeaning profession. We
need more educated and professional people in politics. Economists can
keep talking among themselves, journalists can keep writing their columns,
but there can no economic change without the political will. The biggest
battles in India will be fought in the political arena.”