Suman K Sharma
Over fifty politicians; more than twenty businessmen, bankers and captains of industry; four sportspersons and a top organizer of India’s most popular sport, cricket; four media persons; four bureaucrats; three actors; three film producers; three lawyers; two judges, one army general, one social activist and four others of assorted talents and expertise have made it to the Indian Express list of the most powerful Indians for the current year (ie100’15). The listing of these 100-odd personages – of them thirteen women – throws interesting light on our polity and what makes us tick as a nation.
Look at the numbers. In power structure, politicians outnumber all else. It comes to no one’s surprise, that among the top ten, the first nine are neta log, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat occupying the first three slots. Any surprises there? Yes. President Pranab Mukherjee finds a place at rank six, just one niche above Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejrival; and Sonia Gandhi is still at a dignified fifth rank in spite of her party’s worst tumble in the living memory (Her son, Rahul Gandhi, the Vice President of Congress, is at rank 11). But perhaps in the anti-gravity world of politics, a fall does not have a meaning. Remember J. Jayalalithaa who was ousted from TN chief-ministership on her conviction in a corruption case? She figures in the list at 39, no less. From J&K, we have Ghulam Nabi Azaad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed at ranks 18 and 20. BJP will have to be wary of both the leaders. They may belong to different parties but either of them can give BJP a severe jolt at the Centre or in the State.
Next come the men and women of wealth; and to no wonder. The country will require their enterprise and hard cash if the dreams inspired by the current dispensation are ever to be realized. Mukesh Ambani is at number 14, ranking higher than West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (rank 15). His younger brother, Anil Ambani is also there, though at a distant 57. At rank 25, Gautam Adani, considered one among the ten richest Indians and close to Modi, is ahead of Ratan Tata (rank 30) and Kumar Mangalam Birla (rank 56). Equidistant in the power hierarchy between Tata and Birla, at rank 43, is Anand Mahindra, Chairman & MD, Mahindra & Mahindra. It was in a Mahindra Scorpio that Modi rode to his swearing-in ceremony in 2014. Strange but true, sometimes the glitter of a shining star does rub off on earthly things.
The ship of the state requires powerful helmsmen to keep it on its course. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan (rank 16) has twice cut repo rates in his valiant effort to curb inflation. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval (rank 17) as the Special Representative holds talks with China on border issues and is to oversee overhaul of intelligence and defence systems. NITI Aayog Chairman Arvind Panagariya (rank 32) is expected to make the defunct Planning Commission’s new avtar a body to revisit all government policies and see how they work out. SEBI Chairman UK Sinha (rank 89) directs action against companies running collective investment schemes. Then there are the bureaucrats. Implementing the decisions of their powerful political bosses, they themselves acquire immense power. At rank 27 is PK Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to PM. ‘Nothing can move in the PMO without his knowledge’, says the Indian Express. Foreign Secretary, S. Jaishankar follows him at rank 28. The story of his appointment and abrupt curtailment of his predecessor Sujatha Singh’s tenure is too well known. It was Jaishankar who as the former Ambassador to US cinched Barrack Obama’s visit to India as the Chief Guest on the Republic Day this year. Currently, he is on a grand tour of the SAARC countries. Nripendra Mishra, Principal Secretary to PM (rank 33) is, again in the words of the Indian Express, ‘the quiet engine driving the PMO vehicle’. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (rank 36) is influential enough to have persuaded Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to go for public spending on physical infrastructure.
We have judges, lawyers and media persons too on the power list, as it befits a vibrant democracy like ours. HL Dattu, Chief Justice of India (rank 10) is going to head the National Judicial Appointments Commission when that powerful body is formed. It was Justice Dattu’s writ that forced the government to furnish complete details on black money to the SIT constituted for the purpose. His likely successor, Justice TS Thakur (rank 38) – who hails from J&K – has minced no words in warning the government that judiciary would act if ‘there is deficit in governance’. Fali S. Nariman, 86-year old doyen of the legal profession (rank 44), Soli Sorabji, also an octogenarian law practitioner and Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi (rank 84) have by their word of mouth and action demonstrated the might of lawyers. Prashant Bhushan (rank 59), a lawyer turned activist effectively got the former CBI chief dropped from 2G probe. Bhushan, a co-founder of AAP, has himself been removed lately from the party’s Political Affairs Committee for his ‘move to unseat’ its supremo, Kejriwal.
Media persons Rajat Sharma (rank 51), Uday Shankar (rank 58), Samir Jain and Vineet Jain (both at rank 60) and Arnab Goswami (rank 100); film producers Karan Johar (rank 74), Rohit Shetty (rank 88) and Raj Kumar Hirani (rank 92); actors Amir Khan (rank 70), Salman Khan (rank 83), Deepika Padukon (rank 99) and – a pleasant surprise that we in India too have started giving our sportsperson their due – India Test Captain Virat Kohli (rank 69), Tennis Player Mahesh Bhupathi (rank 85), Badminton champion Saina Nehwal (rank 86), India ODI T20 Captain MS Dhoni (rank 91) – they all are there in the list of the high and mighty of the land.
We should not be astonished at Guru Ramdev being at 37th position of the list (isn’t he the sanyasi worth 2000-crore who famously turned down the Padma Bhushan award?). Neither do we have to look goggle-eyed at the god-man Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of CD Love Charger and film MSG fame. What comes as a revelation is that Priyanka Gandhi is positioned at 46, good seven notches above the Army Chief, General Dalbir Singh, in these times of disturbance on our borders with both Pakistan and China. Priyanka has one qualification – she is Sonia Gandhi’s daughter. But then who has not heard cries of Priyanka Lao, Congress bachao!
Interested in power for yourself, are you? Follow any of the routes: be a go-getter neta a la Modi ji, hold an unassailable high position like that of CJI or the Army Chief’s, amass wealth of Anil Ambani’s proportions, act as the eyes and ears of the netas in the way PK Mishra and Nripendra Mishra do; or, Prashant Bhushan like – and at a risk to your own significance – be a spanner in the works. Even if you can do none of these, there is hope still. Be a Priyanka to Mama Sonia.
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