MEET THE LATERAL ENTRANTS IN POLITICS

Vijay Chauthaiwale is a molecular biologist. Raghav Chadha is a chartered accountant. Praveen Chakravarty is an economist. But today, all three have left behind their laboratories, offices and universities and joined political parties, leading a trend of people with little political background utilising their professional abilities to harness insight and analysis for mainstream parties. In the process, they are also transforming the popular, and possibly biased, middle-class image of the white kurta-dhoti clad politician.

But what do professionals do for mainstream parties? Chakravarty, a respected economist and a senior fellow at the IDFC institute, explains that as head of the Congress’ data analytics team, he uses data to steer party decisions on organisational, personnel and electoral decisions. Chadha is an accountant by training but dabbles in myriad functions of the Aam Aadmi Party. And as in-charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s foreign affairs department, Chauthaiwale is the man responsible for the diaspora meetings that Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses abroad.

There are others, such as academic Atishi Marlena, who oversees the AAP’S educational initiatives, actor-politician Divya Spandana, who heads social media and communications for the Congress and advocate Nupur Sharma, who is a BJP spokesperson, who are also defying the glass ceiling for women professionals in politics.

A challenge before many professionals is the rough-and-tumble of everyday politics. “The day and nights are very long, especially after the private sector, where there is a clear demarcation between work and non-work life. You have to be available for anything,” says Chakravarty, who joined the Congress this February.

“Life in a corporate, private lab is pretty well-structured. But politics is totally different. Many times you plan something but what you’re doing is totally different,” adds Chauthaiwale, who trained in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and worked in a private company in Ahmedabad before joining the BJP campaign for the 2014 general elections.

His first assignment was organising a community event for the PM during his Canada visit in 2015, and he recalls a number of logistical hurdles, primarily that of