Innovative Politics

I was reading the newspaper on my way back home on friday and this news item caught my eye. There was a huge photograph of a man selling coconuts with the words ‘star vendor’ printed below. This man, Vatal Nagaraj, contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from a Bangalore constituency was selling coconuts to raise money for his election campaign! It sure is a nice way to grab attention and a little humour hurts nobody, right? The election commission though thought there was nothing amusing about it and served him with a notice to explain his actions.  The tricky part is that, the EC thinks he’s selling the coconuts below market price and hence the act of selling coconuts amounts to a bribe while Vatal actually says the buying is entirely voluntary with the people coming forward and paying anywhere from a modest five bucks to an astonishing five hundred bucks for his coconuts. Mr. Tongue-in-cheek wants to know the marked price of a coconut, if there is one, and if it is the election commission that fixed it at that? Any thoughts on this,  Mr. M.R. Hegde? Random incidents like these make Indian Politics a thoroughly enjoyable fare to follow. You’d be amazed by the subtle intelligence with which this cadidate markets himself. He owns coconut groves, is in the coconut business and the coconut is his election symbol! Now, theres a man who knows to sell his symbol. I am pretty sure he never went to a business school to study marketing and yet he surprises all of us with his innovative election campaign. Even if he doesn’t win, he will be remembered as the guy who sold coconuts to raise election money. And finally, I give you another dose of his humour with this parting quote he gave to newspersons.

” I’ve asked all my party workers to gather all the coconut pieces after they break a coconut during the election campaign. The election commission may otherwise charge us with bribing the public if anyone happens to eat one of the shattered coconut pieces. Who knows!”

PS: Mr. M.R.Hegde is the State Election Commissioner. I bet Vatal knew that already 😀