Top 10 communication strategies to learn from politicians

Does art emulate life or life emulate art is one of those proverbial questions. After 15 years of working in the corporate world, I find the work atmosphere at times very toxic, political, and the need to showcase and promote oneself to move up in the corporate ladder. Here are a few interesting and popularly known stories from the political world that you may want to remember for your corporate journey. 

Silence is not golden, but speak when needed

During 2004-14 in India, many event organizers before the start of the program requested the gathering to put their phones on MMS mode. MMS stands for Manmohan Singh Mode aka mute mode. Every time MMS failed to speak up and address on key issues including corruption scandals, his silence and out of turn communication by the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi costed him and his party dearly in the national elections earlier this year. This incident is shows how one man's failure to communicate often leads to another man's success. 

Don't ignore that which glitters - create visibility

Swaminathan Anklesaria in his recent TOI column said Bollywood is the language of the nation and not Hindi or Sanskrit. His theory seems even more convincing when you look at the background of many politicians who've ruled Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh (now Andhra and Telegana). From NTR, MGR, Karunanidhi, Jayalalitha to recent CM aspirants Chiranjeevi and Vijayakanth. These politicians have diligently used the reel life to attract followers to their ideology and win the throne. Many of these politicians along the way realized the need to have their own TV channels ( JayaTV, KalaignarTV, SunTV, CaptainTV) to get across their version of story to the masses. 

Foot in mouth disease - choose your battles wisely

We have communicators like Kalignar Karunanidhi, 4 time Chief Minister of Tamil Nad, who has earned duly admirers through his timely quips, eloquent language, and word play. Then you have people like Mamata Bannerjee (Blabberjee) aka as motor mouth, often seen on the front page of newspapers openly challenging the Central Government and opposition parties. Her efforts often appear to be mere attention grabbing gimmick with less substance and blaming the media for misinterpreting her statements. Not long ago, during the Presidential elections in 2012, Mamata's words caused her embarrassment and made her to walk out of the UPA alliance.

Your success brings you enemies - manage perception

Before the election both BJP and Congress exchange and engaged in a war of words and throwing muck at each other. While the Congress party and it's members continue to verbally assault Modi, but the man had focused on building political equations. Modi hasn't made any personally comments/criticism on anyone and infact he wished Sonia Gandhi's birthday on her birthday, which made him look like a large hearted person in the eyes of public and Modi came across as one who looked at opponents beyond elections.

Losing the sheen - start with a bag of tricks

A good example is the Aam Aadmi Party; their meteoric rise happened when The national wealth was plundered by the ruling party (Common Wealth, 2G, etc.) and there was no redressal by the ruling party. Timely anti-corruption messages, hunger strikes for the passage of Lok Pal bill earned them a good mileage, but their their repeated hunger strikes and jail bharo stunts caused them their fall. 

Don't be a loose cannon - measure your words

Lastly, we also have loose cannons in every party from Digvijay Singh in the Congress party, to the most recent Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti who not only caused embarrassment to her and the party, but also in affected smooth functioning of the Parliament causing policy paralysis and loss to the exchequer. Sometimes, you wonder if malfunctioning is a part of their strategy to get attention like what we often see on the fashion floors.

Communication can be therapy - build your network to follow

From conversing with random strangers sharing their stories, giving them directions and free advice, Indians are open and talkative people by nature. May be that is why NaMo decided kickstart his election campaign earlier this year on Twitter and Facebook proving that an Indians listen, like and retweet as much as they talk and re-share. Once a chai wala , today, Narendra Modi is the second most widely followed leader on twitter with 8.6 million followers and second to the American President Obama with more than 25 million followers. When you are in the highest office in the country and it can get lonely and you want to share as much as you want to hear over tea on Twitter and social media can be both a sounding board and a free therapy session.

Breaking more than ice - be appealing to the masses

If metros to an extent helped us break the caste barrier, social media has gone a step ahead by breaking national, language barriers and helped specially Modi in his image makeover. Best example is again NaMo; his recent tweets in Japanese while in Japan and a tweet in Tamil wishing Superstar Rajinikanth on his birthday on Dec 12 helped him instantly connect and find a corner in the hearts of respective audiences. 

No RTI for personal life - Ignore old skeletons

Atleast there is an opportunity to deny a RTI request when it comes to knowing Government secrets and spends, but when you step into public life there is nothing to protect your past and future. Indecent media and opposition hounded Modi and his wife from whom he separated 4 decades ago. I'm sure we all have skeletons in the closet, but learn to ignore them when they try to wake the up. Skeletons are dead! 

Revival as much as survival - Let them make a U!

Let us not forget that media had tainted Mr. Modi as once a key conspirator in the Godhra riots and this year the man is on the Time Magazine Person of the Year contenders list. It is only through constant, appropriate and convincing communication Modi could win the votes of people in the largest democracy. The upcoming J&K elections will prove if social media can further go ahead and help political parties win religious votes on the opposite side. 

As a communication professional, I find it interesting to analyze the political stage in Indian and pick out examples of good and bad communication and what we can learn from them to manage our destiny in the corporate world. In fact, I have often told my colleagues that communication is like hygiene; no one takes notice of it until it is absent. So, keep it hygienic and communicate to win!

Upgrade, Vacate, Welcome (UVW)

In my last blog, I asked a fundamental question: who is a Brahmin? In this blog I look at the other side of the coin: who is a foreigner or a non Hindu? Who keeps a religion alive and refreshed?

Before I go into the issue, let's go back to 1798, Madurantakam, a small town near Chingalpet, Madras. The people of Madurantakam sought the help of the then British Collector at Chengalpet Lionel Blaze to protect the temple from the floods. That night the British Collector had a divine vision, which he believed prevented the lake from breaching. 

The collectors vision of divine brought about new faith in him and he allocated 1000 pagodas to get a portion of the temple constructed. This incident is etched in the history of the temple and confirms that the Hinduism is open to believers and patrons.

Let's come to October 2014. My friend Richard who has recently moved to Chennai visited Kapalieshwar temple with his family. Richard is eager to learn about Hinduism and understand more about one of the oldest religions in the world. But outside the sanctum reads a board "Only Hindus allowed". Not sure if Richard asked why, but I kept thinking about it.

It happened to Nandanar, a Dalit saint believed to have born between 7-9th century. He was not let inside the temple; his faith and devotion outpoured as hymns that moved the bull in front of the Lord Shiva.12 Centuries later this discrimination still exists in Hinduism and specially temples in South India. Why does Hinduism continue to be exclusive to a few and keep those eager to learn and understand the religion outside the gate? 

Leave alone Hindus and non-Hindus, many temples in Karnataka still have separate dining halls for Brahmins and Non-Brahmins and some villages in Tamil Nadu follow two-tumbler system. Adi Shankara himself upgraded rituals and practices to prevent people from fleeing Hinduism to Jainism and Buddhism that was born because of scarificial worship and other in-human worship practices. 

While pockets of inclusivity does exist in some temples, but not everywhere. You may all know Lungi dance (Shah Rukh Khan in the movie Chennai Express), but not about lungi seva at Sri Rangam temple. One day in a year the Muslim community visit the temple to present a lungi to the deity that he adorns and parades the streets. This symbolises Hindu Muslim unity, respect and brotherhood. Even at Tirupathi temple there is a statue for the Wife of Delhi Nawab, who was an ardent devotee of the deity and is revered and worshipped as "Thulukka Nacchiyaar" (Muslim Lady).

Let me bust a few reasons that are offered by learned Hindu scholars who deny admission of foreigners (non Hindus) in the sanctum in many of Hindu temples. 
- Because non Hindus (also read as foreigners) consume meat and liquor - Many of my Hindu friends consume meat and engage in other vices liquor inclusive.
- Because non Hindu women (also read as foreigners) don't observe strict rules during their menstrual cycles - Some of my own cousins don't practice these strict rules anymore.
- Because non Hindus don't observe the same rituals as Hindus and as a result are considered impure - I know many of my Brahmins friends who've stopped wearing their sacred threads and have stopped performing their monthly and annual rituals for their deceased parents and ancestors.

All religions that are currently in existence in India was either an offshoot of Hinduisum (Buddhism or Jainism) or came from outside of India and successfully found defectors. Trade relationships and conquering of East Asian countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand,etc.) by Chola kings led to the spread of Hinduism and customize their own version of Ramayana. One can find proofs of this in the world's largest non-functional temple at Ankorwat. Hinduism was open to new comers and its scripture was also open to interpretation and adaptation (like Open source). But what happened in the last few centuries?

Richard and family live a Hindu lifestyle: strict vegetarians, don't consume alcohol, follow Ayurveda and observe many of our disciplined practices yet continue to worship from outside the sanctum without any complain. Can't the divinity that accepts lungi in Sri Rangam and devotion of Nawab's wife in Tirupathi, accept and accede to other seekers waiting outside? 

Lastly, I leave you with the same old question, who is a Hindu and why are they given a special birth right despite not following the stipulated practices and rituals, while those interested to follow aren't given access and acceptance? 

In my point of view, faith is universal and religion should be open to all those willing to follow its practices. Remember, a religion ceases to exist without followers. If you are a Hindu reading this blog, ask how many of the 63 Saints in Shaivism and 12 Saints in Vaishnavism were Hindus and what they had to go through to get accepted and later worshipped in the religion. 

Every religion has blind spots and blind followers. It is time to upgrade the religion to retain those feeling stifled, vacate those needing fresh air, and welcome those feeling attracted. Let's get started by shooing away the bulls!