Gently unpacking BTS of the polls

Perhaps there could be an SC amp ST Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe desk headed by a section officer for a dull babu in Indiarsquos ministry of minority affairs for all we knowOnly the ldquoSC amp ST teamrdquo huddled into a common cubicle I pass by comprises fresh graduates on their laptops brimming with enthusiasm at a huge swanky election warroom of the political consultancy firm IPAC Indian Political Action Committee in KolkataThese younglings Irsquom told focus on issues of SCSTs across 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengalmdashfrom helping them access caste certificates to surveying other needsdemandsldquoThere are 3000 such volunteers whorsquove joined in as young fellows or junior researchers for three months running up to the national electionsrdquo says Kainat Sarfaraz medialead for IPACFormer journalist Kainat whorsquos too shy to be photographed is a fulltime employee of IPAC As are similar leads of multiple departments They donrsquot enter the political scene only during elections Which is what I had assumed This is more like a parallel setup to the party systemIPAC has been working roundtheclock with their client Mamata Bannerjeersquos All India Trinamool Congress TMC ever since they helped the party retain power in 2021 Assembly electionsOne of their big jobs for instance was to hold pretty much a referendum across villages of Bengalmdashon who the people would like fielded as candidate for the local chief during panchayat elections of July 2023Much like Indian governmentrsquos catchily branded schemes IPAC campaigns aka modules come with attractive slogansKainat tells me ldquoIn October 2023 Trinamool Congress had gone to Delhi to protest against Central governmentrsquos decision to stop Bengalrsquos fundsldquoIt became national news as Trinamool leaders were assaulted inside Krishi Bhavan later detained at Mandir Marg police station That campaign titled lsquoDilli Chalorsquo was designed by usrdquoThere are several such with branded vehicles roaming across the state including Tapashir Sanglap a massconnect programme for SCSTs that those younglings I met from the SCST team must be numbercrunching overThe most famous one I guess was Dooare Sarkar from December 2020 where citizens were directly approached for timely delivery of welfare schemes before the Assembly electionsmdashthe tagline of which famously was Khela HobeTMC trounced BJP in that state election BJP under Modi in turn was IPACrsquos first major client during 2014 general electionsWhich is why along with wide hoardings of Mamata at the IPAC office you also observe a large picture of PM Narendra Modi along with past and present clients Andhrarsquos Jagan Reddy Punjabrsquos Captain Amarinder Singh etcLast checked Kainat tells me ldquoThere are about 150 political consultancy firmsmdashShowTime Inclusive Minds Nation with NaMohellip None match the scale of IPAC which was the pioneer in the fieldrdquoIts genesis or its ldquoJan Sanghrdquo as Kainat puts it was CAG Citizens for Accountable Governance founded in 2013 by Modirsquos political aide Prashant Kishor and others including exIITian Pratik Jain who still runs IPACAs we speak Pratik is out touring with Abhishek Bannerjee Mamatarsquos nephew TMCrsquos campaign boss Irsquom glad Kainatrsquos found the timeI also wished to meet with Indrani Dutta who leads IPACrsquos socialmedia unit for Bengal Shersquos hurtling between cubicles doing ldquoQCrdquo as in approving a video theyrsquore about to drop online This feels like a newsroomldquoThink of us as lawyers defending a casemdashblind to the clientrsquos crime thatrsquos for the judge to deciderdquo Kainat reasonsWhile IPAC evidently runs outreach programmes all through the general elections itselfmdashthat stretches over three monthsmdashis of course the last mileExcept this actual campaign as you can tell mostly devolves into a lsquohesaid shesaidrsquo claims and counterclaims kinda lowbrow propaganda delivered from stage or social media with crazy commentary every secondWholly boggling citizens who must inevitably pick between the lesser evils ldquoWell if the elections are gonna be about hawa wave then so be itrdquo Kainat says When hiring younglings for IPAC what she looks for is ldquointelligence and intellect to spot swings and spinsrdquoBeyond the massive apparatus of the party and the political consultancies servicing candidates across constituenciesmdashoften the betteroff contenders run their own selfsponsored campaign with a separate teamWhich is what Irsquod noticed a few days ago with BJPrsquos Locket Chatterjee who had 250 workers manning her Facebook account minute by minute for Hooghly seat alone Contrast this with my visit to the party office of CPM in Basirhat constituencymdashabout three hours away from the IPAC warroom thatrsquos on the top floor of glassandsteel Godrej skyscraper in Kolkatarsquos tony Salt LakeCPM had been in power in Bengal for 34 years until 2011 This quaint office its fan whirring in pain has a wooden desk two chairs one of them dangling for lifeA quiet gentleman with his shirt nearly off for the heat seats me offers tea rambles on about life I pick up a foldable postcard with the CPM election symbol and messages from the desk There are few leftTired I ask the equally harried gentleman if I can meet the Basirhat candidate that Irsquod come over for ldquoI am the candidaterdquo Nirapada Sardar tells me Nirapada is also fighting this election Unsure if itrsquos the same democracy thoughMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper