She is not your conventional electoral candidate. Mrs Meera Sanyal has no political experience. She doesn't belong to a political camp. She has no godfather backing her. And she is a banker.
Country head of ABN Amro (now RBS), Mrs Sanyal is representing South Mumbai as an independent candidate in the parliamentary elections on April 30 and she's hit the ground running. She's taken a two-month sabbatical from her job and has invested Rs25 lakhs of her own money into the campaign.
The 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, in which she lost a close friend and a mentor, galvanised her into action. Like millions of Indians, she watch horrified as the events unfolded on television. In a phone interview from Mumbai, Mrs Sanyal says: "It's easy to criticise the system and blame the politicians. But why not try and actually change the system?"
An ambitious task. So how does the 47-year-old mother of two children plan to go about changing a system which has prevailed for years? Is she daunted by the prospect of stepping out of her comfort zone into a political arena often seen as corrupt and criminalised?
"Not at all," she says. "It's a hard campaign trail but I've been overwhelmed by the support, especially from the young people who really want to change. Look, in our work places, we expect our leaders to be well qualified, accountable and ahve integrity. Why do we expect so much less from our political leaders?"
Mrs Sanyal, who is Sindhi and grew up in South Mumbai contributes 33 per cent of income tax collections, 60 per cent of Customs duty collections, 20 per cent of central excise tax collections, 40 per cent of India's foreign trade and a significant quantum to corporate taxes? For such a prosperous city, how can we be content with a withering transport system and lagging public amenities?" asks the lady who clearly knows her numbers.
Her five-point plan for Mumbai is called Punch-a-mantra (like in Panchatantra), which includes improving Mumbai's infrastructure, security and public transport.
However, stepping from the sleek confines of a corporate boardroom to the rough and tumble of Indian politics is not likely to be an easy transition. Despite the current anti-incumbency mood in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, Mrs Sanyal faces stiff competition.
She is pitted against Congress incumbent Milind Deora and Shiv Sena's Mohan Rawle, both of whom enjoy considerable clout in South Mumbai which has nearly 1.7 million voters, double the number from the 2004 elections. Moreover, independent candidates have rarely enjoyed electoral victories in the past. Asked why she chose not to ally herself with the Congress or the BJP, she says she does not agree with their ideologies.
"i chose to run as an independent because I don't believe in the ideologies of the other parties. The meaning of 'independent' is to be free. Free of the constraints imposed by others; free of the dictates of those who make decisions for citizens based on the cold calculations of party politics; free to vote on issues on the bases of principles without having to worry about trading off one interest against another," she says.
She has her family's full support. Her husband Ashish Sanyal - he is Bengali and CEO of AMP retail - is her campaign manager while her only brother manik Hiranandani, a doctor who runs a hospital in Kerala and a clinic in South Mumbai, has converted his clinic into a campaign office for the moment. Her father, Vice Admiral G.M. Hiranandani who was second in command of the Indian navy, is the chief strategist of her campaign.
Mrs Sanyal says the time is ripe to reclaim the city. Some criticise her for being an "elitist" candidate who will not be able to connect with poor voters. But her supporters argue she is a self-made success story who went to school and college in South Mumbai and understands the issues facing her constituency.
In India, the middle class and the elite typically steer clear from politics and tend not to vote. But political analysts believe the nation is seeing the beginning of a middle class awakening, spurred by events like the Mumbai attacks. Candidates like Mrs Sanyal, writer and Shashi Tharoor, and founder of Air Deccan G.R. Gopinath are the new faces reflecting a changing political landscape.
Says Mrs Sanyal, who started her banking career with ANZ Grindlays and moved to ABN in 2002: "What business has taught me is that if you have a good product or idea, you take it to the market. And the market will reward you if your product is right. In the business world, I did not stop myself or my bank from introducing a fresh approach because somebody had entered the market before me."
Whether she and the other professionals-turned politicians win or lose the elections, one this is certain - they are a whiff of fresh air in Indian politics.
This article was first published in Tabla!
