Why Vivek Ramaswamy and not Shashi Tharoor? Indians with political talent stand to win abroad than at home

There have been Indian-origin Prime Ministers in Guyana (Cheddi Jagan in the 1960s), Ireland (Leo Varadkar), and Portugal (Antonio Costa), apart from the political leaders in Mauritius and Fiji who aren’t accounted for by snobbish Indians. They have always admired, envied, and desired to be at the high table of the white races.

There is however an ironic flip side to the political success of Indians in America and England. Kamala Harris and Rishi Sunak would not have broken through the caste, religious and regional barriers in Indian politics. Harris had won her political spurs as attorney general in California and as member of the Senate before she ran the presidential gauntlet.

Imagine Harris, Sunak In Indian Politics

Sunak rose to the very top in old school conservative Boris Johnson’s government before he entered the leadership race in a party with its class and racial prejudices, but which has changed and evolved, seven decades after the end of the Second World War and the fading away of the British Empire.

In the past, scientists like Nobel laureates Har Gobind Khorana and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, could not find a job in India and got their rich rewards in foreign countries. Similarly, it would seem that Harris, Sunak et al have succeeded in other countries and they would never have been allowed to enter the political circles in India.

It shows that the two Anglo-Saxon democracies – America and Britain – have been truly democratic in throwing the doors open for talent, and ambitious Indians could make a go for it. It is a moot point whether there is an acute deficit of political leadership in a small country like Britain and it has become easier for “superior” Indians to make their way to the top. But that will remain an untestable generalisation with its grain of truth.

Where Political Talent Takes You Far

But even if it holds, it has to be given to the British that they are willing to doff their hats to a man or woman of merit. And there is no doubt that the political compulsions of a multi-racial society have had their role to play. But beneath it all, British polity, and a little reluctantly British society, is responding to the presence and value of people of other races and faiths. In America too, the pressures of a multi-racial and multi-religious society are exerting their influence on politics. And it has had a role in the emergence of Jindal, Haley and Harris and scores of other Indians in state legislatures and local governing bodies.

It is legitimate to ask: How different is this from the caste and regional, and even religious, competitiveness of Indian politics? And the general answer could be that there is not much difference between here and there. In doing so, we could be missing an important issue.

In Britain and America the talent quotient is quite high. If an intelligent and articulate person were to step forward and present her or his case, people are willing to listen and they are willing to accept you, and your origins do not matter. That is why a Barack Obama and a Kamala Harris in America get a hearing, and so do Sunak and Sajid Khan (from Pakistan) in England. Indians stand a better chance in a political talent contest abroad than in India. In America-like and England-like conditions, Shashi Tharoor of the Congress party would have gone farther than he has done so far in Indian politics.

Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr is a New Delhi-based journalist. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.