It's High Time Indian Politicians Got Their Dressing Right

 A couple of years ago we heard the phrase “suit boot ki sarkar” being used as a jibe by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to score brownie points over rival, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). So, what was the brownie point he wanted to score? It is the perception that the vast majority of the Indian people dislike the affluent folks who like to dress up in suits and boots.

Why? Because this vast majority are supposedly poor rural folks who hardly have anything to wear other than the loin cloth that MK Gandhi used to wear. But is that true? I don’t think so. Today, if you look at the average individual on the street, male or female, they are invariably young and hardly look more than 30 years of age. They all turn up in western outfits such as shirt and trousers or jeans.

Strangely enough, Indian politicians, irrespective of whether they are young or old, BJP or Congress or any other party, seem to share Gandhi’s perception that the bulk of the country’s people don’t like politicians who dress up in western outfit. That explains why all these politicians dress up in white kurta and churidar or pyjama, which instead of helping them align with the attire of common folks, actually mark them out as a different species altogether. So, in India, if you are a politician in northern India, you wear white knee-length kurta with pyjamas or churidar.

And if you are a politician in southern India, you wear white shirt and white dhoti wrapped around, lungi style.

Interestingly, 90% of the crowd they interact with, turn up in western style shirts or T-shirts along with trousers or jeans. So, what are these politicians trying to prove to the common people? Are they trying to tell them that only those who dress up in these ethnic outfits have the right to be political leaders in India? Or are they trying to tell the common folks that wearing ethnic outfit reflects simplicity and purity, which MK Gandhi, whom many consider the “Father of the Nation”, had preached? Now, there’s no harm in wearing ethnic attire but you can’t force people to wear them against their will. Neither can you build an ‘Old Boy’s Club’ of folks who wear ethnic attire and stonewall the rest, just because those folks wear western outfit. 

If wearing ethnic outfit is a non-negotiable virtue then why don’t the government servants like civil service officers, police personnel, military personnel, banking service personnel, etc. wear these ethnic outfit? How about asking the army personnel posted in the Himalayan frontier, to wear white ethnic outfit since the “Father of the Nation” had said it reflected purity and simplicity? Honestly, I think our politicians have become caricatures of a different world with which the common man doesn’t connect. They want to be seen as ‘pure and simple’ folks dressed in white ethnic clothing but they also want people to dive to their feet the moment they step down from their expensive super luxury vehicles. Whom are they trying to fool? 

It’s time for our leaders to gradually start filtering out the extravagant nonsense in the name of simplicity and purity and get closer to the people, dressed like the common man, in simple shirt and trouser. It’s not my place to talk about how the women leaders ought to dress up but like the women in the military and police, let them also make their adjustments if they feel it is necessary. The women leaders anyway don’t stand out as separate caricatures amongst the women crowd they interact with. It’s our male leaders who need to get real and get closer to the man on the street. Leave the ethnic wear for special occasions like cultural festivities, etc. For business, get down to shirt and trouser. That’s what the common man in India wears – in the urban, suburban or rural areas.