Party time for interns

Politics is emerging as the newest training ground for India Inc’s future managers. And the ongoing elections in the world’s largest democracy are proving to be the perfect laboratory for mixing management and technology principles with political policies.

In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress selected two out of the 31 IIM-Calcutta students who had applied to intern with the party in February this year. The newbie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is offering both full-time and part-time internships for graduates and post-graduates in Mumbai and Delhi.

A 100-strong group that includes software engineers, bankers, lawyers, designers and marketers has set up Citizens for Accountable Governance (Indian CAG), an NGO to promote Narendra Modi’s brand of politics. And there is Political Quotient, a for-profit consultancy set up in Bangalore only eight months ago to help students and young professionals learn the political ropes by working with elected representatives.

“Politics, policymaking and governance require talent from different backgrounds. There is place for everyone, from the grassroots workers and professionals to students,” says Surabhi HR, director at Political Quotient. And the opportunities are way greater during an election, as some IIT-Bombay students have discovered.

Corporate-ready skills

Pritesh Mittal, a final-year student of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT-Bombay and a volunteer for AAP, says that while college provides technical knowledge, “you also need interpersonal skills and the ability to get things done, which can be learnt while working with political parties.” So the interns at AAP are doing everything from creating a voter helpline for locating polling booths, developing interactive apps and conducting door-to-door campaigns. Deadlines are non-negotiable and the interns are closely monitored.

Alongside, they are honing their people and managerial skills — a key requirement for success in a corporate job. These interns believe that if they can manage the crowds in rallies and convince them to vote for their party, it will be a tad easier to convince many others in the course of their corporate career — be it for the approval of a loan or a business plan.

“Politics is about resource and people management and, therefore, an ideal place for an MBA graduate. Likewise, there is a lot of scope for using technology in politics today, so technology majors from reputed colleges can volunteer tech-related work for political parties,” says Surabhi.

Much like many of the AAP volunteers, the interns at TMC — Tanmoy Mondal and Sampriti Motghare — too are working with the party’s media and communications teams to find ways of reaching out to the masses.

The interns also conduct research to unearth the issues faced by locals, suggest solutions, and liaison with government offices for party work.

Revant Soni, secretary of the NSS (National Service Scheme) at IIT-Delhi, says one can never be sure what an IITian will turn out to be ten years from now. He or she might be an entrepreneur or a techie or working with a start-up in a rural area. “But the experience gained from working with MPs and MLAs will broaden their outlook on policy matters and sensitise them to the larger issues facing the country,” he says.

A final-year student, Soni coordinates internships with the Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy. Students undertake research on policies and make presentations before elected representatives on complex bills. “This helps the leaders in decision-making. And the students gain experience in policy research early in their career,” he adds.

The internship rush

While students have always taken a keen interest in politics, both at the national and local levels, it is only now that they have access to platforms that bring them closer to real-life politics. Surabhi has witnessed this transformation firsthand.

In 2009, when Surabhi wanted to work with politicians, she didn’t know where to begin. “On my own I approached Captain Gopinath (who contested for the Lok Sabha from South Bangalore that year) and interned with him,” she recalls.

That spurred her to look for a structured way of engaging students with the system, and Political Quotient came into being. Since August 2013, the outfit has received 110 applications for internships from students as well as young professionals. It has so far worked in conjunction with 18 interns and three elected representatives.

“We look forward to scaling up and working with nearly 45 legislators in the coming year. The demand is far more than we can accommodate, and our seats are full right till December,” she says.

At AAP too, youngsters are making a beeline to intern and volunteer with the party. Ditto for the BJP’s Indian CAG. And while the Congress has not offered any internship programme so far, it’d perhaps be better off doing so. After all, this is yet another way of catching them young.

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