The “no-frills” candidate

BANGALORE — As Indians kick off the second phase of voting in their general election, a hodgepodge of political parties and candidates are currently battling for the affections of 720 million prospective voters across 543 constituencies in India’s colossal general elections.

In Bangalore, India’s technology hub, a lone contender stands out in this assortment, hoping to represent the face of politics in the new India.

Gorur Ramaswamy Gopinath, 57, pioneered India’s first low-cost airline, Air Deccan, five years ago with borrowed capital, taking on the might of several established airlines.

Millions of middle class Indians, captivated by the airline’s “Simplifly” slogan, were thrilled they could afford to fly — sometimes at a fiftieth of the ticket price of regular airlines.

Now the Indian Army captain-turned-aviation entrepreneur hopes to mesmerize Bangalore’s voters with a low-cost, no-frills campaign that his election managers call “Simplivote." Several CEOs, public figures and hundreds of outsourcing workers have already bought in.

“I want to trigger a movement of change,” said Gopinath, who wants India’s skeptical elite to rouse from "deep slumber."

In the land of Gandhi and Buddha, his campaign is inspired by both. “Both moved people with their ideas and emotions,” he said.

India’s educated middle class has traditionally dismissed politics as a shameful blot on the country’s otherwise shining economic rise.

In every election, about half of India’s eligible voters do not even show up at the voting booth. According to a citizen-led election watchdog, the Association of Democratic Reforms, 17 percent of the candidates in the current election have criminal records, which include murder, kidnapping and extortion. Furthermore, about 17 percent of the candidates are “crorepati,” those who have disclosed assets worth more than $200,000.

However, Gopinath said, the habit of the Indian middle class of looking the other way “has made the cocoon we have built around our family, our jobs and our club very fragile.”

Mainstream political parties were dividing India along caste and communal lines, Gopinath said. Unless the educated engage in civic and political issues, he argues, they are in danger of losing the fruits of democracy.

As an independent contender without the backing of any political party, Gopinath is fighting established, successful candidates of the leading Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Bangalore South constituency.

Last week in the bustling old town Chikpet neighborhood, he arrived alone for a campaign meeting with local businessmen. In contrast, candidates from leading political parties usally have a trail of hangers-on, sometimes hundreds long, following in their wake.

The meeting — in a stuffy room on a hot summer afternoon — was organized by Abdul Sait, who said he was an ardent fan of Gopinath’s budget airline. Sait had rounded up 50 others who cheered as Gopinath traced his path from his days from a struggling farmer to an aviation pioneer and finally an election candidate.

Badari Narayan, an outsourcing industry worker volunteering for the Gopinath campaign, said, “political parties and their candidates spend obscene amounts of money on expensive publicity, on funding meetings, sponsoring lavish dinners and bribing voters with liquor and gifts.”

In contrast, attendees at Gopinath’s modest meeting in Chikpet lined up for cupfuls of hot tea and a snack of pea-and-potato-filled savory samosas donated by another volunteer.

India’s Election Commission stipulates that candidates limit their expenditures to 2.5 million rupees ($50,000). But it is common knowledge that parties find hidden ways to exceed these limits.

Because of the successful Air Deccan sell-off, Gopinath said, he could easily have countered his opponents’ spending binges by splurging on his own campaign. “But if my political life starts with a lie, I’m as bad as the others,” he said. Running a low-budget campaign "is not impossible, but it is difficult," he admitted.

The no-frills campaign is headquartered in his own home, a beautifully remodeled colonial bungalow in downtown Bangalore. There, a network of young volunteers prepares mailers and sorts publicity material.

Not very far away, humongous digital posters of rival candidates line the roundabouts, street corners are festooned with party flags and the shrill noise of loudspeakers breaks the din of traffic.

Gopinath said he was sitting, whisky glass in hand, in the cozy comfort of the living room of his sprawling house when the idea of running in the election came to him.

When a right-wing Hindu group targeted girls inside a pub in a neighboring town, his two college aged daughters begged him to run.

Now, his daughters and wife accompany him on his low-key campaign in parks, bus stops and cafes in the neighborhood, undeterred that their father has little political skill and even less political backing.

As for Gopinath, he has adopted Gandhi’s slogan: “I will be the change I want to see.”

More GlobalPost dispatches on India’s elections:

India: Taking a bite out of politics

The greatest show on earth

Suddenly, voting is "cool"