The politician's new clothes

The parliament is in session and our elected representatives are busy discussing the merits and demerits of the Union Budget as presented by the finance minister. So far so good.

Whatever be the politics of those discussions, what cuts across party lines is that our politicians are just so badly dressed that it's getting to the point of embarrassment.

National shame is the phrase that comes to mind when you think of what this nation's parliamentarians wear when they come to work.

Lalu Prasad, the railway minister, may have covered himself in glory with a ministry that has a healthy bottomline, but when it comes to what he wore on the day he presented the rail budget, it was cringe-worthy.

Politicians, especially members of parliament, are now highly visible. TV crews are perennially stationed outside Parliament House, and on other occasions they are housed on a regular basis in TV studios. And yet they give no thought or spare a moment to what they wear.

It wasn't always this bad. In fact, the country's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru is till today considered to be a style icon with his rose tucked into his achkan.

The Nehru jacket was immortalised by him and even today it can make a sizeable difference to an ensemble. His daughter Indira Gandhi carried the sartorial legacy rather well and that swish of white hair among a sea of black made an important style statement, not to mention her collection of saris which suited every occasion.

Daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi has picked up tips rather well. But after that it's a fashion desert out there.

Jaswant Singh, a minister in the NDA government, wore safari suits in the summer even though the safari is perhaps the worst possible fashion mistake one can make. The safari is what paan-chewing, pot-bellied, corrupt clerks wear, not a minister who sees himself as being suave and debonair.

The current UPA government is no better when it comes to clothes. It's a sea of badly cut and tailored kurta pyjamas that rules the roost. And the opposition has its share of culprits as well.

Amar Singh has never been shy of expressing his fondness for the finer things of life, be it fancy cars or objets d'art. Yet his clothes cut a sorry figure, seeming to be the handiwork of a hatchet man rather than someone who could be called a tailor, let alone a fashion designer.

The purpose of this column is not to diss individuals but to expose those who earn a livelihood by being our leaders. These are the people who control many parts of our lives as legislators, who represent us in international fora and who are said to have the vision for a better tomorrow. And as some wise sage should have said, don't ever trust someone who doesn't get his clothes right.

Clothes aren't just about buying the most expensive, and being a politician shouldn't be about just wearing white, ill-fitting khadi kurta pyjamas. A bit of innovative power dressing for these men and women would go a long way in changing the tarnished image that they are currently saddled with.

Politicians are notorious for not keeping the promises they routinely make to the electorate but it's time the people of this country should demand that their netas are well-groomed and well-turned out and get them to stick to it. And if I could go out on a limb and say this, they could one day even set trends the way Nehru did in a bygone era, or more recently the way Bolivian President Evo Morales made his striped sweater a fashion statement.

As Morales has shown, it takes confidence and individuality, not money, to create waves in the world of both fashion and politics.

Now, if only our political class understood that we should have politicians of higher calibre and even better dressed politicians.