The growth of the Internet and quantum advancements in communication technologies have spawned the hazy institution of celebrities. The undulations they receive, even if those are the consequences of a gullible and mystified public, have historically been exploited for driving consumerism, as celebrity endorsements. It has a new name in marketing jargons of the digital world, dominated by social media, mobile and online platforms- they are macro influencers with millions of followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These peddlers of stardom and merchants of dreams are innocuous if they limit their popularity and influence in endorsing products and exhorting for a social cause. But when their aspirations deflect into hitherto uncharted territories of political office and legislature, these demi-gods, invariably become a burden to the polity and electorate by their stunning ignorance and incompetence.

Movie stars are the most undesirable of the lot entering politics due to their mostly poor educational backgrounds, lack of understanding of the grass-roots level political dynamics and glitzy life in glass houses. Rajnikant, a matinee idol with immense fan-following in the state of Tamil Nadu and South India is the latest entrant to the political bandwagon. He has formed his own political party, professing an ideology of “spiritual secularism”, free of corruption and emphasis on inclusive growth, transcending barriers of religion, caste, creed and sect. An astute observer of Indian politics immediately perceives the emptiness of these maxims. These slogans are as old as Indian political movements that had risen since the mid-nineteenth century as insurrection against the British rule. An actor who shot to fame with the weirdest histrionics and ridiculous mannerisms, though appealed to the movie-goers as unique idiosyncrasies, incidentally has no experience in the wily world politics and statecraft. Kamal Hassan is another celebrity movie star who had floated his own party as the panacea of all ills plaguing the Indian socio-economic and political system.

However, a case in point has to made for erstwhile movie-icon turned politician MG Ramachandran who rode the TN political world like a colossus. Before he had floated his own party AIDMK, disenchanted by the alienation and discrimination by his friend and confidante Chief Minister Karunanidhi, MGR had a long history of political affiliations, associations, ideological clarity and an understanding of grass-root level working dynamics. Nevertheless, MGR was successful in his political stint who had introduced several reforms and social schemes for the welfare of the populace. His protégé, Jayalalitha also a yesteryear actress and highly revered for her erudition was able to make reasonable contributions for improving the quality of life of the masses, despite allegations of moral turpitude in cronyism, nepotism and rampant corruption. NT Ramarao, the legendary Telugu actor and the founder of Telugu Desam Party was truly a trailblazer in the state’s politics. He too had initiated manifold social schemes and welfare programs for the common man, that served to ameliorate the plight of the oppressed and downtrodden castes. He was instrumental in restoring the Telugu identity and pride, that was undermined by a collective pejorative ‘Madrasis’ for South Indians. Following NTR’s footsteps, rival political parties floated by siblings and Telugu cinema superstars Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan, in all probability will be consigned to the ash-heaps of history.

But these are exceptions in the Indian political spectrum that had witnessed pathetic performance of celebrities becoming lawmakers. Sachin Tendulkar, perhaps the greatest ever batsman to the grace the cricket pitch, elected as a Rajya Sabha member was notorious for his absenteeism and had eventually become a liability to the lower house. Gautam Gambhir, who won a Lok Sabha seat in BJP ticket was shunned for abject performance. Bollywood movie stars like Hema Malini and Jayaprada, Ramayan TV star Arun Govil, musician Vishal Dadlani, singer Jaspinder Narula, Malayalam actors Innocent and Mukesh and a host of others, who had a shot at politics have come under heavy criticism and ridicule for their insensitivity, indifference, non-committal and lack of dedication to the electorate.

The rise of populism in politics has incentivized the patronizing of celebrities in political brand building (brand extensions to be precise) and swaying entrenched vote banks. Therefore, these stars orbiting in the upper echelons of conceit and stardom, become permanent fixtures in Prime Ministerial banquets and social events. Beyoncé Knowles and Jay-Z perform at campaign rally and exhort to vote for presidential candidate Hilary Clinton and actors like George Clooney attempting international diplomacy. Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Yao Chen, Will.i.am, Bono and Leonardo Di Caprio attend the star-studded World Economic Forum summits in Davos. Domain expertise and experience are overruled and are dispensable for these out-of-touch, haloed humans to even deliberate on technical topics like economics and trade. Some adorn the role of activists for climate change when they only use private jets, spewing hundreds of tons of carbon emissions, while pontificating on the need to reduce it. The real crusaders of such causes never get an invitation to attend this exclusively elitist global event. The obsession with glitterati and tinsel-town is the singular reason Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone adorned the podium as chief guests and key note speakers in the 2017 Indian Economic Summit. If a discerning mind raises concern over the presence of two Bollywood celebrities with poor academic credentials deliberating on depression, cultural renaissance and mental health in an event where economy and trade are the focal point, the only rationale is to add glitz and glamour to the summit, capitalizing on their fame. The widely acclaimed MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas in Austin backed out of its annual sponsorship of cancer conference at the IIT Chennai, when they learnt that the chief guest was Baba Ramdev. The inveterate fraud had outrageously claimed that cow urine has the potency to heal cancer.

People across the world, especially in India have a wrong concept of heroes. On-screen characters engaging in vigilantism by taking law into their hands, dancing to impeccable choreography even if the storyline is disaster-centered on escaping from an island where characters are stranded after a shipwreck; these are the heroes in dreadful films the masses worship and regard as archetypal heroes. The GOP’s, two-term California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, suffered series of defeats in fiscal and budgetary matters that had prompted political commentators to relegate him as a ‘failed governor’. The erstwhile Philippine President Joseph Estrada, a movie-star turned politician was the only President impeached in Congress and convicted of plunder and graft. He was previously expelled from Ateneo De Manila university and dropped out of Mapua Institute of Technology. US politics is yet to recover from the inequalities and wealth erosion created by unregulated institutions and unfettered markets created by matinee-idol President Ronald Reagan’s trickle-down-economics formula known as ‘Reaganomics’. One of the finest method actors of Indian cinema, the deceased Irfan Khan told the Times of India, “It pains me when a film actor or a cricketer is a youth icon. They are great entertainers...but they are not heroes”.

“Politics is the last resort of scoundrels”, quipped the iconoclastic playwright and dramatist, George Bernard Shaw. In reality, if there is one career that requires education, insight, domain expertise, conceptual and actionable skills coupled with proficiency in soft skills of persuasion, negotiation and people management skills, it is politics. Politics is the sphere of social activity that should be proliferated by PhD’s, management and financial experts, psychologists, sociologists, lawyers, educationists, economists, scientists, technocrats and doctors. Experts in public policy, political science and international relations should contest elections and represent constituencies. Currently, only the bureaucracy relatively constitutes such intellectual capital and predominantly relegated as a secretariat service in the form IAS, IRS and IFS civil servants. But, by adhering to the hallowed principles of democracy, the irony is that, we are mostly condemned to live with a bunch of criminals, crooks and charlatans, imposters and militant monks, megalomaniacs, pathological liars, octogenarians, comedians and day-dreamers as politicians. Dictators, dunces and demagogues could have gotten away in the 20th century but will only at the cost of societal doom in the ever-changing socio-technological landscape of the 21st century. The contemporary society can only ill-afford them.

Leading the masses into the challenges of the 21st century require avant-garde leadership skills, pro-active decision making and policy initiatives directed at uplifting the underserved bottom-of-the-pyramid population. Their financial and economic inclusion shall assume priority in transforming India into an economic powerhouse, measured by the economic indices of elevated Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and GNI per capita. Undulations, fan-base and fanfare are not meritorious qualifications to become a leader and a lawmaker. India needs an intellectual revolution, a reconfiguration of its mind-space to differentiate between heroes of reel life and real life. Indian needs a new pair of glasses to perceive the world.