Kerala Assembly Elections: It's the candidate, honey

KOCHI: If the opinions of the techies including startup CEOs at the NASSCOM-10000 Start-up Warehouse at Infopark, Kakkanad are an indication, then political parties will have to rework their strategies to attract GenNext. For, they prefer to cast their votes for the candidates rather than for the parties.

“We are rated by our performance, and hence the politicians too should be,” was the firm opinion the 10-member group, which took time off their busy schedule and discussed issues that they see as the priority in the coming Assembly elections.

The techies who joined DC for the discussion held at the Start-up Warehouse, run with the help of Kerala Startup Mission, on Tuesday were Habel Philip (software engineer-Instio), Vibhin Varghese (CEO-Elveera Technologies), Sandra Saju (operations executive-4Tune Factory), Aby Thomas (CEO-Web Artistic Technosol Pvt Ltd), Chandra Vadhana R (CEO and founder -T4 Trainer.com), Jobin C.S. (CEO-Tenderwoods), Ajith K S (software engineer - Tastejet.com), Nitheesh Chandran (software engineer-Instio), Manjusha K C (operations head-4Tune Factory) and Anjali MC (software engineer- T4Trainer.com).

‘Life is too short. Start up’ goes the catchline of Nasscom 10000 Start-up and those who are incubating their firms are not in a mood to wait. “We are looking for instant delivery from politicians who turn administrators,” said Mr Jobin of Tenderwoods. “We should get loans from the financial institutions in quick pace rather than getting locked in paper work and other hassles. A few months later our idea may not be new and we wouldn’t be able to cash in on that.”

Ms Manjusha of 4Tune Factory pointed out that prospective employers check the CV of a techie when he /she goes for an interview but there is no such stipulation for politicians. “Are pelting stones at buses and leading strikes the only qualifications needed in the case of a politician?” she said.

They were also unanimous in saying that at least graduation be fixed as the basic qualification to contest elections. “Each politician who becomes an administrator should have the basic understanding about the department he or she would be handling, then only they can deliver results, even if it by copying from some other part of the country or the world. I want to elect such persons,” opined Mr Vibhin Varghese.

Both ‘offspring politics’ and the new fad for film stars in the state did not find favour with the group. “Why this craze for film stars now,” asked Ms Chandra of T4Trainer.com while Mr Ajith, hailing from the Chalakkudy constituency, intervened to say that Innocent has been a good MP. Ms Sandra said politicians showed so much affection during the election time but vanish once the results are out. “There should be progress report for politicians also,” she said.

The discussion naturally found its way to scams like solar. “Solar scam involves hardly Rs 1 crore and still there’s a huge brouhaha,” quipped Aby Thomas amid peels of laughter. “It shows that there is not too much of corruption here compared to the other states.” 

One of the techies, who requested anonymity, said he dropped his solar-based app mid-way as he thought he would not be able to take it through without sporting a stain on his reputation. The techies are of the opinion that the oldies should guide new gen in politics. “They should be positioned as mentor trainers and should be assigned with the task of training the young,” they unanimously said.

Most participants were impressed by the performance of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi after assuming power. “We want such performance from the political parties here also,” said Mr Jobin.  They are so impressed by the growth in neighbouring states. “We are much advanced in terms of education but we are not able to reap its benefits,” said Ms Manjusha. And all of them said they would go to the polling booths on May 16 and have their say in who would rule them for the next five years.