The ex-Infoscian and ex-UID chairperson and Congress candidate for the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha seat on the new world of electoral politics
Note: We spoke to Nilekani on the 3rd March, after he had begun campaigning, but before he had formally left the UID and before polling dates had been announced.
I would say that if I had gone straight from the corporate sector into politics, that would have been a far more difficult transition. But the combination of the fact that I’d worked in urban governance issues in the BATF, and with Aadhaar I had worked in the central government in a very senior role, dealing with the political challenges in these two experiences has equipped me now t take up this role of standing for MP. I’m not just a corporate guy—it’s true that I spent 29 years co-creating a world-class company, CEO, all that—but I’ve also done urban governance at a nitty-gritty level, seeing whether the roads have been done, meeting commissioners, getting into garbage issues, hardcore urban issues. And with Aadhaar I’ve done the world’s largest and most complex identity project. It’s the diversity of these three big experiences that gives me the confidence that i can perform successfully as a politician.
Q. Could you expand on how you are using technology?
Q. The inevitable conflicts that will come up for everyone in politics—confronting corruption, the process of compromise, uncomfortable alliances for a ‘greater good’—how do you see yourself navigating that?
(This story appears in the 02 May, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)