Association politics, over the years, has become more and more competitive. As somebody writing largely in the trade space, writing about these elections can be a tricky affair. You have friends on both sides. Amidst the declining Covid cases and ongoing vaccination programme in the country, there is a sense of normalcy returning in the industry too. Postponed industry elections are happening.
ATOAI has just brought in a new team, but was largely a consensus event. IATO elections, scheduled in just three weeks, will not be the same. There is a fierce competition and canvasing unfolding. ADTOI election will also follow soon, and can likely be another hard-fought contest.
These elections are happening at a time when the industry is faced with its biggest crisis ever. And therefore, these forthcoming industry elections are more significant than ever before. Every single member of these associations have been hit like never before. The crisis is unprecedented and so shall be the members’ response in these elections.
Our advice? Don’t just vote for friends. Judge your candidates not for their Public Relation skills, but for their work. Make your vote count. And ask them some hard questions. Analyse their responses critically. And keep sight of the big picture.
Recalling some of the elections of the last decades will be apt here. Almost all the TAAI elections held in the last 15 years that have elected CV Prasad, RajjiRai, Iqbal Mulla, Sunil Kumar, Jyoti Mayal, have been fought intensely with matter often turning ugly. The 2008 CV Prasad’s election was disapproved by some in TAAI alleging misuse of proxy votes. The 2013 TAAI election in Bangalore was tie for the top position. Matter went to the court and TAAI remained headless for a long time. Something very similar happened in ADTOI election a few years ago and the association largely remained headless and dysfunctional during the time.
The ongoing impasse at FHRAI has resulted in the association being headless for a few years now. The status not only doesn’t help FHRAI members, but also diminishes them as a lobby group, reduces their relevance. Besides, they may be losing ground to other associations in the hospitality space.The teams fighting FHRAI election a few years ago in New Delhi that elected Leela’s Vivek Nair as the association’s President nearly came to blows.
Let’s hope none of these happen in the forthcoming elections.
There have been some epic battles, especially in the last decade, for the control and leadership of the associations. One that immediately come to mind is IATO’s 2012 election, a high profile epic battle pitting former IATO President and an industry stalwart SubhashGoyal against the then incumbent Sr. Vice President Arjun Sharma, staking claim for the top post. Although the outcome overwhelmingly favoured team Goyal, team Sharma was no less confident in the run up to the election and until the very end.
As somebody who was a witness to this election, the outcome had definitely shocked team Sharma who were confident of winning that election. They had nevertheless gracefully accepted members’ verdict. Late Praveen Chugh, who was the Returning Officer for that election, had made sure that the suspense and drama lasted until the very end.
Both sides had big names too. If Goyal entered the fray with a team comprising the likes of SarabJit Singh, Rajeev Kohli, Lally Mathews, Rajiv Mehra, EM Najeeb and some other big names; Sharma had Rajesh Mudgill, Pronab Sarkar, AtulRai, P.S. Duggal, DDP Publisher SanJeet and other industry stalwarts in his ranks.
Some of the then comrades are fighting each other from the opposite camps this time around. Like Rajiv Mehra and Lally Mathews vying for the top post or EM Najeeb and SarabJit Singh for the second-in-command.
Irrespective of the outcome, this time around the underlining fact or the unifying factor post-election should be the unprecedented Covid-crisis that has hurt every member of IATO, especially in case if the winners are from both the teams. No previous team had to shoulder the expectations and responsibility that the team clinking glass on 6th evening next month will shoulder.
As for members, whether IATO’s or ADTOI’s or others’, ask questions and vote for those who have an impressive CV, and not because they are your friends or are good at public relation exercises, which to me seemed to have been the criteria in the last two and half decades, especially in case of IATO.
It may have come at a terrible cost. If 11 million FTA is a shame, why shouldn’t IATO, and members too, also share some of the blame?
