Lessons Team Anna Can Learn From Nirma and Sony

Bangalore: Team Anna members met for the first time after they ended their indefinite fast and discussed their plans to take a plunge in electoral politics. Many ardent fans of Anna Hazare are bound to feel disappointed that he would form a political party and contest election to bring the Lokpal Bill, reports The Hindu.

Anna had received widespread support because of the importance of his anti corruption movement. The support that he got from the people across the country was due to the fact that many people were convinced that he would bring huge pressure on the politicians to reform themselves and bring down the level of corruption. Anna’s plan on forming a political party was in fact not welcomed by some of the dignitaries in India. Former Supreme Court Justice Santosh Hegde said, “Personally I am not in favor of Annaji floating a political party and contesting elections, which is an expensive affair and requires huge resources in terms of funds and cadres,” as reported in The Hindu.

Now the question looms whether Anna should form a political party or not and by forming such parties will Anna be successful? An excellent example of such unsuccessful innovation is Nirma Detergent, reports The Hindu. Karsanbhai Patel who introduced Nirma detergent in 1969, started selling soaps at 3.50 per kg. At that time, Surf (Hindustan Uniliver) retailed for Rs 15 per kg. The consumers at that time couldn’t afford the luxury of washing their clothes using a detergent and instead used soap. If Patel had thought that Hindustan Unilever would rout his small detergent, he would never have launched the soap. The same policy should be applicable to Team Anna’s political party as well. Anna should never launch such a party and run it for the next few years without knowing what is in store for him.