Just how versatile the sari can be is revealed inanthropologists Mukulika Bannerji and Daniel Miller’s new book,The Sari (Roli Books). According to the authors, politicians from Indira Gandhi to J. Jayalalitha andSushma Swaraj have used the sari to convey their political message. Indira used the garment to establish herimage as Mother India while Sushma wears "her ‘traditional Indian woman’ look like a badge".Jayalalitha, according to the book, switched from her opulent kanjivarams to printed synthetic saris "as amessage of self-chastisement and contrition". Similarly, Mayawati’s wardrobe was transformed from the drabcotton salwar-kameez of her pre-chief minister days to glittering synthetic ‘suits’ that go down well withher supporters as a mark of the Dalit leader’s upward social mobility.
Congressmen are old hands at this "sari diplomacy".It was Sharad Pawar, says Rasheed Kidwai in Sonia—A Biography (Viking), who coined the phraseshortly before his exit from the Congress to describe the unfair means by which rival Arjun Singh wormed hisway into the coterie. Pawar accused Arjun Singh of using the services of his Rani sahiba to woo Sonia Gandhi(some call her the Imelda Marcos of handloom saris) with a gift she could never resist: exquisite chanderisfrom Madhya Pradesh.
Sari diplomacy is not the only kind of politics.According to Kidwai, there is a new kind of beauty clinic politicking brewing as well. The czarina of herbalcosmetics, Shahnaz Hussain, is an expert at it. InSonia, Kidwai recounts the fascinating story of how Shahnaz not only gives her high-profile clientslike Sonia and Mayawati tips on how to make up their faces but is equally useful in transforming theirpolitical profiles. It was the herbal queen we have to thank for the alliance between the Congress and the BSP."At one juncture, Hussain acted as a go-between Sonia and Mayawati," Kidwai asserts.
