A day after the Congress’ Karnataka victory, a citizens’ collective called Inclusive Minds posted a video on Twitter. The 70-second clip was energetic, with loud music, shots of Rahul Gandhi from his Bharat Jodo Yatra, and images of Modi-Shah fading into a dark background. The message was clear—the Congress’ grassroots political machinery is working.
The clip titled ‘Karnataka believes in the vision of the man in the white T-shirt’ was the result of persistent and rigorous efforts by young men and women recruited from premier colleges to work exclusively for the Congress party. Their tasks include brand building, image resurrection, and securing more victories.
While political parties relying on professional consultants for shaping their election campaigns is not a new phenomenon, the industry is currently undergoing a significant shift. Parties are now setting up their own teams of experts in-house. Sources in the industry told ThePrint that apart from the BJP, Congress, and AAP, parties such as BJD, NCP, SP, DMK, and TMC are also joining the trend. They have either roped in political strategists or absorbed smaller independent private consultants. Many of these teams are still unstructured, nameless entities, according to industry sources.
“Growth of in-house political consultancies is a natural progression of the industry,” says Robbin Sharrma, founder, Showtime Consulting, and one of the founding members of Prashant-Kishor-led Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), which had assisted Narendra Modi in his 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign. “Eventually, everyone would want a team that is ideologically aligned with the party,” he adds.
Inclusive Minds is reportedly associated with the Congress, while Varahe Analytics and Nation With NaMo are aligned with the BJP. AAP also has a dedicated team that works on enhancing the party’s image and gathering real-time feedback for election planning.
However, there is an air of mystery surrounding these internal teams. These are often kept discreet or disguised as social media or IT wings of the party. The BJP and Congress’ in-house teams maintain a distance from the party by claiming that they only “align with” the party’s ideology.
The ownership structure and funding sources of these consultancies remain unclear. They are registered as private entities with the ministry of corporate affairs, and most of them do not have formal on-paper affiliations with the parties they serve.
ThePrint spoke to current and former employees of several in-house consultancies across different parties, but many declined to comment on-record due to concerns about potential repercussions from their current or former employers.
Neither the in-house political consultancy firms nor the individuals heading them as directors and managers responded to queries from ThePrint.
ThePrint also reached out to the political parties for comments. The BJP and AAP did not respond. This story will be updated if they do.
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Trendsetter BJP
Leading the game is the BJP, with Varahe Analytics and Nation With NaMo. They have assembled dynamic teams consisting of young lawyers, engineers, and social scientists. Their primary role is to provide the BJP with insights on candidate performance and public perception in various constituencies.
Varahe Analytics operates in Noida, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, and is in the process of expanding to Chandigarh, Ranchi, and Bhubaneswar, sources said. The organisation has various verticals such as political intelligence, research, analytics, campaigns, and media and communications.
Their mandate involves collecting and analysing vast amounts of primary and secondary data to support the party in making informed electoral decisions. Additionally, these teams work closely with parliamentarians, assisting in drafting bills and legislative briefs.
“Political consultancy is not just about winning elections, but also about assisting the government in running the country with a single agenda in mind – of providing good governance,” says an employee, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Despite having limited online presence, both Nation With NaMo and Varahe Analytics have attracted politically-driven students. That is why college campuses are the hunting grounds of these organisations. They also post vacancies on LinkedIn. But it’s word-of-mouth publicity that has made them hot picks among students from institutions such as the IITs, IIMs, and National Law University (NLU).
According to a former employee of Varahe, the field of political consultancy for young graduates developed around six to seven years ago, but it has gained traction in the past three to four years. “[These] companies now go to top colleges [where] ideologically driven students with good political knowledge are picked up at handsome salaries,” the individual said.
Ideological alignment is the “first filter” for selection. Nation With NaMo, for instance, has launched a Graduate Impact Leadership Program for final-year students. However, the website does not explicitly mention the organisation’s affiliation with the BJP.
On LinkedIn, it has job openings for political consultants and describes itself as a “pan-India citizen engagement platform to build awareness of and promote participation in Sri Narendra Modi’s New India Movement”. In some postings, it has referred to itself as “India’s leading political consulting organisation” that has been an “integral part of various momentous election campaigns including 2014 & 2019 Lok Sabha Elections”.
Nation With NaMo, founded in 2018 and based in Delhi, is seeking speech and content writers, media associates, and political consultants in various states, with work contracts extending until April 2024.
Varahe Analytics says it’s a political consultancy firm working with a ‘national party’. It claims to manage electoral campaigns, provide governance feedback, assist in policy formulation and analysis. It boasts of managing campaigns and organising events for BJP in three elections — Assam in 2021 and Goa and Uttarakhand in 2022. It designed and launched the BJP’s Goa manifesto, organised virtual rallies in Uttarakhand, conducted a roadshow in Haridwar, and provided speech points to party leaders.
But getting a job at Varahe is not easy. Last year, a related organisation called Policy, Politics and Governance Foundation (PPGF) posted openings at Varahe. Candidates were asked to explain the last three assembly elections in Karnataka, and analyse the cost of a nationwide cash transfer scheme for students clearing Class 10 and 12 board exams among other questions.
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Congress’ ‘brainchild’
Headquartered in Hyderabad, Inclusive Minds was established in early 2022. Its website says it is “aligned with the Congress”, while on social media, it refers to itself as a “citizens’ collective fighting for the secular, democratic future of India, sharing the values of the Indian National Congress”.
Inclusive Minds, too, runs verticals such as data analytics, political strategy, growth and performance marketing, research, and communications. It assists clients in electioneering, implements on-ground strategies, and provides policy and governance advice. However, Congress has been its only client so far.
The organisation offers a 12-month Nehru fellowship in politics and elections to 20 graduates. It aims to attract young talent to the firm’s ideology by offering ‘hands-on experience’ in working for a political consultancy and the opportunity to be part of election war rooms.
“Inclusive Minds has set up teams in every election state. They collect data through surveys, field reports, and talking to influencers. All the knowledge is used for designing campaigns and candidate selection,” says an employee who did not want to be named.
Praveen Chakravarty, who heads the Congress’ data analytics team, explains how electioneering has become strategic and political parties need to evolve.
“There is a recognition that political parties need specialised skill sets for elections. But for a traditionally candidate-driven party like Congress, external consulting firms on a contract basis do not work,” he says.
In such parties, candidates form their own teams and raise their own funds. External consultants work only when decision-making is centralised, he says.
His team analyses inputs from the ground and gives feedback to the Congress leadership about issues and candidates even when there are no elections. This “peace time” (non-elections) work is more important than “war time” (elections) activities, he says.
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Others join the race
AAP and TMC also have their own internal teams that gather political intelligence. However, unlike the BJP and Congress, these teams do not have separate identities or specific names.
A consultant speaking on the condition of anonymity said that AAP’s team of more than 200 people is managed by Sandeep Pathak, Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, while TMC’s team of about 20-25 people reports to party’s national general secretary and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. “But these [teams] are either integrated with the IT or social media wings of the parties,” the consultant said.
ThePrint reached out to Pathak and Banerjee for comment, but did not receive a response.
Parties such as SP, NCP, BJD, and DMK also have smaller teams, industry sources said. “Consultants and volunteers are brought to work under top party leaders. That is why there are no names given to such teams,” says Waqar Usmani, founder of Oathman Consultancy, which previously worked with a team of Samajwadi Party in Maharashtra and is now with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
While the Samajwadi Party’s head office refused to comment, an NCP leader said on the condition of anonymity that the team is currently unstructured, although the party is looking to develop a unified, in-house political consultancy.
“Each leader in NCP has his or her own team. It is still very fragmented,” said the NCP leader.
In Tamil Nadu, the DMK outsourced electioneering work to political strategists in the past. However, a private, non-profit company called One Mind Generation Research Foundation led by Anna Nagar MLA Karthik Mohan allegedly strategises for the party. Mohan is also the state deputy secretary of DMK’s IT wing. Until 2021, the foundations’ director was Trichy MLA Mahesh Anbil Poyyamozhi, who is close to CM MK Stalin. The nature of the foundation’s current work remains unclear, despite its active status in government records.
ThePrint reached out to Mohan, and RS Bharathi, organisational secretary, DMK, but received no response. Questions sent to the foundation’s email ID were undelivered.
In Odisha, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) also experimented with an organisation called Parliamentary Research Initiative (PRI) to assist MPs, but its mandate was limited to providing research support.
“PRI was started in 2019 with a small team of lawyers and policy experts to help newly elected MPs and was funded by the party. But the founding members now independently run Global Policy Research Foundation,” said Anshuman Sharma, founder and director, which takes up independent projects as well.
BJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar explains that PRI was not into election strategising, management or consulting. “It is similar to what LAMB fellows do. It’s purely voluntary and MPs would reach out if they needed help,” said Kumar.
Kumar added that BJD operates on a flexible model, utilising both in-house and external teams to optimise its reach.
“Election management has become a science. Though we have a massive in-house IT and social media team, a lot of specialised work is also outsourced, particularly surveys and intelligence gathering. How do you manage big data? How do you use artificial intelligence to see a pattern of voting? You need resources, training and experience. Having a full-fledged in-house team may not be doable for any party,” explained Kumar.
Amar Patnaik, the head of BJD’s IT wing who initiated PRI, was unavailable for comment.
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The murky aspect
While political consultancy has undoubtedly become an integral part of strategising, parties prefer to maintain a safe distance from their in-house units and avoid direct associations with these firms.
For instance, Nation With NaMo leaves little doubt about its leaning, but there is no public information on it. Sources say it is a re-branded version of the Association of Billion Minds (ABM), which has been associated with the BJP in the past. TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien raised questions about the source of its funding in 2018.
It is also unclear if Nation With NaMo is registered as a separate entity. However, reportedly, the person in charge is Himanshu Singh, a journalism graduate from Amity University, Noida, who previously worked under Prashant Kishor at CAG, was associated with ABM, and then started working exclusively with the BJP after the party’s 2015 Bihar election defeat. His LinkedIn profile says he is a political associate working with BJP’s national president JP Nadda.
“Himanshu is the managing director of Nation With NaMo and reports directly to the party’s top leaders,” a former employee said.
Varahe Analytics, on the other hand, was incorporated in Chennai on 26 August 2021 for business activities. The company is run by Rangesh Sridhar, said to be closely associated with the BJP since 2014, and micro-managed by its directors — wife Dhanya, father Uruppattur Krishnaswamy, and Suresh Shreyas Bharadwaj.
ThePrint reached out to Bharadwaj but received no response. Sridhar responded to a text, but declined to talk citing a family emergency.
According to a former Varahe employee, the top leaders and directors of Varahe are not officially part of the BJP. “They are politically motivated professionals who share the ideology of Hindutva.”
The individuals heading Nation With NaMo and Varahe serve as the link between the intelligence gathered by these organisations and the BJP’s top leadership. While Nation With NaMo focuses on northern states, Varahe has its deep roots in the southern states.
Around the time Inclusive Minds was established last year, Congress saw poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu enter its fold. Kanugolu was a founding member of CAG and ABM, and has several electoral victories to his credit. He ran a private consultancy firm, Mindshare Analytics, which has reportedly integrated with Inclusive Minds.
According to sources, the political consultancy industry is managed by a few individuals who started CAG and later Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). Mindshare branched out from ABM under Kanugolu, and further bi-furcation of Mindshare led to the start of Varahe.
“The in-house consultancy firms are created and funded by the parties, but not owned by them. [These firms] have an exclusivity clause… they cannot work with anyone else. [They must] stay loyal to the party leadership,” says Abbin Theepura, founder of Politique Marquer, an election consultancy firm.
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The underlying appeal
The BJP’s resounding 2014 victory carved a path for more strategically fought political battles. It was a winning strategy that created new career opportunities for politically passionate and ideologically driven youth. These young individuals were eager to dive into the chaotic world of election war rooms, bask in the sun, and gather political intelligence. The proliferation of such firms in 2018-19 further expanded the scope of work for this young cohort.
“Youth are politically inquisitive. Working in this field fulfills a sense of purpose. You feel that you are driving change in the country and contributing to something you believe in. And if you earn a decent salary, it’s a win-win situation,” says an employee at one of the firms.
Work at in-house political consultancies is challenging the notion that the only way to work for the government is through a government job, the employee explains. “We want to change that mindset. There are many talented people who can contribute not only politically but also to the nation’s growth,” adds the employee.
These political consultancies are offering salaries on par with corporate jobs and providing exposure to various areas, from data analytics to event management and campaign design for political parties.
“It’s thrilling when something you write is read by a prominent leader during a rally and becomes a headline. Or when the manifesto you designed leads to promises being approved in the budget. You gain insight into how public policies are made and how political decisions impact people’s lives. You feel like you are bringing about change in society. In which job will you get this kind of an experience?” says a former consultant with I-PAC.
The excel sheets, powerpoint presentations, constituency reports, and survey findings by the young consultants shape highly charged political campaigns. From 3D rallies to ‘khat sabha’ and ‘chai pe charcha’, the image-building of political heavyweights is the brainchild of these young men and women who have solidified their position in the political domain over the past decade.
“Everyone discusses politics, and the issues remain the same in each election. People talk about them at tea stalls and salons. When we design campaigns, we want the candidate to be part of that conversation. We want that connect with the people,” says Sharrma, who designed PM Modi’s ‘chai pe charcha’ campaign.
With political parties now hiring in-house teams for brainstorming, the industry is undergoing a transformation. However, only time will tell if these teams can match the rigour of an external machinery working for a party or candidate.
Chakravarty acknowledges the benefits of professional skill sets in Indian politics but cautions against reshaping elections and politics solely for commercial interests. “The idea of a political party is to have people who subscribe to your ideologies, leadership, and work. If we bypass that structure and commercialise the idea of politics, then we are going down a very wrong path. This can be damaging in the long term,” he warns.
Despite this, politicians will still require professionals for research and strategy, says Theepura. “In-house teams don’t want to risk criticising their own parties. They may not have any mechanism to cross-check their findings. External teams are paid to provide constructive feedback, criticism, and solutions. Besides, a lot of parties are resistant to change and still adhere to conventional thinking. But the political consulting industry is slowly evolving. Senior leaders are accepting these changes,” adds Theepura.
Maintaining neutrality within the party and among its candidates may be another issue for in-house firms. “If politicians are given control of the in-house cell, other leaders who do not get along with that politician may not accept the suggestions from that team. It will impact the entire team’s work,” says Shashant Shekhar, consultant at Inclusive Minds.
As political parties establish their in-house teams, the upcoming elections will be a reflection of their successes and failures. Until then, political consultants will continue to shape the political narrative.
As a current employee of Inclusive Minds says, “Neta ko bolna kya hai, wo neta nahi koi aur decide kar raha hai” (What the politician should say is being decided by someone else, not the politician).
(Edited by Prashant)