When it comes to wisecracking, he may not exactly be at a shoulder-rubbing height with Lalu Prasad Yadav. But Raj Ranjan sure has a knack for one liners. Drop by during one of his lectures at Sai Bhavan, his residence off a dusty street in one of Ranchi’s central quarters, and you’ll know. “The greatest threat to this country is aashirvad (political patronage), not aatankvad (terrorism),” he quipped last Saturday, only to evoke the collective laughter of the 20-odd students who had gathered — notebooks in hand — to realise their dreams of leading from the front one day. “Someone needs to remind our politicians that their job is to serve the nation, not to take donation!” Chuckles again — this time, a wee bit louder.

Of course, Ranjan is no academic, and these lectures — which have taken up every Saturday afternoon for the past eight years of the Congressman’s life — are no discourses that any heavyweight in the current Indian political fraternity would swear by. “But I never visualised it thus in the first place,” says Ranjan, a diminutive man now in his fifties. “In my own small way, this was an attempt to pass on the basics of political awareness and leadership qualities to people who had no clue about the political process and yet formed the electoral base of the world’s largest democracy. Isn’t that ironic?”

In a nutshell, that is precisely what the Netagiri Vidyalaya is all about. “Political awareness for the aam aadmi, you could say.”

Cut to April 2001. After several years of full time party work, Ranjan had then just completed his stint as the general secretary of the Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee. The experiences gathered through those years were exhaustive, he recalls. But what moved him most and propelled him towards his calling was his interaction with India’s rural masses during his field trips.“The villagers had the power of making or breaking governments. Someone had to tell them where they stood, and what they could do with the privileges granted by the Constitution,” says the former Tata Steel employee.

Ranjan soon realised he would have to take up the mantle. Over the next few months, the foundations of the Netagiri Vidyalaya were laid, with the objective of arming the layman in the ways of governance. “The idea was to sensitise people in nodal positions of social or communal work, who could first train here and then return to villages to pass their knowledge on to other people,” says Ranjan.

Ranjan’s school — which is open to everybody — operates from his residence. “For a non-profit venture, it was the cheapest option,” he reasons. In the first year, he had 26 enthusiasts lining up for admissions. In all, 200 students have passed out of Ranjan’s school since 2001. A student pays Rs 50 as a one-time registration fee.

While greater India may not know about Ranjan’s crusade, he’s quick to point out that other institutes have come up in recent years which he believes have been inspired by his school. “See how Mr (T.N.) Seshan took a cue from us,” chuckles Ranjan, referring to the MIT School of Government incepted in Pune in 2005 by the former election commissioner.

But clearly, more and more people seem to be taking to the concept. Some offer formal degrees, such as the Pune institute’s one-year course which costs a few lakh rupees. The National Institute of Political Excellence (Nipe) in Bangalore, set up in December 2008, offers a three-month course on politics. “It was started to help common citizens enter politics,” says G.B. Raju, chairman and director. “Classes are conducted by retired professors and former and serving politicians, and anyone can enrol for the course,” he says.

But all said, how effective is it all, especially when it comes to creating active political leaders? The Nipe is still too green to take stock on that front. But the Vidyalaya does have a couple of interesting facts to share.

“One of our students, Younis Ansari, contested the 2005 Jharkhand assembly elections as an independent,” says Ranjan. “He got 786 votes! He’s taken that as a sign from above (the number being holy for Muslims) and is fighting this election.”

Sukhdev Lohra, another independent candidate who bagged 9,000 votes in the 2004 elections, has joined the school for a refreshers’ course. “But such classes are held separately, since they have specific requirements,” Ranjan says.

The students are taught the Constitutional process, the organisational structure of Indian politics and its social aspects.

Ranjan uses a set of self-designed instructional charts — as original as his one-liners — as teaching aids. With illustrations of human anatomy, he relates the functioning of the body to the political process. “The problem in our country is that labour and investment are disproportionate. That’s like saying that the sugar and salt content of the human body are unequal.”

It clicks with his students. Asha Devi, a social worker from Ratu village — 30 km away — has been attending Ranjan’s classes for the past two months. “I want to use this knowledge for the family welfare programmes run by our mahila samiti,” she says.

Others like Buddhi Sagar Tirkey are more direct about their political ambitions. “I’ve been a Congress worker since 2004, and want to take up politics in future,” says the youth from Ranchi. “Once I start my political career, this training will surely help.”

For the egalitarian Ranjan, these testimonials are rewarding enough. And he’s found worthy comrades in others who’ve actively contributed towards his cause.

Raman Ballav, corporate trainer and visiting professor at St Xavier’s College, Ranchi, is one of them. For the past four years, he’s been teaching at the school, and now serves as its director —all without pay. “I once saw a sitting MP from Ranchi struggle for 45 minutes to write a one-page letter,” he laughs. “That prompted me to join hands with Ranjanji.”

What’s more, several local political parties have asked Ranjan if they could send their politicians for training. “We’ve advised them on how to go about setting up their own training centres, where they can replicate the kind of training we give out to our students,” says Ranjan.

And, in the process, produce cleaner politicians for tomorrow. The constituencies can’t wait.