The all-powerful role of coteries in governance

While power is theoretically vested in institutions, history demonstrates that a "coterie" often emerges between leaders and the public, acting as an invisible shadow government.

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Information is power. Access is power. Interpretation is power.

These groups, operating through personal proximity rather than formal legitimacy, gain immense influence by controlling information, access, and interpretation. They become the gatekeepers, deciding what the leader hears and sees. A prominent Indian example is R. K. Dhawan, former private secretary to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who wielded substantial power through his intimate knowledge of her psyche and control over her access.

Srikant Verma, former editor of a Congress publication, recounted how Dhawan could expedite an editorial approval by Indira Gandhi. Dhawan would deliberately raise a minor doubt, knowing the Prime Minister would dismiss his objections, thus securing approval swiftly. This illustrates how coteries leverage their understanding of the leader to manipulate processes.

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The individual who controls who meets the ruler, what files reach him, which voices are amplified and which are silenced, acquires enormous influence.

In more recent times, IAS officer Pandian, principal secretary to former Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, is cited as another example of a powerful coterie member, with critics alleging he was the de facto chief minister. Such figures often ensure leaders only hear what they wish to hear, creating an artificial reality where outsiders are framed as enemies and critics as conspirators.

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Over time, Dhawan became far more than an efficient aide. He knew the psyche of his boss.

This process, often driven by human nature's preference for reassurance over contradiction, results in an echo chamber. The leader gradually loses contact with unfiltered opinion, ultimately ceasing to hear the nation and hearing only the coterie, a phenomenon starkly illustrated by the court of the last Russian Tsar and Grigori Rasputin.

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Dhawan told him he would get it done, provided Srikant remain absolutely silent during the meeting. He himself would deliberately, and randomly, raise a doubt or query about a sentence or para; Indira Gandhi would, he knew, brush his objections aside, and the editorial would be approved in five minutes.