GenNext Politicos: Should the youth take over the affairs?

Jan 1. The previous year 2009 saw a major turnaround in the Indian political scenario. The most significant event being the 15th Lok Sabha Elections which gave the Grand Old Party of India, the Congress its highest number of seats since 1989 and enabled it to return to power for the second time in succession.


But the change which the nation witnessed was the role which the youth brigade played in deciding the political course during the elections. The young leaders, especially Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India's first political family smilingly stole the show as political stalwarts like L K Advani and Mayawati watched in utter silence. The tireless effort by Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders propelled the party to 206 seats as compared to 145 in the 2004 polls. The elections saw 79 MPs under 40 from all the parties altogether making their way to the symbol of India's largest democracy.


Now, talking about the youth, the Congress was able to use the youth factor successfully as compared to other parties. Though, almost all of the young MPs of the Congress belong to various dynasties , but it cannot be ruled out that the people, of whom 75% are below 40 , now prefer young, dynamic leaders instead of old leaders accused of caste ,religion and regional politics. Young Turks like Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasada , Jyotiraditya Scindia ,Priya Dutt and many others were not only able to re-elect themselves to the 543 MPs strong House of the People but also managed to catch the voter's attention and support.

The upcoming decade might see a number of young , dynamic leaders shaping the outlook of the country. But the major concern is that almost all of the prominent young politicians have inherited their fathers legacy. As a result, many aspiring youth feel themselves handicapped due to the absence of any political background with them. Also because of the corruption and criminalisation of politics, the youth are reluctant to join the system.

At the end, it is left to the political parties to decide whom they want to give the responsibilty of running the country after them

Hard Days Ahead

Dec 15. It was May 2007, when Ku. Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party swept the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections,winning 206 out of 403 seats. The dalit czarina silenced all her critics by taking her party to majority for the first time,becoming the first majority party in the state since 1991.The social engineering agenda of the 52 year politician had reaped huge dividends as Mayawati became centre of all attention in the politics of India. Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party associates could never understand what had hit them.

Fast Forward,March 2009.Mayawati begins her campaign of becoming the first Dalit Prime Minister of India by initiating her Lok Sabha campaign.She fields 509 out of 543 candidates, most of whom are either rich industrialists or dreaded goons bailed out by the Chief Minister.Two months later, the results are declared. The Manmohan Singh led Indian National Congress wins 206 out of 545 Lok Sabha seats. But the even more shocking is the Congress romping home in UP, winning 21 out of 80 seats in the state.On the other hand ,BSP could just win 2 seats more than its previous tally of 18. The victory of Congress was widely attributed to Congress General Secratery Rahul Gandhi's vigorous campaign in the state.The Gandhi scion's visit to Dalit homes worked wonders as Congress made deep inroads into the BSP's Dalit votebank.

As the recent results of the bye-elections to the 11 assembly constituencies and a Lok Sabha seat is to be taken into account, BSP has won 9 out of 11 seats while the Congress has only won one seat of Lucknow West by Shyam Sharan Shukla. However , Congress won the crucial Firozabad Lok Sabha seat,with SP rebel Raj Babbar defeating Mulayam singh's daughter -in-law, Dimple. The win was crucial as Firozabad seat was vacated by Akhilesh Yadav ,as he had chosen to vacate it over Kannauj.

Now speaking about Mission 2012, BSP has managed to win 9 seats which indicates that the BSP has still not lost touch with its voters. On other hand,its main rival,the Samajwadi Party has shown a degradation both in terms of votes and seats.The Congress may have won 21 seats this time but the party has much to do before it can hope to pull of an upset in 2012 when the state goes for polls. No doubt the Congress leadership has been entrusted upon the responsibility to strengthen the party base in the state. Congress general secy. Rahul Gandhi has instructed its party workers to build up the party base in the state. The NSUI and Youth Congress wings have been instructed to recruit more youths to the party.

It is now left to be seen how much does the Congress succeed in rebuild itself in the journey towards winning back the state which was its stronghold.

Will he repeat it again.....??

Dec 15. Not less than a year is left when the state of Bihar goes on the electoral floors next year.Post Lalu, the state has batted a numerous eyelids more due to the 'sushasan' claimed by its ruler,Nitish Kumar.The 4 yr and 23 days old BJP-JD(U) government in the state which witnessed a 15 yr old 'jungle raj' by Lalu Yadav and his better half Rabri Devi led RJD government.The state voted for a change during the re-polls in November 2005,which ousted the RJD government out of power and installed JD(U) politician Nitish Kumar as the state's 31st Chief Minister. The JD(U)-BJP alliance then had bagged 147 seats as compared to RJD's tally of 65.

The 55 yr old Kumar began a journey towards his promise of transforming Bihar from a' jungle raj ' to a 'sushaasit pradesh'. this included a massive crackdown on the feisty politicians or the 'baahubalis', mostly fom the RJD. The Bihar government fell heavily on the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats ,who were unable to give up their old habits. The Chief Minister began to hold 'junta durbars' to listen to the grievance of the common people. The Nitish wave reaped rich dividends in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when BJP-JD(U) combine bagged 32 out of the state's tally of 40.The JD(U) bagged 20 and BJP romped home with 12. On the other hand , it spelt doomsday for RJD and LJP,the other two parties in the state.While the once ruling RJD had its seats tally down from 22 to 04, LJP failed to win a single seat.The greatest shock was the defeat of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, from his constituency Hajipur,which he had held it unbeaten since 1977.

However, the bye elections for 18 assembly seats concluded in September have yielded surprising results.the results have come as a shock to the ruling NDA government. JD(U) could win only 3 seats with its ally BJP win 2,while RJD-LJP alliance winning 8 out of 18 seats which had gone for bye-polls.The JD(U) has been riddled with inner party discontent as senior leaders like Digvijay Singh and George Fernandes have left the party due to what they have alleged as Nitish's 'dictatorship'.however,the bye elections shouldnt be taken so seriously as the Bihar government has won accolades from all over the state,and chances are there that he will repeat its victory again in 2010,when the state goes for the polls.