Young brigade taking Indian politics to new heights

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Young brigade taking Indian politics to new heights

The induction of two young ministers by the Congress clearly indicates that they are the country�s new ray of hope. While some may doubt their inability to run the nation owing to their inexperience, but they certainly are full of desire to work.

CJ: Prem Chand Sahajwala

Fri, Apr 18, 2008 09:30:19 IST

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India Politicians :

WHEN FINANCE minister, P Chidambaram, condoned the loans due on all farmers in the country with less than five acres of land, it appeared that the Congress has blown the trumpet of the next Lok Sabha elections. Sonia, however, must have felt that a lot of homework remained yet to be done before actually blowing that trumpet. Elections to states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Rajasthan and Delhi seem to be her priority, as of now. The cabinet reshuffle at centre is certainly one of the significant pre-election tasks, which the Congress accomplished by inducting new ministers, while axing some others. But the most salient feature of the reshuffle is the induction of two young ministers of state, who are also the scions of prominent former Congress leaders, Late Madhav Rao Scindia and Late Jitendra Prasada.

The cabinet reshuffle may certainly have been made on the basis of crucial political considerations, but the advent of young leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada is seen as a new wave in the governance of the country. Scindia, born on January 1, 1971, in Mumbai, is an alumni of Doon School (Dehradun), who further studied at the Harvard and Stanford Universities of America. He worked as investment banker for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley and held the distinction of being the only undergraduate intern in the United Nations Economic Development Cell. He has been given the charges of telecommunication and information technology (IT).

Kunwar Jitin Prasada, born on November 29, 1973, is also a Doon alumni and passed BCom (honours) from Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, thereafter, he went for his MBA degree at the prestigious International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi. Moreover, he has the experience of working at the DSP Meryll Lynch and BPL Net. He has been given the charge of MoS (Steel).

The political considerations behind these inductions are that while Scindia’s elevated status may help the Congress in elections to the MP Assembly, Prasada may be of help in UP in the Lok Sabha elections. The political considerations, however, do not speak the whole story.

Congress’s new icon Rahul Gandhi has created hopes for the Congress, not only because of his dynastic credentials but also because of his ambition to become a new visionary for the progress of the country. It is analogous to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s baptism in politics during India’s freedom struggle period. Nehru interacted closely with the farmer community in and around Allahabad and suddenly emerged as a socialist visionary for a ‘Nation in the making’. Rahul too batted for the farmers after the budget and suggested that the limit of five acres should not be mandatory for the whole country but the real limits should come from the states, in accordance with situations thereat. He then alerted the party, whose boss is none other than his mother and urged for its democratisation. It looked like as if Mahatma Gandhi has landed in India from South Africa and gifting Congress, the new institutions like Congress Working Committee (CWC) and All India Congress Committee (AICC), projecting the two as pre-incarnations of the cabinet and the parliament.

However, Rahul refused to accept any cabinet berth due to his already well-known aptitude for reinvigorating his party, which certainly shows his determination to bring new vision to the ‘Nation in the remaking’ in this new century.

Another young politician left out, perhaps due to misplaced political vision is the Gujjar caste MP from Dausa, Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot, who got his BA. (Honors) degree from St Stephens College, Delhi University and subsequently passed his MBA course from Wharton School, Pennsylvania University, America. He was left out due to his OBC caste identity with the fear of backlash from another caste Meena, but in reality this enthusiastic son of Late Rajesh Pilot, another prominent Congress leader, is universally honored in all communities in his state, irrespective of caste or community. Born on September 7, 1977, he is the youngest member of the 14th Lok Sabha.

While some analysts have expressed doubts over their possible success due to inexperience, one may also hope that these young politicians are full of desire to work, as is evident from Scindia’s statement that there sure is need to break new grounds in the IT sector and Prasada’s intention to come out as a performing minister. Once Atal Behari Vajpayee had humorously commented that a politician is actually born at the age of 50, he is teenager at 60 and a young man at 70. If we go by this scale of political evolution in an aspirant, these young ministers may look like born from cesarean operation, but let us not lose sight of the fact that in India there have been and are octogenarian ministers, who are currently prime ministerial candidates even after crossing 80. Compared to such personalities of outdated visions and limited physical capabilities, the advent of the young brigade is certainly a ray of hope for India’s future. At least, one should remember an interesting dialogue of Gulzar’s film ‘Hu tu tu’ where Nana Patekar said while observing politicians – “Khud se chala naheen jata, desh ko chala rahe hain” (They can’t walk themselves and they are running the nation!).

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