Indian Politics and The Youth

An article on Indian politics and today’s generation

Pericles a great Greek orator once said,

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you”.

Politics in India in the last 70 years has gone through a stigmatizing change, people often refer to it as a sewer, but most fail to realize that this is what keeps the country going. It may be one of the reasons why youth refrain from stepping into politics. They want a good life but are afraid of a degraded social image.

India is a country with a population of approximately 1.3 Billion people. Youth makes 19.1%, i.e. one-fifth of the country’s total population. Statistics say that 65% of India’s population is under the age of 35 years. Nevertheless, only 6% of our leaders, ministers and peoples representatives are below the age of 35.

Yet only13%of our Lok Sabha representative’s are below the age of 35, “Young Parliamentarians.”

Yet some have taken ahead of the legacy of their families. Still, many young leaders stepped into the world of politics to make a paradigm shift in the Indian Political System. Fresh, Energetic, Bold and Innovative they provide the much-required enthusiasm to the Indian Political System.

Despite the substantial population of Youth in India, there has not been a proportional representation in the Political Sphere of the Nation. Though there isn’t lack of words to describe the zeal and capacity of youth to make a change, numbers have there owned role which can’t be ignored and certainly in Indian Political System, the number is not enough to make an impact.

There isn’t a shortage of examples to determine how youth have been engaged in politics since the old times. Even the real independence struggle on Youth Revolutionaries. Starting from moderate leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Badruddin Tayyabji and many more whose experience of admin was considerable. The later movement in the last phase of Congress was led by youth. Leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and more in the earlier stage led to enthusiastic and bold steps in the struggle, and the later phase was led by youngsters like Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and many more.

In the current context, young, vibrant leaders like the new Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, is 31. The new Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, is 37, and also the world’s youngest female leader.

Talking about India Lakya Suryanarayan Tejasvi also known as Tejasvi Surya is 29. Nusrat Jahan Ruhi Jain is 30, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal is 35, and there are many more examples of young leaders who have genuinely represented how vibrant, enthusiastic, energetic and diplomatic today’s youth is. As voters grow tired of decrepit political parties, now some Political Parties are embracing new blood and empowering it, to survive.

But politics isn’t something that cannot run just by power. It needs a calm mind who can face the challenges, threats of all sorts. Youth is always exuding energy but seldom knows how to direct it to the right path. Hence, often end up taking decisions applicable for a short run. Politics is a field that needs a calm mind, along with experience. Experience teaches tolerance and the potential to have realistic visions, Young people have no experience and hence, often tend to have idealistic and unrealistic images of the society which may not be victorious in implementation. It is easy to manipulate young people and can be treated as mere as puppets. These were seen in violence and destruction of public properties by a few student groups recently.

But by making politics available to youth, the negative aspect of politics can be slowly erased in the minds of youth. Policies affecting youth can be framed by young people themselves rather than old politicians, who most probably cannot feel the contemporary problems young people are facing.

Nowadays, there is a shortage of young guns in the present scenario of Indian Political System. Youth should be given the prospect to prove themselves by making politics accessible to them. The right balance of young talent and experienced politicians can lead to the cleaning of politics and can restore the public faith in the political system.

Written By – Ishita Singh.