Parties riding on youth wings
Prashant Sood

With the Lok Sabha election campaign in full swing, the youth wings of political parties have gained prominence. As footsoldiers, young partymen have the job of wooing first-time voters through door-to-door campaigns, rallies and yatras. The Tribune team reports on how active is the GenNext of politics.

Cong out of sync with the times

FOR a party that reduced the voting age to 18 and initiated economic reforms, the Congress seems far away from catching the imagination of the country’s youth.

The party has many second-generation leaders but almost all of them are from Rajiv Gandhi’s time. With sons and daughters of its established leaders occupying the limited slots for young leaders, the party has been unable to build a youth leadership in the past decade.

Heavily dependent on its first family for survival and growth, the Congress has been unable to resist claims from its senior leaders for seats and posts for their progeny. In the coming Lok Sabha poll, the few youngsters likely to get nominations are those belonging to political families. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Randeep Surjewala are prominent no less because of the positions held by their fathers in the party.

Congress leader Salman Khurshid, however, denies that undue weightage is given to to sons and daughters of senior party members. "Such criticism is unavoidable in India in any field of activity. There is obviously a very significant goodwill generated which goes on to the next generation in case of deserving candidates," he says.

Complex procedures and interference hamper the functioning of party’s youth wing, Indian Youth Congress (IYC). There are several instances of state Youth Congress chiefs being above the prescribed age. New appointments remain pending for years together. Interference at various levels has resulted in the appointments turning controversial. Key appointments in the Youth Congress or the National Students Union of India (the student wing of the party) has to cross half-a-dozen channels before getting approval by the Congress president. Chief Ministers, Congress Legislative Party leaders, PCC chiefs and senior AICC leaders seem to have their own favourites for every post, resulting in delays and wrangling.

Before Ashok Tanwar was made NSUI chief in June 2003, the student wing had been virtually headless for seven months. Many feel that those who work hard at the grassroots are not adequately rewarded. "The party wants us to work but when it comes to reward, other considerations prevail. What matters most is being in the good books of some senior leaders. There is a lot of undercutting," rues a youth leader.

The NSUI, formed in the 1970s, has a difficult job retaining its hold on the student community. With a membership of about 25 lakh, the NSUI holds a sway in colleges and universities of states where the Congress is one of the two main forces. Unemployment being an issue of core importance to the NSUI, the organisation has thought of ways to take across its message. "Our activists have polished shoes, cleaned cars, served tea and cleaned roads in colleges and universities to highlight the problem of unemployment," says NSUI chief Ashok Tanwar.

With the old socialist order having collapsed, there is a feeling that the youth movement in the party has not ideologically reoriented itself to the needs of current times. Observers also say that the youth leadership has inadequate representation from the rural areas.

"If the Congress does not make a concerted effort to promote younger leadership, it may become like the Communist parties which have very few young leaders," says Manish Tiwari, a former Youth Congress chief. There is little doubt that all young leaders in the party look up to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi as messiahs who will work wonders for the party.

In an effort to woo young voters, who now form the bulk of the electorate, the IYC and NSUI have started Jagriti Jyoti Yatra from February 23, which is expected to cover over 74 districts across 10 northern and western states.

The IYC chief, Randeep Singh Surjewala, says his organisation has held 360 agitations against the BJP-led government in the last four years. The IYC, he says, has 40 lakh primary members and 4 lakh active members. Refuting allegations about political lineage being a major criterion for appointments in the Youth Congress, he says only two of the 43 office-bearers were from political families. "We have picked those who stand on their own merit," he says.

Surjewala, whose father was the PCC chief in Haryana, feels that children of political leaders are often judged harshly. "It is sometimes felt that your contribution is being undermined because you belong to a political family."

Many in the Congress believe that lately the BJP has been projecting and building up its young leaders in the way Rajiv Gandhi did during his term as Prime Minister. "More than 20 Youth Congress activists and leaders were given Rajya Sabha nominations by Rajiv," recalls a YC leader. Congress youth leaders maintain there is no paucity of young talent in the party. With nationwide activities on their calendar, both the IYC and NSUI face a resource crunch. While the IYC has a meagre monthly budget of Rs 1 lakh for expenses, including staff salaries, the NSUI gets about Rs 70,000 per month. By conservative estimates of the party’s youth leaders, a "moderate demonstration" in the Capital costs Rs 50,000. Needless to say, most of the money for the two organisations comes from private channels.

Young politicos in Punjab & Haryana

Backroom boys keep BJP on track
S. Satyanaryanan

IF the present profile of BJP leaders is any indication, the party appears to be giving an important role to its youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Whether it is the present BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu or the party’s General Secretaries Pramod Mahajan and M.A. Naqvi or Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Shahnawaz Hussain, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ravi Shankar Prasad, all of them have served the BJYM in some capacity or the other.

The influence of the BJP’s parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is very much visible as a majority of the youth wing members belong to the Sangh. Interestingly, the BJYM has no separate membership or funding system but automatically adopts into its fold all BJP members who are below the age of 35. The BJYM — which today claims to have a record membership of 1.60 crore — was known as the Yuva Sangh during the Jana Sangh days (1951-1777) and later as the Janata Yuva Morcha in 1977-1979. It acquired its present name in 1980. In 24 years, the BJYM has become one of the most important arms of the BJP in organising political activities and agitations, campaigning and establishing grassroots contacts.

For the coming elections, in which the BJP stakes are very high, the BJYM’s role has been clearly demarcated. BJYM President G. Kishan Reddy, who is in charge of elections in Andhra Pradesh, where both the Lok Sabha and assembly poll will be held simultaneously, asserts: "Some of the crucial tasks assigned to us include conducting door-to-door campaigns, targeting first-time youth voters and wooing them to vote for the party, manning polling booths and putting up posters, party flags and other publicity materials at the venues of public rallies," Reddy said. The BJYM has already set up polling booth management committees at district and mandal levels across the country called Kamal Vahinis. Each committee will have a minimum of 20 Yuva Morcha activists and a maximum of 200. To target the first-time voters, the Yuva Morcha has decided to hold 500 conferences in each Lok Sabha constituency and in the states going to the polls.

The Yuva Morcha also offers a wholesome opportunity to develop organising and management skills, Singh observes, claiming that the BJYM organised one of the biggest International Youth Conference on Terrorism in Delhi on February 10-11, 2003, in which over 70,000 delegates participated.

Siddarth Nath Singh, grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, describes BJYM activists as "backroom boys", who silently and relentlessly play a crucial role for the success of any major BJP activity.

Singh, who is the co-convener of the BJP’s National Media Cell and was earlier the first Media Convener of the BJYM, says that Yuva Morcha leaders and workers have been actively involved in the Bharat Uday Yatra of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani. The Yuva Morcha, however, does not have a separate student wing and publicly maintains that it has no links with the ABVP.

"There is no link between the ABVP and the BJYM but for the fact that the former is ideologically closer to the BJP," says the BJYM General Secretary. "Of course, some of the ABVP activists after joining the BJP have made it big in the political arena. One prominent example is Union Law and Justice Minister Arun Jaitley."

Youth wings in poll mode

JD(U): Age of continuity
Tripti Nath

THE Janata Dal (United) may have been behind time in appointing office-bearers of its youth wing — the Yuva Janata Dal (United), but it is confident that its army of committed young workers will do their best to ensure the party’s victory in the forthcoming elections. The National President of the Yuva Janata Dal (United) Govind Yadav recently assigned work to the young office-bearers and workers as well as announced names of state presidents and office-bearers of the youth wing.

Interestingly, 45-year-old Arun Kumar Sinha was reappointed General Secretary of the YJD(U) even though the age limit for the youth wing is 35. Sinha, who has been associated with the party for nearly 20 years, admits that the strength of the party’s youth wing is nowhere close to that of the BJP or the Congress yet he is confident that it would not make the party any less effective. "Our strength is about 2000. A lot of people are joining the BJP because it is leading the coalition. Ugte hue suraj ko sab pranaam karte hain," he exclaims.

Confessing that fund-raising is not an easy job, he says: "We move about in small groups to collect funds. At public meetings, we manage to make a collection. We also expect the candidates to generate funds."

Govind Yadav, who has been associated with the Socialist movement for two decades, is disillusioned with the fact that the country does not have a single leader who can voice the aspirations of the youth.

"There is an acute dearth of young leaders in the country. Varun Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi cannot be youth leaders. They are not sensitive to the needs of the youth."

Yadav says that youngsters deserve a chance. The JD(U) plans to contest four seats in Orissa. The YJD(U) will propose names of young candidates to the JD(U) Central Election Committee. "In the recent assembly elections, JD(U) fielded four young candidates in four out of the 29 seats it contested in Chhattisgarh, 10 out of the 40 seats it contested in Madhya Pradesh, and nine out of the 25 seats it contested in Rajasthan. In Delhi, we fielded Vikas Kaushik for an Assembly segment in Chandni Chowk and Rishikesh Nishikar for a seat in Mandawali."

Party General Secretary Javed Raza is in favour of giving youth an opportunity to prove themselves. At 28, Pratush Nandan, who has been reappointed National President of the Chhatra Janata Dal (United), is keen on contesting Assembly elections in Bihar. Nandan is enrolled for a language course in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Nandan says that no party can function effectively without young leaders as they provide the party a crucial link with the young generation. "Our workers are active in more than 100 universities, including Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Bhuvaneshwar University, Bhopal University, Jabalpur University, Rajasthan University and Osmania University. The Chhatra Janata Dal (U) candidates hold the post of president in three colleges in Jaipur. In Bihar, the student wing has 50,000 members. We plan to contest 23 seats in Bihar in the forthcoming elections.

"Our leaders have been in politics for a long time and our party has always been opposed to giving out-of-turn chances to the next of kin of leaders."

Young at the centre of Left politics
R. Suryamurthy

YOUTH power will be very much visible in the first general election of the 21^st century. Since about 50 per cent of the total electorate of 653 million consists of the youth, the Gen Next of political parties is expected to be a major presence in the poll arena. And party manifestoes too will dole out lots of promises to young voters.

The Youth and student wing of the CPM will take up issues like costly higher education, decreasing job opportunities and ‘saffronisation’ of education, which directly affect the interests of the student community.

With the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Students Federation of India (SFI) enjoying a combined membership of 1.6 crore, they claim that they are poised to influence the youth of the country substantially on issues concerning them. Although the two organisations are not directly allied with the CPM, they share similar ideologies.

Interestingly, the CPM, which was known to be guided by the old guard, has been transformed with the youth leaders coming to the forefront of the decision-making process.

Former SFI leaders like Sitaram Yechuri and Prakash Karat are in the party’s Politbureau, and Nilotpal Basu, a young engineering graduate, is heading it in the Upper House.

"More than 60 per cent of the party’s members are below 45 years and understand the concerns of the youth. This would be reflected in the party’s manifesto," Karat syas. Incidentally, a recent survey indicated that over 40 per cent of the Indians are concerned about the growing unemployment and increasing poverty in the country.

President of the DYFI, K.N. Balagopal says: "The economic policies of the NDA government have resulted in a loss of several lakhs of jobs and the youth of this country are much concerned about it as their livelihood is at stake."

The Vice-President of the SFI, R. Arun Kumar, too voices his dissatisfaction with the present government: "The government claims to have established 456 engineering colleges in the country. Statistics say that only one engineering college has been set up by the Centre, while 14 have been opened by the respective state governments. Rest of the colleges, which have been set up by business houses, are beyond the reach of the common man."

The youth leaders say they will fan out across the country to expose the claims of the NDA. Apart from organising meetings and raising issues concerning the youth, they will actively campaign for the party even in those areas where the Left does not have a sizeable presence.

As the BJP-led NDA through its ‘India Shining’ campaign has tried to highlight its achievements, the Left parties believe this is the right time to debate burning issues like unemployment and problems of farmers and workers, especially those engaged in the unorganised sector.