With the rise of younger politicians in India’s political playground,
Nisarg Kamdar profiles some of the players and gauges their skills on
the field
While the Indian National Congress (INC) certainly has a more obvious
youth presence and a greater number of youth politicians in the media
limelight, one has to note with a tinge of regret that an extremely high
percentage of those are a product of dynastic politics. Either their
ancestors were themselves politicians, thus establishing a direct link,
or were public servant officials during the Nehru-Gandhi reign and have
successfully made the transition to politics – like Kanishka Singh, son
of former foreign secretary and Arunachal Pradesh governor S.K. Singh,
who has now successfully ingratiated himself in Rahul Gandhi’s inner
political circle. In fact, a huge chunk of Rahul Gandhi’s close aides
include sons and daughters of former loyalists.
The Congress’s youth battalion is led by Rahul Gandhi, though he
seems to be perilously close to breaching the youth bulwark at 42 years.
Some more popular faces are Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Madhavrao
Scindia, a descendant of the Scindia dynasty that represents Guna
district in Parliament. Scindia is the present Union Minister of Power, a
very crucial ministry considering the colossal power crisis pestering
India. Other notable names are Jitin Prasada, Mausam Noor, Milind Deora,
Priya Dutt and Navin Jindal – all descendants of families with a rich
political heritage.
Sachin Pilot
Sachin Pilot (age 35) is the present Minister of Corporate Affairs.
He represents the Ajmer constituency of Rajasthan, a constituency
formerly represented by his father, and is a well recognized Gujjar
community leader. He is the son of Rajesh Pilot, who was a Union
Minister from 1991 to 1996.
To his credit, in 2009 when he was elected, he became the youngest
Member of Parliament in the country. He is the first Union Minister to
be commissioned as an officer of the Territorial Army, following in the
footsteps of his father who had served as a squadron leader in the
Indian Air Force before diving into politics. His father adopted the
last name Pilot owing to this.
His education includes a Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Stephen’s
College, New Delhi, and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business, USA.
In 2004 he married Sara, former J&K Chief Minister Farooq
Abdullah’s daughter, deftly navigating heavy opposition from Sara’s
family.
He stuck to his father’s tradition of holding an ‘Open House’ every
morning where people from his constituency drop in to interact with him.
One of his most pertinent qualities, as writer Aashti Bhartia notes in
her debut novel Votes of Confidence, is his ‘self-conscious
evenness’. Aashti notes that unlike most politicians, Sachin speaks in
the same tone and dialect in his constituency as he would in Delhi,
giving him a much sought-after air of credibility.
During his stint in the Ministry of Information Technology, he
attempted to help non-English communities access mobile Internet. He was
acutely aware of the fact that far greater resources needed to be
devoted to develop locally relevant content in local languages.
Sachin has stated that he wishes to make the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs a more approachable ministry that facilitates and “reduces the
cumbersome nature of the red tapism and the time lag that we have
sometimes”.
BJP
The BJP’s youth connect is primarily through its youth wing, the All
India Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad (ABVP), which is its All India Student Council.
Anurag Singh Thakur
Anurag Thakur (age 38) is a member of the Lok Sabha, representing the
Hamirpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh. He is the son of the present
Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Prem Singh Dhumal. Anurag has a
Rajput lineage.
Thakur, unlike most of his compatriots in the Congress, completed his
education in India itself. He claims to have dropped his last name in a
bid to pre-empt any accusations of dynastic politics.
Anurag became the President of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association
at the tender age of 25 years, at a time when cricket administration is
dominated by career politicians or established professionals. He is
widely appreciated for enabling international matches to be played at
the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, a challenge which was exacerbated by
the fact that the stadium is situated at a height of 1,457 m above sea
level amid snow-capped mountains in the backdrop.
From there on, Anurag worked his way up to become the President of
the All India Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He was an integral part of
the controversial Tiranga Yatra which aimed to hoist the Indian flag at
Lal Chowk, Srinagar. It snowballed into a huge political charade and
polarised opinion against him.
In spite of this, Anurag has an affable nature and inclination to
interact with people. He has the knack of being able to converse to an
industrialist and an activist for the rights of eunuchs in the same
breath, which will hold him in good stead if one were to go by the age
old adage – politics is the art of compromise.
Nationalist Congress Party
The two prominent youthful faces of the NCP, a party strongly rooted
to Maharashtra, are Agatha Sangma and Supriya Sule. Supriya is the
daughter of NCP head and Union Agricultural Minister Sharad Pawar while
Agatha is the daughter of P.A.Sangma, a former Lok Sabha speaker and
Chief Minister of Meghalaya, who recently lost to Pranab Mukherjee in
the Presidential elections.
Agatha Sangma
Agatha Sangma (age 32) is the youngest MP in the 15th Lok
Sabha. She represents the Tura constituency of Meghalaya and won the
2009 parliamentary election as a candidate of the Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP).
Having completed her LLB from Pune University, she went to Nottingham
University in the UK to complete her Masters in Environmental
Management. At the age of 29 she became Minister of State for Rural
Development, which made her the youngest minister in the 15th
Council of Ministers. She planned to ‘incorporate environmental aspects
and focus on vigilance in the work being done in rural areas’ during
her stint in the Ministry.
Her appointment was also an important step in reintegrating the North
East with the rest of the country. Conscious of the discrimination
against people from the North East in the rest of India, Agatha
delivered her speech in Hindi while wearing a traditional outfit, thus
making a social and political statement.
Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party (SP) is today responsible for the governance of
India’s most populous state – Uttar Pradesh. And it does become
imperative for them to have youth representation in the party.
Akhilesh Yadav
Akhilesh Yadav is the present Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He is
the youngest CM of UP at 38 years. He is the son of SP supremo Mulayam
Singh Yadav, himself a three-time Chief Minister and a former Union
Minister of Defence.
Akhilesh studied engineering in Mysore before obtaining a Masters in Environmental Engineering from University of Sydney.
Akhilesh began his political journey in 2000 when he was elected to
represent the Kannauj constituency in the Lok Sabha. He was instrumental
in improving the SP’s tally from 97 in 2007 to 224 in the 2012 UP
Elections to the Vidhan Sabha.
He was subsequently elected the Chief Minister of the state when his
father responded to popular demand. His performance in office, though,
has been underwhelming. The law and order maintenance seems to have
deteriorated, the youthful exuberance is absent, the investment in the
state is still lackadaisical and communal tensions seem to be rising.
Many sympathise with his situation as he is a youthful CM caught in a
cabinet full of party loyalists with an inflated sense of ego he cannot
afford to irk.
Other Notables
Kalikesh Singh Deo of the BJD
Kalikesh represents the Bolangir constituency of Orissa and is the son Ananga Udaya Singh Deo, a veteran politician.
Kalikesh graduated from St. Stephens College, Delhi and has played basketball and shooting at the national level.
Deo was instrumental in starting the Legislative Assistance for
Members of Parliament (LAMP) programme. It began on an individual basis
and was later institutionalized. The programmeis an 11-month
fellowship, providing the youth an opportunity to work with an MP.
Deo is currently the convener of the programme. The program is an
excellent opportunity for budding politicians to acquaint themselves
with the functioning of the parliamentary system and also throws up a
career alternative as a political aide to an MP.
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