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 Omar Abdullah’s recent speech in parliament on the confidence motion started with “I am an Indian first and Muslim second” brought the focus on importance of youth to bring new ideas, freshness and transparency in Indian politics. The related video is one of the most sought after on you tube. The people of nation desire more youth to come and take the country forward on the path of progress.

So, the obvious question that arises is whether the hope is real or not? Let’s get back to some instances of youth bringing changes in post-independent India. The emergency period saw participation from large number of student leaders who are now active seniors. The call given by Jay Prakash Naryan was received enthusiastically all over the country and the movement finally succeeded. Next stage in youth involvement came in the form of call given by then prime-minister Mr. Rajeev Gandhi. Finally came one of the most violent phases of youth politics, i.e., attempted suicide by Rajiv Goswami, in protest against implementation of Quota system under Mandal Commission.

Coming to the present scenario, with the talk of youth brigade on everybody’s lips the focus has once again shifted to youth. Young parliamentarians like Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Varun Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia are the talk of town. Political parties are projecting them as the new face to attract more and more young people. The media keeps on trailing them for a byte always. However a concern comes to my mind is that if these people were born as common man, would they have reached at the same position as they are now?? We can easily observe that politics in today’s context has become a legacy taking back India to fiefdoms. The common man is so burdened by his responsibilities that he can’t even think of politics in his free time. Rise in criminalization of politics poses a serious barricade in entry of a person without a political background. Taking into consideration the current youth brigade, we are yet to see any major initiatives on their part despite being a member of parliament for last five years. Rahul Gandhi couldn’t turn around the sagging fortunes of Congress in the assembly sections of UP, Gujrat, Karnatka despite being one of the leading election campaigners. One can sense reluctance on the part of government and parties in giving responsibilities and roles to them, instead using them only as a mascot to garner votes. One dirtier facet of regional politics was seen in sacking of Mr. Dayanadihi Maran from Union Cabinet.

University politics is another arena which involves and effects mostly young crowd. However, barring a few student elections such as JNU elections other student elections are simply a show of muscle and money. Some university elections such as Allahabd University saw murders on campus during the election period. Moreover the incentive for a young people is very less, and hence he gets attracted towards better avenues.

So, the obvious question that comes to my mind is that what is the solution?? The first and the foremost thing that comes to my mind is that we need to change ourselves. As stated by famous economists Adam Smith in his Law of Invisible Hand, self improvement on our part will ultimately result in overall progress in society. Also we need to encourage politics as a career which is at par with others. For this we need to bring more transparency in our politics and governance. We need to play handsomely to our representatives to bring down the motivation for being corrupt. Decentralization of power into the hands of common people will prove to be a great step in the same direction. Finally we need more and more youths to enter politics in order to make it fresh and full of energy to take India forward.