Youth And Politics

With my association to ideals of Loksatta Party in recent times, I can sense a great need for youth and educated people to involve in politics. It’s high time we all need to put a thought on what direction our society is moving ahead. Though it looks green for a minor section of people, it’s pretty unlivable for most of our people in the society.

Loksatta helped me a great deal in viewing ‘Politics’ in it’s true and holistic sense. It was made a dirty word by the way it has been practiced. Any activity which deals beyond boundaries of one’s self can be called politics. I realized how foolish it is to think of staying away and ignoring politics. we can’t imagine a single moment where there is no involvement of politics. Politics is like our breath it’s there with us everywhere and every moment. Even in the air we breathe, we have politics involved. We have a ministry and administrative bodies to govern the environment. So, We are bound to live with politics whether we like it or not. If we are not happy with current politics we have to change it but we can’t avoid it. It’s worth recollecting a quote by Gandhiji.

“If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake.”

Below are the few reasons came to my mind why youth and educated people should involve in politics.

(1) Threat to future generations.
Policy makers and politicians are not the same. At the time of our independence, we have people like Jawaharlal Nehru, valla bhai patel, Ambedkar who excelled in their own professions and also win the hearts of people with their conviction to serve the society.
Now the culture is that whoever has money and power are politicians. They are least bothered about the development of weaker sections of people. They are not bothered about raising the standards of people. The decisions which impact us are taken by whims of few individuals which otherwise should have been taken after careful deliberations.
unfortunately we are accepting this as politics. We have to change this culture otherwise it will become a dictatorship in the guise of democracy. our next generations are going to curse us if we don’t change this.

(2) The age of politicians.
If we look at the politicians of current generation most of them are around thier 50s and 60s. If there are young people they must have been sons or grand sons of another politician.
If this trend of dynastic politics doesn’t change we will have criminals and robbers ruling us which already started.

(3) Raising social inequalities.
Most of the present day political parties are born out of a narrow identity whether it is religious, geographical, caste or creed. This kind of culture is further widening the gaps between different sections of the people. We should not give chance to these kind of people to lead us. It’s still in our hands.
As Dr.Jayaprakash Narayan says one should not be called a leader when he possesses a particular identity. Gandhiji is never respected as a brahmin but an indian. Dr.Ambedkar was never respected as a dalit though he was made an icon for dalit identity. Bhagat singh is idealised for revolution and reforms but not as a sardar.

(4) Changing priorities.
Education and Health standards are the primary indicators of the health of the society. Though our GDP is growing magnificently we are stagnant in standards of education and health. This priorities should be changed. Every five years parties are coming up with populist measure to attract the attention of voters for a small time and forget the basic things which are required for them.

All the reasons cited above show us the need for change in political culture. The paradigm in which politics is viewed by students and young professionals should change. Let us all work for that. Let us all join our hands, understand and appreciate the ideologies of parties like Lok Satta.