With a majority of Indians aged under 25, it's time for youth to reclaim their voice within the country's politics and shape the nation's destiny.
“Youth and politics are the two most crucial forces that can drive change in India.” – Mahatma Gandhi
We have all heard and seldom witnessed the anticipation and zest associated with Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) elections and are often intrigued by it. Student politics is the trend of increased participation of college students into the administrative affairs of an institution or a university. It was initiated through the inclusion of student councils and designations in the administration hierarchy of institutions and universities across the country. It brought about a breakthrough in the field of politics and revolutionized the archaic way in which it functioned thus diminishing the dominance of veteran leaders. Its glorious past in India stands testimony to the fact that it has proved to be the formative step in the political careers of many eminent leaders in the country like Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Mamta Banerjee, Vijay Goel etc.
Involvement of students in politics is imperative as it is the youth today who will make this country’s future. They tend to be more liberal, thoughtful and zealous in their approach and vision for an India where they possess the competence to come with up groundbreaking solutions to many deep-rooted issues pertaining to poverty, social constructs etc. Because of being involved in politics from a very nascent stage and being born in the era of technology, they tend to have a better connect with people and a greater exposure to the contemporary issues plaguing the society. The manner in which the students have spearheaded recent protests against CAA-NRC, JNU attacks, Gargi College sexual harassment incident elicit their supremacy in stimulating change in the country.
According to United Nations (UN), youth make up one-fifth of the world population hence it’s imperative that they and their issues get due representation in legislatures but it’s shocking to see so many young people out there on streets but not in parliament.
However, some people contend that students tend to have idealistic and unrealistic visions for society, which may not be successful in implementation. Another assertion is that youth lacks experience and are often easily manipulated by seasoned politicians for their own advantage but it’s the time to ask for younger and more dynamic and progressive youth leadership.
Even though student politics is widely prevalent in India it still has a long way to go. A critical observation leads to the discovery of aforementioned reasons for lack of representation of youth in Indian political scenario. Some studies demonstrate that elections in India are heavily influenced by caste and party loyalties where people don’t cast their vote but vote their caste. People are often apprehensive in electing youth leaders but rather give their votes to the ones who belong to the lineage of progressive politics that the family has.
We need to understand that politics is like any other industry and if you will not work in the interest of your people and fail to provide employment and other basic amenities then, you would be called off.
Another deterrent is economic constraints, as campaigning requires huge amount of funds. It also requires potential representatives to toil for years before they become a public figure especially when there lineage doesn’t reflect any blue blood. There’s a lot of struggle in student activism as well because students are denied mediums for expression.
‘Student politics is activism. And activism is sort of like the guiding light for politics, to keep politics on track.’- The Young and the Restless, Gurmehar Kaur
Thus, structural reforms need to be undertaken to make politics more student-savvy.Reservation for youth should be created in politics and people who are already getting an edge in the political world due to their last name should be excluded from the reservation benefits. Student wings of the political parties must be given more vigor and priority.
The youth possess a vision for societal change, and their voice becomes important as they are more likely to address actual environment issues such as climate change and have a stance on women and the reservation system rather than our current leadership that declines them and diverts people’s attention to petty issues of communal politics.
Politics is a public service and the youth carries with it a sincere passion to work for the love of people and in the upliftment of this society. As a bottom-line I would like to quote Maragret Mead as she says,
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
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