Youth and Politics : Na Baba Na

My this article was published in 'a.m plus', the campus tabloid of Manipal University on 30/8/07.

Politics has become no more than a dirty game in India. Every one talks about the prospects of cleaning this with the help of young , energetic and valiant youth of our nation but youth are in no mood to join their hand for the sake of nation. Whenever it comes the matter of youth and politics a complete ' no attitude' appears on the screen.

Indian youth has plenty of career options available nowadays. Self satisfactory medical stream, handsomely paid MBA, challenging engineering profession and many more provide an opportunity to earn good reward as well as job satisfaction. But what about a political career which provides you all prospects of a good career but not money!

In the 70s many youths joined Indian politics to serve the society . Today they are in the ministries, CMOs, few even made it top to PMO. But it is a past now .Today no one is willing to be a politician. “ If you talk about politics people think you are not capable to build a career in any other stream , they start suspecting you as a corrupt person who wants to enter in politics for making money” says Amit Suri, 1st yr student BBM e-Banking.

In 80s and 90s some youth entered the politics as well but they had one thing in common. They were either from political background or a criminal background. So, what happened to aam aadmi or janta ka aadmi? Why didn’t they appear in the scenario?

Rahul Revti Raman, a 2nd year student of MCODS, says “if your parents are in politics, then they have a strong control over a particular vote bank and this helps you to win an election.As far as criminals are concerned they apply muscle or money power to get triumph over their opponents.”

Earlier those who were interested in doing some good for society joined politics and ultimately they lead the nation, state or their city. Has social work lost its meaning for today’s youth? “I don’t think you need to join politics for doing social work ,by working for an NGO or even for Indian Administrative Service one can serve our society better than a politician does” says Chandan Kumar a 2nd year student of MIJM.

But by taking power in their hands youth can do more for their society than just working for an NGO. “We need some honest, visionary, dynamic and ethical youths who have some leadership quality to make us a great nation”, articulates Dr. M V Kamath, chairman of Prasar Bharati board.

Kumari Anshu , a 3rd year student of KMC, argues in the favour of students, “the whole system is corrupt , for contesting in an election you need money , for getting some sort of support by other politicians you need to be involved in horse-trading. These all circumstances lead to corruption. Hence you can’t remain honest anymore after entering in politics.”

Then the question arises who will lead the nation, those criminals or those corrupt politicians? Aren’t our youth concerned about the future of their motherland? “For the last 60 years, those corrupt or criminal leaders have been leading our nation successfully or unsuccessfully. This will continue in future too. Lets hope for the best otherwise, jaisa chal raha hai chalta rahega.” added a relaxed Gaurav Vora, 3rd year student of MIT.

• The names of the institutes used in this article are constituent colleges of Manipal University.