Age is a good place to begin. David Cameron is just 39 years old - he'll turn 40 this October. Michael Howard, his predecessor was in his mid-sixties. By electing Cameron as leader, the Tories boldly jumped a generation. His youthful persona is turning out to be a vital facet of his appeal. Contrast this with the tepid approach of India's mainstream political parties towards newcomers. In the context of India's electoral make-up, age is going to be a significant factor. India has a much larger youthful population in proportionate terms than its western counterparts. This youthful segment is expanding. Moreover, younger Indians outnumber their fellow citizens.
And yet there is hardly any tangible political acknowledgement of this important reality - other than hollow electioneering chants of exhorting India's youth to propel the country to further glory! Hollow chants because political representation of India's youthful populace - despite their numerical strength - remains woeful. This demographic disconnect is glaring and is much too important to ignore. Indeed, some may even argue that the violence and criminality that has become an unfortunately routine fixture of university elections is an extreme by-product of this disconnect. In a country where there is a marked demographic tilt towards the youth, the dearth of young Indian politicians in positions of responsibility is simply amazing.
The prevailing tendency in Indian politics is to bury a youthful entrant in an avalanche of deeply layered hierarchy, quelling any imagination. After this immersion, it is unsurprising that, instead of a thousand flowers, only cynicism blooms. Of course, a select chosen few - usually those with an established political lineage - escape this fraternal rite of passage.
In this regard, a look at the Congress led UPA government is rather telling. There is no balance between youth and experience. The cabinet spots and other ministerial positions are comfortably occupied by politicians of some vintage, though unlike a good bottle, they haven't progressed with age. Wrinkly faces, stalwarts of the Emergency, mostly stale protagonists with little to offer are still at the helm of affairs. Like Tennyson's beloved brook, it seems they yearn to go on forever.
Is this where the party's future interests lie? If the Congress party wins the next general elections in 2009, will the same geriatrics be around? This is hardly a strategy to win the hearts and minds of a "Young India". In fact, a ministerial reshuffle within the next year to include younger faces - perhaps after the UP elections - should certainly be implemented.
When it comes to giving adequate representation to the youth, the BJP also falls way short of expectations. In 2009, LK Advani will be well over 80 years. Is the party seriously harbouring a notion that Advani can connect with the Indian youth? Moreover, the long awaited second generation in the party are well into their 50's too. It really is time for one of them - whether it is Arun Jaitley or some other contender - to mutter carpe diem and take their chances. Otherwise, their time too will pass.
It's interesting that Cameron's motto for the Tories is "change to win": This is a message the BJP badly needs to hear. As part of a modernising strategy, Cameron is striving to widen his party's ideological image and reach among the youth in Britain. So you see him stressing on environmental issues, social alienation and trying to actually converse with the youth instead of patronising them. It is a rather novel territory for a Tory leader.
Incidentally, he maintained a blog of his trip to India, another example of courting the youth. As you would expect, it's written in a folksy conversational style likely to resonate with younger voters. After a ride in a CNG-auto in Delhi he notes approvingly, "it's a great example of going green, and will surprise anyone who thinks that it's only places like California that are leading the green revolution."
When 2009 general election comes knocking, the BJP should be alert to the fact that the youngest members of India's electorate, who will vote for the first time - the 18 and 19 year olds born around 1989/1990 - will have no memories of the wave of religiosity, the grating rhetoric and the fervour that ushered the party into the limelight. Instead, they will be thinking about the increasingly difficult and fraught process of admission into a college and of jobs and employment.
David Cameron is trying to reach out to Britain's younger generation. As a youthful leader, he is in a position to do so. Similarly, mainstream political parties need to urgently find ways connect with India's youthful voters. India's younger generation is aching to be a part of the political narrative, keen to determine its own future instead of being shut out by tired voices of the past. Political parties that suppress youthful voices by denying them adequate representation do so at their own peril.
(Rishabh Bhandari is a lawyer at a global law firm in London. These are his personal views.)first published:September 11, 2006, 12:02 ISTlast updated:September 11, 2006, 12:02 IST
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Since his election as the leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron has posed some searching questions for the British political terrain. With the Labour party in the middle of intense warfare over Blair's succession, the principal beneficiary of its paralysis has been Cameron. Like a prized blue chip share in a bullish market, the Cameron stock continues to soar. Last week, as he flew Jet Airways back to London after visiting India, his presence among India's political elites also unwittingly poses some revealing questions for the Indian political culture.
Age is a good place to begin. David Cameron is just 39 years old - he'll turn 40 this October. Michael Howard, his predecessor was in his mid-sixties. By electing Cameron as leader, the Tories boldly jumped a generation. His youthful persona is turning out to be a vital facet of his appeal. Contrast this with the tepid approach of India's mainstream political parties towards newcomers. In the context of India's electoral make-up, age is going to be a significant factor. India has a much larger youthful population in proportionate terms than its western counterparts. This youthful segment is expanding. Moreover, younger Indians outnumber their fellow citizens.
And yet there is hardly any tangible political acknowledgement of this important reality - other than hollow electioneering chants of exhorting India's youth to propel the country to further glory! Hollow chants because political representation of India's youthful populace - despite their numerical strength - remains woeful. This demographic disconnect is glaring and is much too important to ignore. Indeed, some may even argue that the violence and criminality that has become an unfortunately routine fixture of university elections is an extreme by-product of this disconnect. In a country where there is a marked demographic tilt towards the youth, the dearth of young Indian politicians in positions of responsibility is simply amazing.
The prevailing tendency in Indian politics is to bury a youthful entrant in an avalanche of deeply layered hierarchy, quelling any imagination. After this immersion, it is unsurprising that, instead of a thousand flowers, only cynicism blooms. Of course, a select chosen few - usually those with an established political lineage - escape this fraternal rite of passage.
In this regard, a look at the Congress led UPA government is rather telling. There is no balance between youth and experience. The cabinet spots and other ministerial positions are comfortably occupied by politicians of some vintage, though unlike a good bottle, they haven't progressed with age. Wrinkly faces, stalwarts of the Emergency, mostly stale protagonists with little to offer are still at the helm of affairs. Like Tennyson's beloved brook, it seems they yearn to go on forever.
Is this where the party's future interests lie? If the Congress party wins the next general elections in 2009, will the same geriatrics be around? This is hardly a strategy to win the hearts and minds of a "Young India". In fact, a ministerial reshuffle within the next year to include younger faces - perhaps after the UP elections - should certainly be implemented.
When it comes to giving adequate representation to the youth, the BJP also falls way short of expectations. In 2009, LK Advani will be well over 80 years. Is the party seriously harbouring a notion that Advani can connect with the Indian youth? Moreover, the long awaited second generation in the party are well into their 50's too. It really is time for one of them - whether it is Arun Jaitley or some other contender - to mutter carpe diem and take their chances. Otherwise, their time too will pass.
It's interesting that Cameron's motto for the Tories is "change to win": This is a message the BJP badly needs to hear. As part of a modernising strategy, Cameron is striving to widen his party's ideological image and reach among the youth in Britain. So you see him stressing on environmental issues, social alienation and trying to actually converse with the youth instead of patronising them. It is a rather novel territory for a Tory leader.
Incidentally, he maintained a blog of his trip to India, another example of courting the youth. As you would expect, it's written in a folksy conversational style likely to resonate with younger voters. After a ride in a CNG-auto in Delhi he notes approvingly, "it's a great example of going green, and will surprise anyone who thinks that it's only places like California that are leading the green revolution."
When 2009 general election comes knocking, the BJP should be alert to the fact that the youngest members of India's electorate, who will vote for the first time - the 18 and 19 year olds born around 1989/1990 - will have no memories of the wave of religiosity, the grating rhetoric and the fervour that ushered the party into the limelight. Instead, they will be thinking about the increasingly difficult and fraught process of admission into a college and of jobs and employment.
David Cameron is trying to reach out to Britain's younger generation. As a youthful leader, he is in a position to do so. Similarly, mainstream political parties need to urgently find ways connect with India's youthful voters. India's younger generation is aching to be a part of the political narrative, keen to determine its own future instead of being shut out by tired voices of the past. Political parties that suppress youthful voices by denying them adequate representation do so at their own peril.
(Rishabh Bhandari is a lawyer at a global law firm in London. These are his personal views.)
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