By Ian Pinto
A A while ago I came across an interesting article in TIME magazine titled, “When Millennials Rule”. The article was about a group of young, zestful, bold individuals who currently occupy the important post of Mayor of cities in the United States of America. The article was brilliant and timely, considering the subject or in this case, subjects, and the state of politics. It is no secret that the people who represent us are past their prime and a good number of them have left prime eons in the past. As I read through the pages I was struck by the personalities that jumped out at me from those pages and who caught my attention with their work and manner of handling responsibility. It got me thinking about our own great country. I thought for awhile and realised that I could literally count on my fingertips the number of ‘young’ politicians I knew; a good number of them were there because that is what their family is in to and so it’s like their family business!
Just in case you are not familiar with the term, let me enlighten you. Who are millennials? The millennial generation is the generation of children born between 1982 and 2002. They are also known as Generation Y, because it comes after Generation X — those people born between the early 1960s and the 1980s. TIME magazine has run a couple of articles on the topic which would be useful for further reading on the subject. However, what I want to highlight here is the millennial contribution or lack of it to Indian politics.
What characterizes young millennial politicians is their preternatural ease with technology, eagerness for collaboration and impatience with reflexive partisanship. They hardly stick to the code and are more likely to take the less-beaten path. One of them deftly quoted, “We have to snatch the torch. It’s never been passed.” This got me thinking and I did a little research. What I found hardly consoled me. India is the only democracy where there is a stark contrast between the average age of the citizens and that of politicians at the helm. While 70 per cent of India’s population is below 40 years of age, 80 per cent of India’s politicians are over 70 years. Senior politicians in different parties have acquired larger-than-life images, simply because of their length of stay and not for any worthwhile contributions they may have made. For fear of losing power, such politicians never allow their junior colleagues to take centre-stage in their own parties and governments.
For a country with over a billion people and a good number of them less than or in the prime of life, we have done a slick job of keeping them on the fringes of the one area that perhaps needs them more than any other – politics. “Where are our young leaders?” If we have not asked this question yet, it’s still not too late to ask it now. Waiting any longer though could be disastrous. Pakistan beat us there by appointing then 33-year-old, Hina Rabbanai Khar, as foreign minister. That was embarrassing considering her Indian counterpart was 74! So what if she isn’t in office still! She was there for a while at least, wasn’t she! Can we say the same about any of our youngsters? Sadly, our young politicians are immature and too junior to handle big responsibilities says the ones who are unwilling to part with their power and prestige!
I might sound too forceful and I intend to but I also recognize that the ‘young ones’ who are out there now hardly look fully capable of representing India on international platforms. In the current Indian Parliament, which has a mean age of 55 years, there are only 71 leaders who are under 40. Most of them are well-educated. But the problem is that most of them come from powerful political families. In India, the rising up of a young politician without an influential political background is as rare as the sighting of Halley’s Comet. What’s interesting in all this however is the fact that 12 MP’s are under 30 years of age and 4 among them are women. This does provide some consolation but it hardly suffices considering this is the oldest Parliament ever elected since Independence!
Notwithstanding public disdain for older politicians, established parties are generally in no mood to select younger people to run for office. The older leaders choke fresh ideas and from election to election carry the same agenda at heart. This has created a huge gap between what the younger generation wants and what older politicians can deliver. A huge problem that nearly all major parties face is regarding senior politicians who refuse to leave the chair and thus leave parties wondering what to do with them.
Cholesterol plays a vital role in the production of cells besides other functions. But cholesterol problems are becoming increasingly common. A similar thing is the case with politics. It’s high time the fogeys vacate their offices and create space for fresh blood else Indian Politics risks having a massive heart failure. It’s on the cards unless treatment is undertaken.
Young politicians with their idealism, affability, boldness, impulsiveness and indomitable desire for novelty and quality are bound to flip politics on its head. The seniors will surely not like their methods and style but at the end of the day they will show their worth by the results they rack up. They are more likely to be open to trying new things and to undertake new and challenging projects.
It’s high time our millennials grab the reins of government from the fossilizing mahouts who have been riding the elephant of our country recklessly and fanatically. The broad-mindedness and humility of our leaders will only be visible when they realize that there are better and more efficient people to do the job. The elephant does not require mahouts that lead it into the banana field and destroy the crop just to ensure it has a meal rather it requires mahouts that will take off its blinders and help it realize that to eat one does not need to destroy the field. This entails a revolution of sorts, a turnaround, a reversal. It is possible. It is due and it better happen soon.
