The Will To Youth
An inquiry into youth and its relevance in the affairs of the Indian polity
Vijay Simha |
| CONVERSATIONS |
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“Have provision for referendums on important issues”
BJ Panda, 45,or Baijayant Panda, came into politics because he was offended by the constant demands for money from a corrupt system. He is being groomed for bigger roles in the Biju Janata Dal and is a member of the Rajya Sabha. READ
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“Treat Northeast as a special zone, even if you lose money”
In terms of formal experience, Agatha Sangma, 28, is probably the youngest member of the Lok Sabha. But she’s had a head start as the daughter of PA Sangma, the presiding deity of Meghalaya politics. A leading news portal called Agatha the “hottest thing in Indian politics”, and she says she’s still figuring things out. READ
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‘We must delink MPs and MLAs from the Executive’
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, 46, lost a bitter battle with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Bihar. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) didn’t want to keep a young politician like Rudy unemployed so it put him in the Rajya Sabha. READ
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"We need a very strong military effort on external terror"
Milind Deora, 32, represents the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency that his father was elected from more than once. He is one of the young hopes of the Congress in Mumbai, where business and politics form a potent mix. READ
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“We must make the LoC the final legitimate border between India and Pakistan”
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, 45, was one of the three architects of the Pentium microprocessor. He returned from a happening stint in the Silicon Valley after a meeting with then Congress idealist Rajesh Pilot convinced him that things were changing in India. READ
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“We must also have an urban employee guarantee act”
There are already several firsts to Shahnawaz Hussain, 41. He was India’s youngest cabinet minister when Atal Bihari Vajpayee put him in charge of civil aviation in 2001 (Hussain was 33). He is the only Muslim member of the Lok Sabha from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He is the only BJP Muslim MP to be in two consecutive Lok Sabhas. READ
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‘The state must take over election expenses’
His mother wanted him to be a mullah and his brother thought he should become a draftsman so he could find a cushy business option in the Gulf. But, AP Abdullakutty, 41, ended up as a Lok Sabha member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM). READ
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“All private banks in India must be nationalised”
She was 26 when she was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999. She comes from the Shiv Sena, a rightwing organisation that has had only men at its top positions. She has a school named after her, and is a workaholic. READ
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