Agenda for RAHUL

Vol. 6- Issue 6 - Sept 2012

COVER STORY

strategy shubhabrata bhattacharya

 

Agenda for RAHUL

It would be a good idea if he focuses on ways to create employment

 

If political pundits are to be believed, come September the wait for Rahul Gandhi will be over. They say that he is likely to take the plunge by accepting higher responsibilities in the Congress organisation and perhaps enter the Union Council of Ministers. So will he, or won’t he? And if he does, what should his agenda be?

 

So far, as AICC General-Secretary Rahul Gandhi has looked after youth organisations. According to Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Rajiv Satav, organisational elections have been completed in IYC. This is a singular achievement .In living memory, with the exception of the communist parties, no political organisation in India has managed to hold nationwide internal elections. With IYC elections, the fiefdoms of many established political families have been challenged. Those who passed the litmus test of the ballot survived; those who could not, have been sidelined. The elections of IYC were held under the supervision of legendary former Election Commission expert K J Rao, who ensured a stringent yardstick.

 

Thus, if Rahul Gandhi opts to take on new responsibilities, he would be doing so after having delivered. He would have the backing of a team of young enthusiasts who have come to occupy positions through elections. His efforts in the IYC are reminiscent of the rejuvenated Youth Congress which emerged after the late Sanjay Gandhi organised the first meeting of Block presidents of the Youth Congress on August 10, 1976, in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. The Emergency and the subsequent defeat of the Congress in 1977 is remembered by everybody. What is not remembered is that in the days out of power post-1977, it was the rejuvenated Youth Congress which played a major role in the events leading to the return of the Congress to power in 1980. .....READMORE