The young and the restless

The number of young persons in politics has shown a heartening increase but much more needs to be done, say our young ministers

The number of young persons in politics has shown a heartening increase but much more needs to be done, say our young ministers

The last 10 years in Indian politics has changed the demography of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha).
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Inu00a0 the year 1999, young people like Omar Abdullah, Shahnawaz Hussain and Jyotiraditya Scindia emerged asu00a0 the young face in Parliament.

In the year 2009, the number has soared with more than 40 MPs and at leastu00a0 five ministers in the Union government.

Lok Sabha 1999: Omar Abdullah, Shahnawaz Hussain and Jyotiraditya Scindia were the few youth inu00a0 Parliament.

Hussain (now 42), an MP from BJP, was the youngest member in Indian parliamentary history to become cabinet minister at theu00a0 age of 31 in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government in 1999.

Young Gun: Shahnawaz Hussain, an MP from BJP, was the youngest member in Indian parliamentary history to become cabinet minister at theu00a0 age of 31 in 1999

Talking to MiD DAY, Shahnawaz said, "In 1999, very few youth were in Parliament, I am very happy with the current number of youth in the Loku00a0Sabha, it is good for the nation's morale.
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More youngsters should come into politics. I also feel that they should be given the front berth in the Parliament."

He added, "I don't agree with the ideology of the Congress, but I accept that Rahul Gandhi has really done some good work,u00a0 as a result many younger persons are inu00a0 Parliament."

However, his observations came with a caveat. He said most youth who are in Parliament got a ticket with the political background of their guardians, "This isu00a0 not good for politics.
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I am from a family where my father was a schoolteacher, people should be given an opportunity on the basis ofu00a0 merit," he added strongly.

Lok Sabha 2009: Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jatin Prasad, Shruti Chaudhary, Anurag Thakur, Deeependra Hooda, Varun Gandhi, Supriya Sule, Milind Deora, Dushyant Singh and many more.

Young Ministers: Agatha Sangma (28), Sachin Pilot (32), Jatin Prasad (35) and Jyotiraditya Scindia (38).

First time MP and the granddaughter of former Haryana CM Bansilal, Shruti Chaudhary (34), said, "The older lot has its own place as we learn manyu00a0 things from them, but I feel that the youth must enter politics.
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I feel very powerful and charged after looking at their numbers in Parliament.

Politics is not all about casting votes, if you are a young person and you feel something is going wrong, play your part and make itu00a0 better," added Shruti.

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