By Nisser Dias 28th Jan 2010 Rahul Gandhi’s wishful statement
Last week the scion of the Gandhi family Rahul was in Goa, he listened, he spoke and left the state with a controversy behind. Apart from that he made a statement to the students, when questioned about the nature of politics and politicians prevailing here. His words were, “You either play the game or go home. Don’t be a commentator be a player.” Some have termed him to very pragmatic, yes, to him living in the political environment since his birth, could be pragmatic, but can the same be applied to lakhs and lakhs of youth, who genuinely want to see a different India. An India that is developed, An India that is free from poverty, An India that can be proud of its political leaders. Yes, we are proud of Rahul Gandhi and other youth who have been elected to parliament and are trying their best to bring about a change in the system, however though, all these young MPs have political background and most of them had atleast one parent as either a union minister or chief minister in the past. Hence it was easy for them to get elected. And the same is true in Goa also to some extent, We have the Ranes, wherein the son got elected due to the might of his father, Alemaos and Dhavlikars - first the elder brother contests and then after a term gets in the next sibling, Madkaikars, Monserrates have even managed to get their spouses in local politics. Now Churchill Alemao is trying to get his daughter in politics. In such a scenario, where politics has become a sort of legacy which is sought to handed down to family members, do the youth in general have a chance to play the game and that too when elections have become a contest for money and muscle power. We need not go far, Goa is an ideal example, where money is used, misused and abused by politicians to get elected and once victorious they begin the process of recovering the expenses and also hoarding more for the next election. Election Commission of India has stipulated a slab of few lakhs of rupees as elections expenses, but in reality crores of rupees are being exhausted by prospective candidates to clinch a victory. Voters are wooed with materialistic goodies like television sets, motorcycles, watches, liquor or bought over with cash and promises. Only those who have the capacity to spend money in crores, play the game of politics, others simply become losers. Do our youth have the ability to risk such a lot of money, with an aim to change politics is something that Rahul Gandhi has to apply his mind to. Those few youth who do get in politics see it purely as an investment and as time goes by do the same things their predecessors did, loot and plunder. Secondly, is the Congress party headed by Rahul Gandhi’s mother, willing to allot party tickets to the youth, by ignoring the sitting party candidates. The answer is an obvious no, simply because for any political party winnability of the candidate is more important then credibility. Take Goa for example, during the run-up to an election, political parties ticket allotment committees make tall claims of fielding new faces, clean personalities, giving opportunity to youth to contest but when it comes to actual allotment of tickets, the same old politicians are given the party tickets and the youth become sacrificial lambs. Infact tickets are no more allotted credible personalities but sold to the highest bidder and only those who have the money to purchase it bag it and who are they, it is the same old corrupt politicians. Does the Congress party has the courage to deny their old fogies a party ticket, the answer is again no, because, it knows that none of its members are a disciplined lot or loyal to the party and if they are denied the ticket, they will contest the seat either independently or join another party and still contest. Congress party can also be blamed for rewarding its losers, if a veteran has lost assembly elections, the same candidate is allotted the ticket to contest parliamentary elections. And during his tenure as parliamentarian, if assembly elections are announced, the same person contests assembly seat thereby abandoning parliament and causing huge loss to the exchequer. Now coming to youth committees of political parties, ideally their role would be to groom youth for the party, but to our dismay shady characters are enrolled as members, these youth will either have a criminal record or has committed some illegality and need a cover to continue their misdeeds, these are the types, who currently rule these youth committees of political parties. Furthermore, veteran MLAs and ministers use these youth for un-tasteful acts like organizing a morcha or addressing press conferences against other politicians or political parties and by the time they have matured to contest elections, they attain criminal record. What needs to be done is that all political parties cutting across party lines should come to a solemn agreement that any member of the party having criminal record should be denied party ticket, at the same time Election Commission of India should also bar candidates having criminal background from contesting election. Of course this will require an amendment to the law but if there is a consensus amongst all the political parties - national as well as regional, then it should not be difficult or a lengthy task. But what happens when elected representatives during their tenure commit a criminal act, political parties should not try to shield them by saying, ‘innocent until proven guilty’. That should be for the courts to decide. Immediately the political parties should conduct an enquiry and initiate action if need be. This will surely start the cleansing process in our political system and then only clean persons, intellectual minds, youth will start participating in politics. Thus Mr. Rahul Gandhi just saying, “play the game or go home, don’t be a commentator, be a player” is not enough, you are in position to start the cleansing process in your party, please do it. Also appeared in today's GT as 'Dont't be a player Rahulji, be a party cleaner' Send your comments/reactions also to [email protected] or SMS 9422437029) [email protected] for Goa & NRI related info... http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/GOAN-NRI/ For Goan Video Clips http://youtube.com/joeukgoa In Goa, Dial 1 0 8 For Hospital, Police, Fire etc The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. http://in.yahoo.com/
