Rahul’s ‘new Youth Cong’: Same old same old

President and vice-president of the Jammu & Kashmir Youth Congress,Shoaib Lone and R S Pathania,hailing from Srinagar and Jammu,respectively,are not on speaking terms. The Youth Congress was invisible all through the period of unrest in the Valley.

Youth Congress leaders kept away from campaigning in Bihar Assembly elections. Except a dozen state Youth Congress leaders who were given tickets by the party,others melted away soon after the ticket distribution process was over,not to be seen during the entire election campaign.

After former RSS sarsanghachalak K S Sudarshan made a vituperative attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi,making scandalous remarks about her,the party rank and file was up in arms denouncing Sudarshan. They staged protests and demonstrations all over the country. Strangely,IYC remained a mute spectator. Not to speak of street protests,there was not even a condemnatory statement from the IYC,causing shock and dismay in the parent party.

Ravneet Singh Bittu,grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh,made his debut in politics with Youth Congress election in 2008 and was elected president. A few months later he was given party ticket in Lok Sabha polls from Anandpur Sahib,a constituency nursed assiduously for several years by senior leader Ambika Soni. While Captain Amarinder Singh galvanised the Congress and made extensive tours in the state,Bittu and his YC colleagues were becoming a familiar face in the corridors of power in New Delhi. With his term slated to end in December 2010,Bittu has now launched a padayatra.

In this backdrop,the Indian Youth Congress leadership was learnt to be preparing “Performance Management” criteria to “reward” those who have done good work. While attendance at meetings and training programmes is likely to be one of the criteria,IYC leaders have so far not been able to work out how to evaluate their performance on the field. Except padayatras in a few states,Rahul’s team of elected youth leaders has not shown any keenness to hit the streets,even as they remain claimants for Congress tickets in elections.

“Youth Congress people did not do anything in my constituency,” concedes Congress Working Committee member Ashok Ram grudgingly. He had unsuccessfully contested from Kusheshwarsthan Assembly seat in Bihar. Many Youth Congress leaders were ready to work for whoever candidate from whichever party needed them and could afford them,confided other Congress candidates.

AICC secretary in-charge of Youth Congress Jitendra Singh,however,claims that the YC is doing a lot of work at grassroots level without making any noise about it. “I have got very positive reports about our work. Padayatras have been launched to connect with the people. People (YC leaders) stay away from home to spend 45 to 50 days out in the open for padayatra. It’s not easy. I am very satisfied with their work,” he says. Asked about infighting,he says it is not unusual “when you are dealing with people aged between 21 and 35”. “But that has not stopped them from doing what they have to do,” says Singh.

Rahul had set out to end the role of dynasty,patronage and money in politics,but the same factors have hijacked his Youth Congress elections. In Chhattisgarh,for instance,former CM Ajit Jogi’s son Amit Jogi was coerced into opting out of Youth Congress elections. When the newly elected office-bearers of Chhattisgarh Youth Congress called on Rahul,they were learnt to have attributed their victory to Amit and hailed his leadership quality.

In other states as well,those elected as Youth Congress presidents have either belonged to influential political families or enjoyed the patronage of big leaders or have financial clout. Look at the profile of leaders who have emerged: Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav’s son Chiranjeev Rao in Haryana,G K Vasan loyalist Yuvaraj in Tamil Nadu,education baron and Shankersinh Vaghela loyalist Indravijay Singh in Gujarat. As for the end of ‘nomination culture’ in the Congress,Rahul himself nominated Rajiv Satav,son of a former Maharashtra minister,as IYC president even though he had already crossed the maximum age limit.

Rahul was apparently aiming at bringing in a new generation in the Congress,restructuring the IYC to create posts of Assembly and Lok Sabha YC presidents who were to be rewarded with party tickets in elections. Given the state of affairs in the IYC though,there may not be any immediate threat to the old guards in the 125-year-old party for now.