Why youth not given responsible positions in political parties?

It was a rare sight. The youth with several questions boggling their mind about the political parties and their stand on various issues, got an opportunity to interact with parliament election candidates or their representatives from different political parties of Dakshina Kannada constituency, on Sunday.

The panel discussion was organised at Insignia - 2014, a one-day workshop for youth organised by CREST, a wing of Centre for Integrated Learning, in association with Rotary Club, Mangalore and www.youthania.com, at Rotary Bal Bhavan. Representatives from the BJP, Congress, AAP and JD(S) who participated in the programme, faced a spree questions and criticisms from students.

A majority of the youth asked why the youth were not given responsible positions in the political parties and why the parties have not fixed age bar for contesting elections. A few other students said that it was not right to allow political parties to enter into campus in the form of student organisations like NSUI and ABVP.

“Why do the political parties divide youth on the basis of caste and community and create communal problem?” asked a participant, while another participant wondered if the candidates had any stand towards the incidents of moral policing.

When Mahesh, a social work student criticised the BJP for involving students in its political affairs, which are communal in nature, MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik representing the BJP, said that no student was forcefully made to join the party or its students wing. “There is freedom of expression and youth have joined our party voluntarily,” he said.

He said that party will give importance to providing employment to youth and change the pattern of education, in its election manifesto. AAP candidate from DK Constituency, M R Vasudeva, more or less took a dig at the national parties for failing to reach the people and meet their aspirations. “The system of fielding a candidate who has contested the elections several times in the past, has to be stopped,” he said.

KPCC Secretary Ivan D’Souza said that the Congress has been giving opportunity to youth, by placing them in key-positions. 

Former politician and educationist M G Hegde challenged all the candidates from the constituency to take an oath of banning the communal organisations if they are elected as the MP. He also asked why the political parties which use the youth in organising party affairs, keep them away from the manifesto preparation committee.

Mangalore University Political Science HOD Prof P L Dharma mediated the panel discussion.