Focus back on young-old divide
NEWDELHI: Not so long ago, one of the back rows of the Lok Sabha used to be occupied by young and enthusiastic Congress leaders —men like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasada, Sandeep Dikshit and of course, Rahul Gandhi.
It was a new-age Congress that brandished youth power alongside its veterans. Cut to 2020: Scindia, 49, has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with his followers in Madhya Pradesh, Pilot, 42, is feeling sidelined and restive. Deora, 43, stepped down as Mumbai Congress chief, and some other young leaders are missing the political limelight.
In Madhya Pradesh, Scindia was credited with scripting the victory of the Congress in the 2018 state polls, but for two years, he was not made state president. In March, he ended his association with the party. In Rajasthan, Pilot was credited with the party’s assembly poll victory only for his rivals to start lobbying with some central leaders for a new state Congress chief.
On Monday, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot called a meeting of MLAs at his house which Pilot skipped. The Congress also rushed two senior leaders in the desert state.
In the recent Rajya Sabha elections, a young leader—who did a creditable job as a spokesperson and chaired a key cell of the Congress—was overlooked to accommodate a veteran. In April 2019, Priyanka Chaturvedi, 40, quit the party, upset with the Congress leadership for bringing back leaders who once misbehaved with her. Chaturvedi has joined the Shiv Sena.
“In the run-up to the 2014 election, a powerful general secretary—considered close to Rahul Gandhi—earned a reputation of not behaving well with young leaders,” said a party insider who asked not to be named.
But a section of the Congress also pointed out how some young leaders have failed to boost the party’s prospects. “Ashok Tanwar was in charge of Haryana; under him, the Congress failed to win any major elections. Similarly, Milind Deora was the Mumbai Congress president but the party lost all seats in the city,” a party functionary said on condition of anonymity. A senior functionary maintained, “Party has promoted young leaders. Pilot became an MP when he was 26, union minister at 34, PCC president at 35 and deputy CM when he was 40 years old.”
In the past too, the Congress has seen an exodus of prominent young leaders who were sidelined. Mamata Banerjee left the Congress in 1998 due to a tussle with the party’s old guard and went on to become chief minister of West Bengal.
“It’s not just a matter of old vs young problem. It’s inability of leaders on what they want. Jyotiraditya was not the first one, and Sachin is not the last one to have issues with senior leadership. I also think that after UPA-2, the party has not been managed well,” said political analyst Nilanjan Mukherjee.
› It’s not just a matter of old vs young problem. It’s inability of leaders on what they want. Jyotiraditya was not the first one, and Sachin is not the last one to have issues with senior leadership. NILANJAN MUKHERJEE, Political analyst