Elections 2009 are around the corner, setting the buzz as to who would be the next Prime Minister of India. L k Advani is the prime ministerial candidate for the BJP lead NDA, while Dr. Manmohan Singh is all set to be projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Congress lead UPA. It won’t be fair to conclude that these elections will be Advani V/S Manmohan, as Indian elections are not about personalities but diverse issues spearheaded by a plethora of political parties. And in the age of coalition politics, the 3rd name that has emerged as the possible contender for thePrime Minister’s post is Mayawati, the undisputed leader of the Bhahujan Samaj Party and the front runner to be the prime ministerial candidate of the BSP-Left lead third front. In this blog I won’t be elaborating on how much chance does each candidate fancy of occupying the most important political portfolio, but want to throw light at the age profile of the primeministerial candidates.
Dr.Manmohan Singh is going to be 77 in 2009. No doubt he has been an honest leader, argubly the most qualified leader in the world to lead a nation. In 2004, when this humble ex-finance minister of India, went on to become the accidental prime minister, he was 72. This was around the same time when the India rising wave had started making noise across the world. And during his tenure, India made its presence felt across the globe like never before. The biggest nations of the world went on to appreciate that India would surely emerge as the ‘Super power’ of the 21st century along wit China. This would also mark the end of US dominance and European pseudo super power.The main reason attributed for India to attain this new global status was because of its ‘youth’ power.
LK Advani is 5 years older to Dr Singh. He will be completing 82 this year. If Lk Advani does become the Prime Minister this year, he will go on to become the oldest politician to be elected as a leader of a country and the 2nd oldest leader in the world. If one looks at the list of oldest leaders of the world, there are only ‘two’ legitimate elected leaders- 1)Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal , who is going to be 83 this year ( he was elected in 2000 at the age of 74 and re-elected at the age of 81 in 2007)and 2)Dr Singh who is 77. Mayawati is probably the only young face among the three candidates aiming for the top post. She could become the Prime Minister at the age of 53. But she can’t be considered a candidate yet because she has no official support yet from any party. So that leaves us with two official candidates running for the top government post of the country.
Ironically, as mentioned earlier, India’s youth power is considered as its USP to become a super power. The 20th century super power USA’s population age is ‘65’. By 2030 1 out of every 5 Americans would be 65 and above. And yet they elected Barak Obama who is 47.Much younger than the current population age projected. He went on to defeat John Mcain who is 72. If we look at the other major global leaders, they all are much younger than their Indian counterparts. E.g. Gordon Brownof Britain is 57, Nicolas Sarkozy of France is 54, Angela Merkel of Germany is 54 etc. In India 54% of the population is below ‘35’ and yet the average age of the top two leaders is ‘80’!!!!
The last time India had a Prime Minister below the age of 60 was in 1989, when VP Singh became the prime minister at the age of 59 for less than a year. Rajiv Gandhi can be considered as the only young Prime Minister this nation got.He won a landslide victory (Post Indira Gandhi assassination) in 1984 and became the prime minister at the age of 40. At a time when majority of the countries are electing young and dynamic leaders to tackle the contemporary global issues, the probable super power of this century might go on to elect the oldest prime minister ever!!!
The average age of an Indian MP is 53. 14% of the MPs are above the age of 65, while only 6.5% are below the age of 35. A country with 54% of the population below the age of 35 has only 34 MPs of the same age group in the parliament. The root of the problem lies here, of not having young politicians contesting elections. Its easier said then done because not a single party encourages young people to contest election unless he/she comes with a political lineage.So forget getting a prime minister below the age of 35, getting more MPs and more people young people contesting election is the most fundamental way to inject some youth in Indian politics. Lack of dynamic leaders is another problem that parties are not able to project young leaders who can match the average age of an Indian MP (53). In BJP there is already major infighting between the second generation leaders. After Advani ,Narendra Modi who is touching 59 is considered the favorite to lead the party in the next elections. But here again without venturing in the personality issue, he too by the time become a prime ministerial candidate would be in his mid 60’s.
Pragmatic thinking and given the dimensions of Indian politics there are only two scenarios in which India can get a young prime minister in the near future. One if Mayawati with help of small minded parties comes to power. She at the age of 53 will be considered a young prime minister. But this whole Old V/s young issue is not merely restricted to the age factor. A‘Young leader ‘is asscociated with newer ideas and a fresh outlook, which I am afraid Mayawati lacks completely. She hasn’t displayed an iota of new age ideologies, but instead new age electoral politics which focuses on social engineering.
The second possible senario,for India to get a young prime minister in the immediate future is Rahul Gandhi . For the up coming elections, a faction of the Congress (sycophants) were demanding that he be named the prime ministerial candidate. But Sonia Gandhi’s faith in Manmohan Singh to lead for one more term along with giving Rahul Gandhi more time to gear up for the major role, delayed this declaration. Without deviating from the main point, the irony remains that the only way India can get a young leader with some amount of faith and credibility in the next few years is through ‘dynastic’ politics. People won’t have a major problem in accepting him as a prime minister since he is educated and comes across more sincere, but the problem is that this reiterates the fact that only power, money, political lineage and years of sycophancy can lead one to rise the ladder. This leaves not much scope for a free, liberal and fresh young thinking politican to rise to the top post in this country without any political lineage or divisive political ideology.
Janagran and Tata have initiated an awarness campaign asking younger people to sign up for voting. It’s a valiant effort and appreciative one also. It’s a good start to involve youth in todays political system. India does not need just one ‘Obama’ type personality to resurrect the political inclination in today’s generation. For that to happen Indian polity requires new faces and fresh ideoligies clubbed with new ideas that they can relate to. It needs leaders who can connect with this set of audience and raise new issues, not the ones we have been hearing for the past 6 decades. And if the steps are not taken soon, the average age of an Indian MP will remain the same for years to come. And we would still be choosing leaders for the top post with an average age of 80.!!!While Janagran would have launched a new campiagn called ‘jawan pradhan mantri chahiye’ abhiyan, there would still be many of us without voter id cards....
Published on - http://www.behindindia.com/india-news-stories/article/election-2009.html
