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Journalism of Courage
A recent chick-flick called Definitely,Maybe featuring recent grad Ryan Reynolds being drafted into Bill Clintons first presidential campaign nailed something essential the adrenaline,the commitment,the grunt work,the ambition,and the occasional disillusionments of political wonkery. Its standard practice in the US,where there are established avenues for young people to work with and consult political parties. In the EU too,students can directly contribute through research organisations bankrolled by political parties. And now,going by the handful of IIM students pitching into the Congress,BJP and CPM machine,it looks like Indias headed that way too. In recent years,young professionals have been involved in various informal ways some work on the online face of the campaign,some craft policy and others chip in with constituency spadework.
This kind of shift obviously refurbishes and updates the partys image. Given that the usual career path within parties is long and arduous,this kind of infusion of new ideas can energise the parties intellectual culture. It not only offers bright young people a way into the system otherwise stacked against fresh entrants,it also gives parties more policy heft,and backs up their political stands. It is hard not to mention Barack Obama in this context,whose stupendous success was greatly driven by young people. He captured the imagination of the so-called millennials,and indeed,relied on many of them to run a phenomenally efficient campaign,to organise,to write many of his speeches,to get across to this crucial demographic.
