When they are young again

Political parties should keep in mind the average age of the electorate

Rajnath Singh should have known better. Old politicians do not retire or quietly fade away. They continue to spar for centrestage until pushed out. When the BJP president obliquely hinted that it was time for the former vice president,Bhairon Singh Shekhawat,to hang up his boots at 85,Shekhawat fumed: Rajnath was not even born when I entered public life. Shekhawat points out proudly that at 85 he is the seniormost in the party,ahead of A.B. Vajpayee,84 and L.K. Advani,81.

In India generally,and for those in politics particularly,age is a badge of honour. We defer to experience; the time spent in politics,not the talent,is what counts. The elixir of power and the aspiration for office keep our politicians mentally agile at an age when those with fixed retirements have long wilted. In Manmohan Singhs cabinet,all the key portfolios have been reserved for the elderly. Home Minister P. Chidambaram,at 63,is the baby on the team. Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh,at 78,regularly falls asleep at conferences and cannot walk without support. But Singh would not accept any suggestion to gracefully step down. The prime minister is a well-preserved 76,but his soft,quavering voice when speaking on important issues like terrorism does not carry the force of,say,a Kennedy or an Obama. Singhs predecessors were equally elderly. Morarji Desai demitted office at 83,Charan Singh at 78,both Jawaharlal Nehru and Narasimha Rao at almost 75.

Older cabinet ministers are usually extremely possessive of their turf and refuse to share power with junior ministers. I recall the late Sikander Bakht,as a minister in Vajpayees cabinet,pouring cold water on his minister of states attempts to improve the ministrys working. These youngsters think they can learn the ropes overnight, was his dismissive response. Politics can be an extremely frustrating place for a young person in a hurry. The norm is to wait for ones turn,as if in a queue. And nobody believes in stepping down voluntarily. For instance,last week,the Congress leaked the news that the old warhorse,J.B. Patnaik,82,would relinquish his post as PCC president in Orissa. But despite his inglorious innings,Patnaik was not willing to go gently. Why should I step down? he countered belligerently.

In politics,the change of guard works best in family-controlled parties as two recent examples demonstrate. In Kashmir,Farooq Abdullah conceded the chief ministers job to his son Omar. Although Omar was his own flesh and blood,even Abdullah had a problem accepting that the old order must yield to the new. Till the night before,he was busy affirming on television that he would be CM. In Punjab,81-year-old CM Parkash Singh Badal has accepted his own mortality by inducting his son Sukhbir Badal as deputy CM.

The BJP once had an advantage over the Congress in presenting a youthful face. The JP movement,followed by the struggle against Indira Gandhis Emergency,threw up many youth leaders. Some,such as Nitish Kumar,Sharad Yadav,Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan,have since gone on to head their respective parties. In the BJP,youth leaders who emerged during the period Arun Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj,Pramod Mahajan,Narendra Modi,Ananth Kumar,Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh were far more prominent than their peers of a comparable age in the Congress. But they eventually have to reckon with a glass ceiling. The BJPs Gen Next is now in its fifties and not so youthful. If in the CPM younger faces like Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri emerged from the shadow of the late Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu,it was only because of the law of nature. Surjeet retired at 89 and Basu at 87.

Until five years ago,the Congress made little effort to induct fresh blood into the party. If today the Congress has an advantage over the BJP in presenting a youthful face,it is because many scions of political dynasties were fielded to replace the parents Sachin Pilot,Milind Deora,Jyotiraditya Scindia,Priya Dutt and Jitin Prasada. Of course,the most prominent is Rahul Gandhi,who,at 38,presents a perfect foil to the aging PM. The BJP needs to be smart enough to emulate this example by bringing youth to the fore along with the elderly as the image to present to an electorate,two-thirds of which is under the age of 35.

coomi.kapoorexpressindia.com