50% youth quota proposal fuels ‘age vs experience’ debate at chintan shivir

The in-camera discussion by members of Congress Chintan Shivir on organizational reforms on the draft proposal is understood to have featured an animated rant about ‘performance against age’, ‘youth energy against efficient experience’ and ‘zeal against staying power’. Debate has broken out. For 50% quota for the age group below 50 in all party panels.

The proposal means that many senior Congress leaders will have to vacate some organizational space. This is even as the original demand for revival of the Congress Parliamentary Board of Congress change seekers has now been passed through the Committee for Final Approval for the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

In the in-camera debate – which was continuing when it went to press – attempts are being made to find a consensus on the CWC’s final resolution, failing which the issue may be left to the Congress President or the Congress President. CWC will finalize Udaipur manifesto on Sunday.

People aware of the debate said there was broad consensus about the need to encourage youth content with leadership slots, with delegates clearly divided on the way to go about it, and against “leadership competency”. Youth quota” was intended to be pursued.

Some representatives argued that instead of 50% quota for youth, limit the in-house quota to 50% by covering all eligible categories—youth, SC-ST, OBC and minorities.

According to sources, several members—particularly representatives of ‘Team Rahul’, who is seen as the brain behind the concept of ‘Make-Youth-Replace-Elders’- insisted that the youth be increasingly Should be brought into organizational leadership roles and that seniors who are too old may still be around but in “advisory panels”.

However, many others have said that age does not matter in politics, but whether one is “active”, “performing”, “politically skilled” and brings “the benefits of experience”. He also referred to some of the recent failed “youth experiments” on the organizational and electoral fronts, and how the Youth Congress “used it to prevent internal elections: the use of money force only in place of “nomination through consensus”. The pro-young side’s proposal for an “advisory panel for the elderly”, these leaders reminded them that when PM Modi created the “Margshan Mandal”, it was ridiculed by the AICC saying that the Congress She respects both her elders and young people.

Originally published at Pen 18