“Your parents won’t ask you to become a politician”

Brut India

Here's why Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha thinks youngsters should consider politics as a profession...

Transcript

00:00Unfortunately, politics over the years have become a bad profession.

00:04That's the perception that comes with the word politics.

00:08Nobody will say become a politician.

00:10As country is becoming younger, the representation is getting older.

00:14We can't always expect 60, 70, 80, 90-year-old politicians

00:21to understand the causes of young India,

00:23to understand what we really mean, what we really need, what are our aspirations.

00:30As the youngest member in the Rajya Sabha,

00:57what do you think is some of the challenges of the youth in India,

01:02from Anita's perspective?

01:03And why is it that I think the youth in India at some points

01:08can feel so disappointed with politicians across party lines?

01:12You see, you feel disappointed and it's not just about young people.

01:15I think we as a country feel disappointed in politicians

01:19simply because there's a huge gap between what is promised and what is delivered.

01:23There is a disillusionment with the political class

01:26and politicians are considered to be people who are unemployable,

01:34unemployed, either the elite or the goons and thugs who have nothing better to do.

01:40And unfortunately, politics over the years have become a bad profession.

01:46That's the perception that comes with the word politics.

01:49I mean, when one is growing up,

01:52your parents and your elders, members in the family, members of the society

01:57will always encourage you to become a doctor, an engineer, a chartered accountant,

02:01an actor, a sports person.

02:03Nobody will say, you will grow up and become a politician.

02:05You know what I mean?

02:05Nobody will say become a politician.

02:07It's because there's a negative connotation to politics and politicians.

02:14Yes, there is a huge gap between the population

02:17and the representation of young people, as you just mentioned.

02:20And I'll give you a very interesting statistic, which I was reading a few weeks ago.

02:26In the first Lok Sabha, when independent India went to polls for the first time in the year 1951,

02:34the first Lok Sabha had about 26% of the people, elected people, who were below the age of 40.

02:43So the first Lok Sabha in the year 1951,

02:46when independent India went to polls for the first time,

02:49we had 26 members of parliament directly elected by the people in the Lok Sabha,

02:55who were below the age of 40, 26%.

02:59In the last Lok Sabha, which just ended, which is the 17th Lok Sabha,

03:03you had only 12% of the people below the age of 40.

03:07So as country is progressing, as country is becoming younger,

03:12the representation is getting older, which is a very unfortunate case.

03:16And I think people, all of us put together have to come forward and,

03:21you know, be the change that we wish to see.

03:24And we can't always expect 60, 70, 80, 90-year-old politicians

03:30to understand the causes of young India, to understand what we really mean,

03:34what we really need, what are our aspirations.

03:36And therefore, if you really want your aspirations to find a voice

03:41and find the full force of law, you have to come into politics.

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