The fates of nations are determined by what their people, especially the youth, think; Unemployment is a major threat to national stability

 

Political watchers must have read Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's tweet this Friday – he is a worshipper of 'Jinnah', we are the priests of 'Sardar Patel'. They love Pakistan, we lay down our lives on Mother Bharti. Whether you ignore it or support it, you will. Or call it a statement that incites communalism, which it is also. If you look at the political side of it, you will see a much deeper point.

The turmoil that has generally taken place in the Hindi belt of the country since 2004 was the first indication of how an India full of aspirations is emerging. For instance, the change that happened in Bihar in 2005 can be taken, when Nitish Kumar defeated Lalu Yadav's party after 15 years despite his solid caste vote bank. The people of Bihar, especially the youth, spoke openly. Rival political messages revealed what the issue of the contest is.

Lalu stressed in the election campaign that the fight for social justice has begun, and the time has come to "oil your sticks". On the other hand, Nitish was saying that justice is not going to be done by oiling the sticks, it will come only from reading and writing, from employment, and by acquiring the ability to speak and write English. Political pundits were ridiculing Nitish by saying that a fool would describe the pen as more powerful than a stick in a caste-ridden, backward Bihar.

But Nitish's victory became famous and since then he has been in power. A wave of change had risen in the Hindi strip. In 2009, when the UPA came back to power with a larger majority than in 2004, we welcomed with confidence the emergence of an India full of aspirations. We had said that now the politics of dissent will be replaced by the politics of aspirations. What else could a young India have asked god for?

With this, the economic growth over the years had been impressive and India was willing to take advantage of its demographic character. The mandate given to Narendra Modi in 2014 was an expression of this sentiment. India's youth was still riding on a wave of expectations, dissatisfied with UPA-2 and relied on Modi's promises of economic growth, employment, prosperity. It had not just voted against Pakistan or for a new republic in which Muslims would be considered 'aliens' and "allowed to survive only if they stay within their limits".

Then it passed year after year and we went back to the same dissatisfied past. The youth of Bihar and UP where we saw aspirations emerge today are desperate, burning government properties, including railways, like we had not seen in the recent past; In the midst of the election campaign, the police are beating them up by entering the hostel of Allahabad University. Why don't young people get angry? It will take some time to understand this issue with a strange name like 'RRB-NTPC'.

It means 'Railway Recruitment Board- Non-Technical Popular Categories'. "Now put a little bit of math on how popular it is. In these categories, there are seven lakh vacancies in the Railways. For these posts, those who have done general studies can also apply. For each post, 354 candidates had applied, i.e. one will be recruited for one post and 353 will be rejected. Who wouldn't get angry in such a situation? And, this is not a matter of all India services. It is a matter of jobs in clerks and below.

Yes, they are 'non-technical' and are also 'popular'. Similarly, there have been widespread protests in UP over 'UPTET' (Uttar Pradesh Teachers' Entrance Test). The situation is no better there either. Why so many posts of teachers in state schools were kept vacant till the elections came in is a different story. The complaints of the agitators also tell a story. One complaint is that the examiners or the selecting 'system' gave priority to candidates pursuing higher education.

Young people glued to mobile

The fates of nations and civilizations are not determined by who wins one or two elections. They are determined by what his people, especially his youth, think. Do they keep on pinning their hopes for the future, or do they keep lamenting the past? Pass through the poor hamlets of the country's towns, villages, metropolitan cities, you will see young people gathering at tea-cigarette-paan shops or cutting out while sitting on bike-dukka motorcycles on the side of the road. There is nothing to do for them. Most will be seen glued to mobile and will be able to consume data.