Actually, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has started something in Youth Congress and NSUI, which if
followed by THE CONGRESS ITSELF and other political parties in the country
would help weed out criminals from politics and give more political power to
people.
Before getting to the point, let me introduce you to ‘Governance Now’ (a fortnightly magazine) and FAME (an organization), and remind you of former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh. The three-year-old magazine ‘Governance Now’ was founded by Adhikari brothers (Gautam and Markand, who own the SAB channel) and Anurag Batra to focus on governance issues and problems in India. Former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh now heads the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME) whose one aim is to promote internal democracy in political parties.
I take yet another digression to remind you of Rahul’s beehive speech at the CII in April last. In that speech Rahul had said that we the masses elect about 5000 MPs and MLAs. And, who could get elected as MPs and MLAs is decided by ONLY 200 TO 300 PEOPLE (the combined strength of ticket distributors in all parties). Then Rahul’s poser was, “…How can we talk about anything if just 200 people are defining those Vidhan Sabhas and Parliament?”
Now, coming to the topic, I refer to an article (link given below) in ‘Governance Now’ (Oct 16-31 2013 issue) that links FAME with Rahul, Youth Congress, and NSUI. After its formation about four-five years ago, FAME had written to all political parties to take its help in bringing internal democracy in them. However, no party sought FAME help. In other words, NO PARTY CARES HOW DEMOCRATIC IT ITSELF IS. However, Rahul sought FAME help in conducting regular elections to Youth Congress and NSUI units in all the states. Before accepting Rahul's request, FAME put the condition that “it would have the last word on all matters". Rahul agreed. And, for the last three years, FAME has been supervising Youth Congress/NSUI elections. In some cases the kin of some top Congress leaders were disqualified for rules violation but Rahul kept his word and did not intervene.
FAME has strict rules regarding selection of candidates for internal party polls. Not only convicted persons but even the persons charged with offences punishable with imprisonment up to five years can’t stand for elections. Violation of campaigning rules can also nullify a person’s nomination.
Before getting to the point, let me introduce you to ‘Governance Now’ (a fortnightly magazine) and FAME (an organization), and remind you of former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh. The three-year-old magazine ‘Governance Now’ was founded by Adhikari brothers (Gautam and Markand, who own the SAB channel) and Anurag Batra to focus on governance issues and problems in India. Former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh now heads the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME) whose one aim is to promote internal democracy in political parties.
I take yet another digression to remind you of Rahul’s beehive speech at the CII in April last. In that speech Rahul had said that we the masses elect about 5000 MPs and MLAs. And, who could get elected as MPs and MLAs is decided by ONLY 200 TO 300 PEOPLE (the combined strength of ticket distributors in all parties). Then Rahul’s poser was, “…How can we talk about anything if just 200 people are defining those Vidhan Sabhas and Parliament?”
Now, coming to the topic, I refer to an article (link given below) in ‘Governance Now’ (Oct 16-31 2013 issue) that links FAME with Rahul, Youth Congress, and NSUI. After its formation about four-five years ago, FAME had written to all political parties to take its help in bringing internal democracy in them. However, no party sought FAME help. In other words, NO PARTY CARES HOW DEMOCRATIC IT ITSELF IS. However, Rahul sought FAME help in conducting regular elections to Youth Congress and NSUI units in all the states. Before accepting Rahul's request, FAME put the condition that “it would have the last word on all matters". Rahul agreed. And, for the last three years, FAME has been supervising Youth Congress/NSUI elections. In some cases the kin of some top Congress leaders were disqualified for rules violation but Rahul kept his word and did not intervene.
FAME has strict rules regarding selection of candidates for internal party polls. Not only convicted persons but even the persons charged with offences punishable with imprisonment up to five years can’t stand for elections. Violation of campaigning rules can also nullify a person’s nomination.
Rahul’s aim is to start selecting party leaders from booth level to district level, state level and national level through a truly internal democratic process with no scope for para-dropping leaders boasting of family connections. To underline the significance of this exercise, the slogan 'Neta bano, neta chuno' has been coined. This way Rahul would make it sure that ONLY 200 TO 300 PEOPLE do not get to decide who could be our MPs or MLAs.
Rahul has given himself ten years to bring complete internal democracy in Congress. When Prof Jagdeep Chhoker, founding member of Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) asked him about the possibility of his failure in this task, then Rahul replied, "I will walk away and somebody else will have to do it."
I wish Rahul success because it would help him shake off the
dynasty baggage and make Congressmen look beyond a Gandhi.
‘Governance Now’ article link: http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/how-rahul-our-insider-system
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