Elders must give way to youth: PC
Home minister P. Chidambaram on Monday advised older leaders to step back and give way to younger leaders. He suggested this at the national convention of the elected office-bearers of the Indian Youth Congress.
Mr Chidambaram has been pleading on this line since the AICC plenary held at Burari in Delhi in December 2010.
He recalled that, 35-40 years ago while speaking at the All-India Congress meet in Kolkata, he had felt that the older leadership step back and give way to younger leaders.
“Forty years later, I feel the same way. I want to assure all of you that I firmly believe that older leaders must at some stage step back and give way to younger leaders. The median age in India is 25 that means one half of population of this country is under the age of 25 years,” he said.
“Like Jawaharlal Nehruji, like Indiraji and Rajivji, I am sure he (Rahul) will take the battle to every part of India and eventually the Congress and the Youth Congress will triumph,” Mr Chidambaram said while referring to how Mr Rahul Gandhi is leading the campaign in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Terming UP as a “battleground”, Mr Chidambaram said the task may be uphill but not insurmountable. “The battle will be a formidable battle. The task may appear to be an uphill task but eventually, Congress, Youth Congress and our young Rahulji will triumph.”
While reminding that the road ahead of them is “not paved with marble” and has “ups and downs” he hoped the call going from the convention will resonate throughout the country.
“The challenge before you (youth) is from extreme right,” he said.
Maintaining that the Congress has always stuck to the “middle ground” and that it did not support any extremist ideology whether it was Left or Right, he said people want the Congress to occupy the middle ground.
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