Youngsters welcome starry faces in politics

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To project a pan-Indian face of Trinamul Congress, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to launch an all-India membership drive. With her young, net-savvy nephew, Abhishek Banerjee as in-charge of the youth wing, the party has decided to rope in Farhan Akhtar, Leander Paes and Sam Pitroda as advisors.
While the idea of an all-India youth wing sounds good, will the starry faces have an impact on youngsters interested in politics?

College student Varsha Krishnan is of the view that starry faces will have much more influence on youngsters than politicians. “Specially when they have roped in people like Farhan Akhtar, Leander Paes and Sam Pitroda, who have always been good in their work. We look up to such people,” says Varsha. She thinks that youngsters these days are not simply star-struck. “Most of us believe in or admire people who are doing good work, we aren’t in awe of them just because they are celebrities. If a political party ropes in people who are good at their work, they’ll always benefit,” she adds.
But there are some who are doubtful. Web designer Puja Bhosale says that rolling in non-political people would not have a big impact on youngsters at large. “For a sound impact they should have a young leader as the face of the party. They would not be able to create the same effect that Rahul Gandhi has done,” she says and adds that a non-political person would not know much about politics and thus would not be able to offer a better understanding to youngsters who are keen and curious about the party.
However, many youngsters think that even if a political party chooses a non-political person as the face of their party, it would have good results. The widespread reach of different media — newspapers, news channels and social networking sites — has increased the awareness about the happenings in every sphere, including politics. “One doesn’t think that if Farhan is an actor, he’d not know about what’s going on in politics. With better media, every alert person is aware about everything — be it politics, sports or films,” says Ashutosh Kumar, a first year student of Maharaja Agrasen College. He thinks that these days celebs pay more attention to news because they have to field questions about anything and everything.
And even if someone doesn’t know about something, the constant news reports, tweets or Facebook updates make him aware. Seconds Abhishek Sinha, a management professional, “Barring a few, most actors who have taken up politics are doing a good job. The devotion matters the most.” Abhishek thinks that starry faces will also break the monotony of politics. “Not many youngsters enjoy reading or getting involved in politics because they think it is boring and is a job of an elderly. Bringing in young icons will draw more attention of youngsters to politics,” he concludes.