It is a scene of a sea-change in the rank and file of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the youth and students’ wings, respectively, of the Indian National Congress. The reason is the implementation of the vision of ‘Internal democratisation of Indian Youth Congress’ of Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Gandhi family and current General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), in charge of Youth Congress and NSUI.

The thought-process underlying this concept of Gandhi is based on the fact that till date, these organisations lacked both proper performance measurement systems and processes for promotions within. Since the Congress had never been a cadre-based organisation, members in the system were often attached more to a single individual than to the ideology of the organisation. Although organisational elections have been enshrined in the IYC constitution since the beginning, the process has never been followed. Appointments were made on the basis of nominations and recommendations rather than elections, and consequently, many a talent is believed to have been lost.

Along with the strengthening internal democracy in the youth and student’s wings of the party, Shri Rahul Gandhi has not lost sight of the long term vision of political empowerment of youth of the country. In the Parliamentary and Assembly elections held recently, a large number of IYC and NSUI members were nominated to contest elections and a majority of them have been successful. This has ensured a two pronged rejuvenation and reformation in the IYC. By sending new talent into the parliament and State Assemblies Shri Rahul Gandhi has ensured that the young generation gets a firsthand exposure in the giant laboratories of Indian Democracy.

Reforms

Rahul Gandhi focussed on the twin systems of open membership and internal elections as the major drivers of this organisational transformation. Previously, to become a primary member, a person had to be known to an existing member in the organisation. Thereon, becoming an active member required one to enrol 25 members himself. In the new system however, there would be only one kind of membership, and one can become a member at any point in time. Gandhi‘s method of open membership ensures that people interested in becoming members are inducted directly into the organisation. The aim is to increase the cadre-base and to empower the youth of the country by helping them enter the political sphere. As a pilot, a month-long membership drive was undertaken in Punjab in August-December 2008. The result saw memberships exceed 350,000, a ten-fold increase vis-à-vis the previous membership drive which yielded approximately 30,000 memberships.

A greater arduous task that has been driven by Rahul Gandhi is the process of conducting elections within the organisation, across the country. This was a step never before undertaken in the organisation, and is seen as a bold and decisive move to bring in transparency across the ranks and to give a fair chance to all members. The membership drive in the states was followed by elections at block, district and state levels in the organisation. In order to make the election process transparent and free of interference, services of the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME), which is headed by former Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, former CEC’s N. Gopalaswami, T.S. Krishnamurty and its General Secretary, K.J. Rao, were taken. All disputes relating to the election process had to be addressed to FAME, whose decision was final and binding.

The election also ensures that all sections of society are adequately represented within a committee. Elections are held for Panchayat, Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) and State (Lok Sabha) levels, although during the pilot project in Punjab, they were conducted as per the traditional format of block, district, and state committees. The voting pattern too, is supposed to have been devised after much thought to fairness. The name of each candidate appears on the ballot paper, and each is allotted a position in the committee, subject to the maximum number of office bearers allowed. A minimum of 20 percentage polling is necessary at the Panchayat and Assembly levels for units to be formed, and 50 percentage polling is necessary at the state level for the formation of the state committee. In the event of this criteria not being fulfilled, no Youth Congress committee would be formed at these levels and there will be no re-polling. Positions that are not filled by election will remain vacant. There is also no scope of nominating anybody to any position.

Representation

At every level, seats have been reserved for women, SC/ST, OBC and minority candidates. The entire process therefore is set up to be free fair, and ensures that adequate representation is given to all sections of society, with no particular segment of society having an unfair advantage. To ensure the participation of people from each segment of society there is a provision of concessional fee for the poor people. The campaign process for the elections also follows a model code of conduct stricter than that of the Election Commission of India. Moreover, candidates are not allowed to use photographs of any individual leader or the party symbol. Candidates can only use their own photograph. All members are issued identity cards which they need to carry with them at the time of voting.

Till date, the membership drives have been conducted in Punjab (yielding 350,000 members), Gujarat (yielding 750,000 members), Daman & Diu (6,274) and Puducherry (yielding 67,848 members), with elections already held there. Membership drives have been completed and data entry is in process for the states of Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand. In Central Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan membership is still ongoing while Haryana, Chandigarh and Bihar are the next states where membership is slated to start. High polling percentage, and more encouragingly, the participation of women in the entire democratic process in these elections have been an encouraging highlight.

The result, according to the party, has been a younger, fresh lot of people from all sections of society, many amongst them, first-timers in politics. It is this segment of society which had been believed to want to play a more meaningful role in politics and nation-building, but was discouraged and disillusioned by the political system and the type of people who were a part of it. Rahul Gandhi’s drive and vision has, according to the party, succeeded in its primary mission of opening the doors of politics to all who are interested, and ushering in organisational democracy, setting a benchmark across all political organisations.

It is the future which will prove the effectiveness of this endeavour of the young Congress leader. But his push at reforms, addressing rallies, conferences and meetings and interaction with young people of varied professions and socio-economic backgrounds across states to spread the awareness of his organisational reforms is an indication of his seriousness to project the transparency of the candidates and the organisation to the masses, and to regain its touch with the grassroots, an endeavour to inject vital life into the party and its youth organisation.