Reserve seats for farmers, artisans in Parliament: Varun

Aligarh: BJP's Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi now pitches for 10% reservation for the common people under 35 years to contest local body or grassroot polls. Speaking at the national lecture series in Mangalayatam University here in the city, he said, "Politics is not about winning or losing. Satta parivartan (regime change) is not our goal, we should aspire for vyavastha parivartan (change in the system).”

He also said that there should be reserved seats for farmers, artisans, activists, etc in Parliament so that these people get proper political representation.

"We have to make naya tantra," Varun said while addressing the crowd. Speaking about development process around world in his 45-minutes speech, Varun mentioned Jordan’s ministry of political development where officials meet the youth and gauge their achievements and aspirations, and recommend these to political parties. He said it is aimed at bringing in reforms.

Giving the example of Singapore’s group representation constituency, he said that a “political system like this ensured that its minorities get representation in that country's Parliament.

Emphasising on the importance of having “people with vision in politics rather than from dynasty”, he cited the example of Argentina, where political aspirants take part in a TV debate and talk about their political beliefs to the people before the polls.

Encouraging volunteerism and participation in politics, he mentioned the case of Morocco, where youths set up a website to bring in reforms and 88% of their suggestions are accepted.

"Latvia did the same by starting such a portal, which means 'My voice' for e-petitions. Today, this country has 14 laws with this kind of participation where one lakh signatures on an issue lead to a petition becoming a law," Varun said.

Appreciating the way Norway conducts elections, he said, "In 14 days the process is over and there are “no rallies of more than 500 people; no advertisements, only door-to-door campaigning, Norway sees the most honest elections,” he said and added, “Unfortunately, here in India, 80% of political leaders start their political journey with a lie – and that is how much they spend on elections.”

He applauded some exceptional cases of volunteerism in India where youth took an interest and brought about changes to the lives of rickshaw-pullers and artisans artisans.

“When I see the youth I see hope for a change – Uttar Pradesh is a political capital of the country. For years, the politics of this place has been on region, religion and caste. We need new politics, which should be issue-based,” he said.

Talking about the riot-hit district of Muzaffarnagar, he said, “Muzaffarnagar used to be at number one position as far as per capita income is concerned, but today it has slipped to ninth position. This has happened after the riots. This is natural – a place struck by violence will not witness progress.”