Unlike Congress, we do not make empty promises: Anurag Thakur

Interview with President of BJP's youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha

Anurag Thakur, the Bharatiya Janata Party's pre-eminent youth leader, is the president of the party's youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. In an interview with Archis Mohan, Thakur, who became the youngest president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association at the age of 25, underlines the party's plans for the youth, and says that it is time to stop using stadiums for political rallies, religious meetings and Bollywood nights. Edited excerpts:

What will be the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s agenda for harnessing the potential of India's youth?

The Congress presented the nation with a youth leader in the form of Rahul Gandhi in 2004, when he first contested from Amethi. It has been 10 years but the Congress couldn't manage to frame a comprehensive youth policy, let alone provide India's youth any employment opportunities.

In 2014, that is 10-long years after Rahul ji appeared on the political scene, the Congress, just a month before the general elections, announced its youth policy. I am yet to find a copy. I have searched for it on the internet but to no avail. Unlike the Congress, we, in the BJP, don't want to make empty promises. We want to deliver on whatever we promise.

I believe we need to initiate new politics for the youth. The three Es - education, employment, and empowerment should be the foundation of this new politics. It should comprise educating youngsters, opening skill development centres and vocational training centres for them, and at the same time we need to create more jobs and self-employment opportunities for the youth. Our youth should be an integral part of the decision-making process since they are the largest stakeholders in our vision for a developed India.

I personally feel that employment and vocational training should be in sync with each other. Today, there is a mismatch between our education system and the needs of our industry. Our education system fails to impart the skills needed by industry. Millions are jobless, at the same time thousands of jobs remain unfilled. So we need to bridge this gap, and bring more transparency and accountability in the system. If we don't work towards that as politicians, we won't be performing our duty to the nation.

What will be the specific programmes that a BJP-led government will pursue to meet challenges facing the youth?

We will set up skill development and vocational training centres but won't make tall promises like the Congress, which promised to impart skill development to 50 million youth but could manage to benefit a mere 18,000.

We need to study the German and Chinese models of vocational training and skill development. China has more than 500,000 skill development centres. Germany has skill development centres in excess of 100,000 and an experience of over 100 years in this sector. Over there, family-run organisations fund the students working in skill development centres. These students are put on the company rolls after the completing their training. This is how you bridge the gap between education centres and industry. I think if we can replicate this model, then we will be able to ensure that a person gets a job once s/he passes out.

We need to have an independent ministry for new innovations and research & development (R&D). Today's youth is full of new ideas and wants to contribute to the nation's progress. Unfortunately, we don't get enough opportunities.

Look at Israel. It is such a small country with a difficult neighbourhood. Now, the maximum number of start-ups comes from Israel; innovation comes from Israel because they have enough funds for R&D and new ideas. India needs this. We need to provide the youth a platform.

Should there be distinct policies for the youth in rural and urban areas?

I totally agree with you because aspirations of the rural and urban youth are different. In rural areas, there are two segments with different needs, the rural rich and the poor.

We should use technology to bridge the education divide. We need to use the internet to provide good education and teachers from big cities such as Delhi and Mumbai to remote areas. All it needs is a projector in a classroom in rural areas and a broadband link with a big city. Our goal to make India a knowledge-based society would become so much more achievable if we educate our youth. It will increase income and raise the standard of living. This is the way forward.

You have also been a sports administrator. How do you think the country's sports infrastructure can be improved?

Our country spent more than Rs 76,000 crore on the Commonwealth Games. We achieved nothing out of it. Crores of rupees were spent on building and upgrading stadiums such as the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Indira Gandhi stadium and Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium in Delhi. These have not been put to use. These facilities should be used by athletes.

The annual budget of the Centre's youth and sports affairs ministry is Rs 858 crore. That comes to Rs 12 per youth for India's 700 million young people. What we are giving is a pittance.

The time has come to ask the private sector and corporate houses to take over a few of the sports.

We make stadiums worth thousands of crore of rupees. But what is required is a 600-cities plan. All you need is Rs 10 crore for each city to put in place all facilities, from synthetic tracks for athletics to AstroTurf for hockey and a gymnasium for every sport. Have different timings for different age groups and genders, have multi-purpose grounds… But there should be no political rallies, no religious meetings and no Bollywood nights in stadiums. These stadiums and grounds should be just for sports. More stakeholders should be involved and an environment for sports should be created.

What is your view on politicians heading sports bodies?

I was a cricket administrator before I got into politics. I was 25 years old when I became president of the HP Cricket Association way back in 2000. I became an MP later in 2008. We (politicians) are not at these posts just for the sake of it. In many cricket associations, former cricketers such as Brijesh Patel and Shivlal Yadav have taken up the responsibility and also contributed in building new stadiums.

We need more professionalism in sports bodies, but you need more funds too. I think other games (other than cricket) don't get that kind of funds. We should then focus on hiring better coaches and training our coaches.

India is faced with a great challenge. It has a huge youth population. If we don't channelise that, we could miss the bus and we may be in the soup. Our asset is the youth and our challenge is also the youth. Our demographic dividend can become a liability if the youth isn't given the right direction and opportunities.