Why Youth In Politics Is Important

 Two-thirds of Bangladesh consists of youth but their representation in the parliament is extremely negligible. The influence of aged people in the parliament is known as gerontocracy. Gerontocracy is often a threat to actual development when the majority of the country is youth. Now you might be thinking that experience matters and that gerontocracy and exclusion of youth from policy-making and actual politics is justifiable. So is it actually justifiable? We will know about this, but first, let's see what do we mean by “actual” politics? Lately, dedication is valued based on how many times you went to jail, how many times you were stabbed, how many times you suffered for your party. To encapsulate, the more you suffer, the better politician you are. What does it incentivize in the long run? It dictates you to preclude oneself from learning governing policies but to include oneself in unnecessary brainless physical activities, which is never in the favor of the common man. Politics is not always about how much irrelevant struggle you take part in, but more about how much you make yourself capable to serve in the best possible way. When you are precluded from learning governing skills, understand you are not a part of “actual politics”, rather you are part of someone’s weapon where you are not being properly valued.  

Now the question is, why do the opinions of the youth matter? In this generation, youth has faced new forms of political, environmental, educational, social and different other problems which the old people have hardly suffered. Since they have not suffered, it’s plausible that the probability of being concerned about such issues will be very trivial and inconsiderable. No one knows the solution more than the sufferers. The most discussed issue is climate change and the involvement of digitalization in most sectors. Do you think one who has no pragmatic experience can represent these issues of the respective field in the decision-making process?

Politics is often considered a synonym to forgery due to its inefficiency and the tendency of exploitation of the involved personalities. This is the reason why the majority of the youth tends to preclude themselves from being a part of this. This negative attitude is a huge threat to future politicians. Politics is all about practice and practical knowledge is the foremost requirement. One can never be a good politician just by reading books; practical knowledge must exist to make oneself a noteworthy representative of people. It takes time, effort and practice to be a good politician and a good politician is a pillar of a successful nation. The country will cease to exist if politics is used as a synonym to forgery as mentioned above. The experienced ones must put effort to negate such deplorable identification. They must inspire the youth to join politics that speaks for the people and which believes to serve rather than getting served.  

In case of selecting a party either to vote or participate, it should be noted, while taking our birth, we couldn’t choose our family, but now we can choose a family which will represent and ensure the rights of everyone. Present context should be prioritized over history and tradition.

The rise in gerontocracy will always result in inefficiency, but a balance regarding skills, race, religion, sex, and age will indeed maintain veracity and will be able to speak and read the mind of the working class and the large mass. At the same time, it has to be ensured that youth must involve themselves in the politics to change but not the politics to exploit or get exploited.