"Irrespective of whose son or grandson you may be, you can be rejected by the electorate"

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: Manpreet Badal, Randeep Surjewala and Conrad Sangma, three young ministers from three different states — Punjab, Haryana and Meghalaya, respectively — and parties, have one thing in common. They have all had a political mentor in the family, but have come into their own. Manpreet Badal, 46, is the finance minister of Punjab, nephew of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and first cousin of Sukhbir Badal, president of the Akali Dal. The first-time minister and four-time MLA is a history graduate and holds a degree in law. Randeep Surjewala, Haryana’s 41-year-old minister for power, is the son of Shamsher Singh Surjewala. In 2000, Randeep became the chief of the Youth Congress, a post he held for five years. An advocate in his own right, he defeated Om Prakash Chautala in the previous elections. Conrad, 30, is the son of former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, one of the brightest leaders from the North-East. Conrad is both power and finance minister of Meghalaya. He is a first-time NCP MLA who holds an MBA degree and has studied law. The three young leaders joined us for an Idea Exchange session moderated by Resident Editor, Chandigarh, Vipin Pubby

Vipin Pubby: Could you begin by telling us a little about yourselves and what it is like to be young ministers in a political scenario dominated by elderly politicians.

Manpreet Badal: Whatever else I may be, at heart I am actually just a student of history with a passion for Urdu poetry and Iqbal. After law degree from England, I decided to come back and join politics. I have been an MLA since 1995 but this is the first time I have become a minister.

Conrad Sangma: After studying in USA and England I came back and started to do business mainly in the BPO and call centre sectors. I joined active politics nine years ago when I was 21 years old. I have already fought in two elections. After the Meghalaya state elections this year we managed to form the government with other regional parties and I became a minister. I handle five portfolios — finance, power, tourism, information technology and General Administration Department (GAD). I am very passionate about creating employment for the youth in my area. We have a lot of talent in music, fashion with an English-speaking population — we can tap all of that. I am also very passionate about cricket. As for the younger generation having difficulties adjusting to senior politicians, I think we are quite lucky — young people have considerable opportunity in our assembly. Out of about 50 MLAs, 10 are below the age of 40. In the Cabinet, five out of 12 ministers are below the age of 40. I am the youngest at 30. More than the mindset of the senior leaders, however, what we have to fight is the system that does not allow our thinking to come to the fore.

Shekhar Gupta: The bureaucracy is more of a problem?

Conrad: The bureaucracy follows a system which has been there for 30 years. We need to instruct them to change the system. We are not ministers, we are CEOs in-charge of each department and play the role of connecting with the grassroots and not just the top bureaucrat. These are the kinds of ideas the young ministers are supporting in our government.

Randeep: I am 41 years old. I was an attorney at 20 and a half. I did my masters in Political Science after I became a legislator for the first time. I have practiced law for 11 years. I have fought four assembly elections so far, the first was a by election in 1993 against Om Prakash Chautala. I lost that one but went on to win the next one from him and the three after that too. In 2000, I was made the president of the Indian Youth Congress and served in that post for five years. I have been a minister now for just over three years.

Suman K Jha: It is said that a group of just 500 families control the entire polity and politics of this country. The problem of dynasties pervades parties, states, and regions. Does it concern you?

Randeep: Politics may help you if you are a Badal or have another name behind you — you may get an initial break. But irrespective of whose son, nephew or grandson you may be, you can be rejected by the electorate. There are areas where your father’s name or experience may help but you are as fallible as anyone else.

Manpreet: We have to prove ourselves every five years. The Badal name works like Bata in Punjab, everybody knows that, but you are tested at a higher scale because people expect a better performance from you. It is almost like a feudal duty.

Conrad: The question is most pertinent to my family. I have my elder brother who is an MLA and is the parliamentary secretary handling Home and PWD. My younger sister is an MP and the youngest member of Parliament. And there’s me. But just because we have the brand name does not mean that we do not have the right to be in politics. Our future in politics will be determined by our performance and the people will decide whether we should continue or not. I lost the first elections I fought as I had no connection with the grassroots. I thought the brand name of Sangma would pull me through. So I do not believe in this dynastic issue.

Sudhanshu Khurana: Why don’t we see many more young politicians who are not from political families?

Randeep: I don’t think that is entirely correct. The media focuses on politicians who are somebody’s sons, daughters or nephews. There are at least 20 members of Parliament who are nobody’s sons or daughters in politics. There are young politicians who are leaders in their own right but but our focus is too much on a Manpreet Badal, a Conrad Sangma, a Jyotiraditya Scindia or on a Sachin Pilot. We refuse to look beyond perhaps because they are not media savvy. But they are all wedded to the grassroots and are rooted to the ground.

Shravan Sen: Conrad Sangma, when you talk about youth and merit how do you reconcile it with the fact that there is reservation in Meghalaya that gives preference to tribals?

Conrad: Personally, I feel that in a state like Meghalaya there should be no reservation policy because the majority of the state is tribal and you end up giving reservation to them, when reservation was meant for a minority. But this is a political stand. From a general perspective I think it is unfair. That’s why I want the private sector to play a bigger role. I want to create jobs through the call centres and the BPOs. I personally have over 700 people working for me in Shillong — a sizeable number for the state. The government has acquired about 100 acres of land where we are going to put an IT estate. We have extended the airport which is about 10 minutes away from this estate. We are developing a complete investment policy where we are giving up to 30% capital subsidy to anybody who invests in IT and other areas.

Coomi Kapoor: Mr Sangma, is there not a conflict of interest between your being IT minister and running a BPO ?

Conrad: When the portfolios were distributed, the IT portfolio was offered to me. I requested the CM to give it to someone else and the CM did that. But after a month the minister in charge of IT got really confused and asked for a switch. Since we see IT as the key sector for our growth, I took on the responsibility. I hope that I don’t allow the conflict of interest to come in the way and I am opening up the industry as much as possible to people outside the region, also.

Dheeraj Nayyar: You all hold charge of economic ministries and there is a view that the next generation of economic reforms has to come from the states. How seriously do you take your roles in terms of economic reforms? Also what is your view on agriculture being exempt from taxation and being given huge subsidies when farmers in Haryana and Punjab are quite rich and do not need those subsidies?

Randeep: In Haryana, the land holding size of nearly 62% of the farmers is below four acres, and about 10 acres is the minimum economically sustainable module for farming. Below that with every acre the yield as also the economic costs of productivity goes up. So our farmers have suffered. I am against taxation on agriculture. As far as economic reforms are concerned and capital investments in the social sectors in Haryana, we have increased spending. For instance, when I took over drinking water and sanitation, my budget was Rs 100 crores. Now it is Rs 632 crores. As for infrastructure, if figures mean anything, between 1966-2005 we built only 17 railway over bridges. We are building 41 in last three years — Rs 500 crores was the building and roads budget when we took over — now it is Rs 1,500 crores.

Manpreet: As far as subsidies are concerned, I have actually staked my political future on free power. But somehow you have to balance these subsidies. In a state like Punjab we are giving direct subsidies from the budget to the tune of about Rs 4,500 crores. Punjab faces a peculiar problem where the farmer has probably the highest debt per farming household. Something like Rs 2 lakh per household. In the last 30-40 years food security for Indian was paramount — on the lines of national security. And Punjab changed its entire agricultural economy to help out. We never used to have this scale of grain production before. People used to grow vegetables, oil seeds, etc. In the last 10 years, Punjab has faced a huge food problem. Did you know that out of the 2.2 lakh tonnes of wheat that was procured, Punjab alone contributed 1.5 lakh tones? So taxing the farmer would not be in the national interest especially in our states.

Zeenat Nazir: Mr Badal, over the last few years we have seen a number of Deras springing up in Punjab and we have seen a lot of unrest with regard to these Deras recently. What is the reason for this casteism?

Manpreet: You don’t see Deras in other parts of Punjab and we feel that this is some kind of conspiracy to say that some kind of minority bashing is going on here. Sikhs must be protected from this kind of support to the Deras that the government of India is inclined to give.

Randeep: We have seen similar sects arise in other parts of the country. They arise, according to me, on account of spiritual, religious dissatisfaction amongst a class of people. When we mix politics and religion there are sections which always feel disaffected because they are not a part of mainstream politics. So while all such types of divisive Deras need to be curbed, condemned, we must also ensure that the role of the government is apolitical, maintain law and order, ensure neutrality and curb whoever is creating trouble.

Suman K Jha: People say the Deras in Punjab are an assertion of lower castes in the fold of Sikhism. But Sikhism denies anything based on the caste. So caste is not an important factor either in politics or religion.

Randeep: The largest Dalit party in India today is a result of this suppressive system prevalent in Punjab. Kanshi Ram was a Ramgariya Sikh and this Dera Saccha Sauda consists largely of Dalit Sikhs who are probably not allowed the same kind of access to the mainstream in Punjab.

Manpreet: I don’t agree. This Dera following cuts across every community. I am not denying that there may be Dalit Sikhs in it, but you know Dalit Sikhs have never been denied access to gurudwars or opportunities. The topmost leaders from our party are from the Dalit section, thanks to reservation. So it is not that Punjab has denied Dalit Sikhs a role in Punjab politics or society. This is all a media hype.

Shravan Sen: Mr Sangma, the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) has given a green signal to uranium mining in Khasi. The UDP said it was against uranium mining, what is your stand?

Conrad: Meghalaya has the country’s largest deposits of uranium, almost 18%. So without the participation of Meghalaya this entire nuclear policy of India’s would face a lot of hurdles. However, we are facing a lot of opposition from local people to the mining. One of our deputy chief ministers from that region is against it. I would allow the mining to take place. Investment with UCIL will be huge, almost to the tune of Rs 3,000 crores and they will invest in infrastructure. But as we run a coalition government we are bound by certain compulsions. We are working on it.

Transcribed by Debesh Banerjee