IYC to intensify protests against the Election Commission and challenge Jantar Mantar’s denotification.
The organisation will reach out to voters deleted from electoral rolls and pursue legal remedies.
Chib says young Congress workers are securing DCC president posts through the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan.
“We are quite sure that the resignation will come soon as things gather pace,” says Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Uday Bhanu Chib, asserting that the organisation will continue its protests until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns.
In an interview with Outlook, Chib discusses the IYC’s plans to mobilise voters whose names have been deleted from electoral rolls, its challenge to the denotification of Jantar Mantar, and how Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and the Congress’s organisational restructuring are energising young workers.
There are protests taking place across Delhi and in other states. How will the IYC leverage these protests?
As Rahul Gandhi says, all protests are one protest. The main issue is that we want accountability from the Election Commission. The first step towards accountability is the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The IYC is protesting at the state and district levels, as well as in Delhi. We are determined to continue these protests until Kumar resigns.
How is the IYC using these protests to strengthen the organisation? Other parties and student organisations seem to be gaining visibility and space on the streets. How is the IYC benefiting?
Our team and office-bearers have organised very good protests on this issue over the past 15 to 20 years in Delhi and across the country. We are receiving a strong response on social media and in the mainstream media. I have met many new people who have encouraged the work we are doing as a team during this series of protests. I think our team across the country is doing well.
Watching Rahul Gandhi actively leading these protests on the streets has multiplied our energy and courage. We are determined to intensify the protests and we are confident that they will soon lead to Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
Do you really expect the Chief Election Commissioner to resign?
There is no doubt about it. We are quite sure that the resignation will come soon as things gather pace.
A lot of young people appear to be joining the protests, but ABVP seems to be winning many college elections. How do you explain that?
ABVP won at Delhi University, while NSUI won in several other universities. It is not fair to describe the Delhi University election as a contest between NSUI and ABVP alone. It was NSUI against ABVP and the entire Delhi administration and government.
Of course, ABVP won, but the system and several other factors were on its side. Even the candidates who fought against ABVP received a substantial number of votes. This shows that there is anger among students against ABVP and the current BJP government.
But the BJP has also won elections in Odisha and Punjab. What about those states?
Some we win and some we lose. I read that NSUI won a college election yesterday in Dehradun, in Uttarakhand. It is not as if ABVP is the only organisation winning. NSUI is also winning elections in places where victory once seemed very unlikely, including some ABVP strongholds. This sends a message that the political wind is changing direction.
The Congress is undertaking the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan. What representation do IYC members have in this process? Have any of them been selected?
In every state, many current or former Youth Congress office-bearers, including state presidents and national office-bearers, have been selected as District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents through the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan. In Himachal Pradesh, we have two presidents. In Madhya Pradesh, we have 23 presidents who are young and came from the Youth Congress.
There are also DCC presidents from the Youth Congress spectrum in Maharashtra. The Youth Congress is getting considerable space in the Sangathan Srijan programme. The examples I have given are of young people from the current committees. They are around 35 or 36 years old.
Rahul Gandhi recently met IYC and NSUI members. Reports suggested that he told them not to work for credit. How do you interpret that?
I was in the meeting from beginning to end. He never said that. He said we should introduce innovative ideas into our protests. For example, the Youth Congress has been using ghost-themed protests to highlight people whose votes have been rejected or whose names have been removed from the electoral rolls, along with other innovative forms of protest.
The message was that the leadership is closely watching the activities of the Youth Congress, NSUI and other Congress workers. It was encouraging to know that the leadership is following our work. Everyone’s enthusiasm and energy increased after the meeting.
I do not remember him saying that we should not care about credit. He appreciated the Youth Congress’s work and said we had been working hard for the past 12 years. He praised the new and innovative methods we have adopted in our protests. He was happy with our work and motivated us. Seeing Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra struggling on the streets also motivates us. Every part of the Congress is energised by their efforts.
How do you feel about Rahul Gandhi giving more space to other student organisations than to the IYC and NSUI?
It is not that he is denying us space. He meets and motivates us. Rahul Gandhi is not only a Youth Congress or NSUI leader, or a leader of the Congress party. He is also the Leader of the Opposition and a leader of the INDIA bloc. He has to give space to every organisation and other parties as well.
The Youth Congress and NSUI are already there when it comes to the Congress. Giving space to other organisations is a good and mature decision. It shows that he is a leader of the INDIA bloc who gives equal space and respect to other parties.
Do people in the organisation feel overlooked when Neha Bora and other young people from outside the IYC receive more attention from the party leadership?
Our work is recognised by the leadership. That is our medal. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K.C. Venugopal and Mallikarjun Kharge know what we are doing and are keeping a close watch on our work. That motivates us to maintain the pace and organise more innovative protests as a youth opposition organisation. It is also welcome when Rahul Gandhi or the Congress gives space to other young leaders. It shows that the Congress respects other parties and can lead the INDIA bloc.
What is the Youth Congress doing specifically to help people whose names have been removed from the electoral rolls?
The Youth Congress is planning to hold chaupals and meet citizens whose names have been deleted from the voter lists. Congress has those lists. We will connect with the affected people, highlight their cases and problems through the media and social media, and take up their fight legally. They will start soon. We are in protest mode at the moment and will continue the protests for several more days. At the same time, we are planning these activities and will begin them shortly.
Shouldn’t both efforts happen alongside each other?
Yes. We will start these activities very soon. The protests will continue until Gyanesh Kumar resigns.
You challenged the denial of permission to protest at Jantar Mantar in court, but the site has now been denotified. What will you do next?
Our course of action is simple: we will fight on the streets. Our legal team has initiated the process. The BJP government may have denotified the site, but this will not be as easy for it as it thinks. We will fight on the streets and reclaim Jantar Mantar.
We will raise the issue. We will disturb the government through conventional and unconventional methods, including flash protests, timed protests and conventional marches, among other things.
Do you think public support for the Youth Congress has increased? When the organisation calls a protest, are ordinary people joining in, or is that still some way off?
I am very happy with the response people are giving us. Yesterday, I was in Connaught Place for personal work, and members of the public recognised us and said we were doing good work. That is a boost for us. I had not experienced this kind of response for a long time. After the AI Summit, I received some public response, though it was not as strong as now.
Does the IYC make its own decisions independently of the Congress?
In 99% of cases, we make our own plans and try to execute them properly. It is only on rare occasions, when the AICC calls on all the frontal organisations and other wings to come together for a particular programme or event, that we follow a common plan.
The march on the October 12 was an AICC programme, and every wing of the Congress contributed. When such programmes are organised, we work under the AICC’s guidance. Otherwise, we are quite independent and plan and execute our activities ourselves.
