Following the trend set by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Haryana counterpart Bhupendra Singh Hooda, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, hit campuses in Delhi in the run-up to the upcoming elections. Addressing students of St Stephen’s College on Friday, Kejriwal emphasised on youth participation in a democracy to alter the face of Indian politics. He encouraged the youth to come forward and understand the needs of the country, saying that shrill vote-bank politics only served to appease different communities.
“We want the youth to participate in politics. They are the catalyst in changing the face of Indian politics. We need them to volunteer and take up the responsibility of cleaning up the system,” Kejriwal said, during a talk organised by Delhi University’s college on the issue ‘Role of Youth in Democracy.’
In a bid to establish base and popularity among the youth in the university, just days ahead of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections, Kejriwal also urged students to come forward and volunteer for AAP.
Kejriwal, who all is set to contest the upcoming Assembly election from New Delhi constituency, exhorted students to join politics to ensure a corruption-free society. “You (the youth) cannot afford to hate politics. You need to realise that parties like the Congress and BJP are structured only around vote-bank politics. You have to understand that it’s time to weed out the corrupt,” he said, adding till such time the youth do not come forward, nothing about the country will change.