Front to Back ; Rahul Gandhi May Have Rejuvenated the Youth Wings but the Rest of the Frontal Organisations of the Congress Still Lack Direction and Languish in Irrelevance.

Summary

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It was a routine Congress Foundation Day celebration at the party headquarters last year when suddenly Sonia Gandhi beckoned Mahendra Joshi, the Seva Dal chief. She pointed to a couple of workers and said, "They are merely moving their lips, they do not know the words of Vande Mataram." Taken aback, Joshi promised to do the needful during the next Seva Dal training camp.

However, it is not just the words of the national song. A core group of the party's frontal organisation Seva Dal seems to be forgetting the very raison d' etre of its existence. Along with the Mahila Congress, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), it is supposed to be a feeder channel to the main party.

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Front to Back ; Rahul Gandhi May Have Rejuvenated the Youth Wings but the Rest of the Frontal Organisations of the Congress Still Lack Direction and Languish in Irrelevance.

Over time, however, these outfits have deteriorated to mere camp offices. It has taken Rahul Gandhi two years to rejuvenate the youth wings. When the Gandhi scion took over as party general secretary in September 2007, the Youth Congress was a bunch of brash, aimless, not-soyoung men. The very same livewire energy that spearheaded so many agitations unde...

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