Do we need more, younger politicians?

I was listening to the usual rhetoric of a certain right wing extremist/ fundamentalist chief minister from a certain state in south India. It made me wonder if we needed more, younger politicians. Most of the political leaders we have are above 70. There are only a handful of young political leaders emerging. Then I thought about the various “elderly” politicians and realized that not all of them a maniacs. There are sensible ones and there are the insane ones. There are religious extremist, people who bring out regionalism, people who play cast politics. On the other hand there are many who are quite modern in their thinking, pro development, against fundamentalism.

Young or old, people are the same. Even among the youth there are extremist, fundamentalist. Good and bad are not just restricted to the old politicians. The same traits that are seen in the old politicians are seen in the young politicians, across the political spectrum. There are many examples of various young politicians create havoc against the so called “modern” life style of people. India is a unique country. Left, Right and Center, you have it all here.

So does the age of a politician really matter? I feel that age is a psychological thing, after all the whole world runs on sentiment. Perception matters a lot. If some one can instill confidence, it can make a world of difference. So when one sees a old guy who is about to collapse, heading a government, naturally confidence level of the people won’t be high. It can also affect how others view the government. On the other hand, if a young person with a lot of energy is heading the government, there will be a lot of positive energy surrounding him and it can rub off to others. Even if both the old and young do the same thing, a fresh face can make a lot of difference.

I believe that even if young politicians come, there will be extremist and religious fanatics among them. The only way such evils can be eliminated is though education and a change in mind set of the people. Even if a lot of young politicians come up, as there is illiteracy, poverty and various other issues, many of them would be tempted to exploit their sentiments for obtaining power.

In my book, young or old, it really doesn’t matter. It’s the person that matters. If a person can radiate energy, be sincere to his job and do the right thing, age wouldn’t really be a problem. Well to answer the question, “do we need more, younger politicians?” well of course we do, but youth doest necessarily mean, abracadabra and every thing is perfect.