We need leaders of youth, not young leaders: Anurag Thakur at Foresight

Bhubaneswar: Brain-storming discussions over issues concerning the nation and the State marked ‘Foresight-2015’, the fifth annual conclave of popular Odia news channel OTV, held at Mayfair Convention Centre here today.

The topic of the first session was “Power for all: Realizing the goal of 24x7 power supply”. Union Power minister Piyus Goel, who could not attend the programme due to his pre-occupations in Delhi, had sent a video-clipping of his address which was played at the venue.

Focusing on his government's commitment to provide 24 hours power supply, Goyal said in his message that the Centre has set a target to double coal production by 2019, thereby doubling power generation. A whopping Rs 3 lakh crore will be invested in raising infrastructure for transmission and distribution of power to ensure 24x7 supply, he added.

Addressing the second session on the topic "Do political parties really welcome young blood?”, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha national president Anurag Thakur raised a question whether we need young leaders or leaders of youth. He said being young is not a pre-requisite to the serve people.

However, inviting the youths to join politics, he said, "More youth participation in politics is the need of the hour when we have got an inspirational leader like Modi, who is a real leader of the youth."

In her speech, NCP MP Supriya Sule focused more on the girls to join politics. She cited examples from Maharashtra to prove her point.

Former Union minister and Congress leader Sachin Pilot said one who can win the hearts of the people is a true leader. "Getting a place in the hearts and minds of the people through hard and dedicated work is true leadership," he added.

Pilot tickled the funny bone of the audience over unpredictability of the Indian electorate in comparison to their counterparts in other countries.

Replying a question from the audience, Thakur said talent and ability, not reservation, should be the criteria for choosing new leaders.

The third session with the hot topic “Who can be held responsible for chit fund and mining scam?” was dominated by speeches of three different political parties – OPCC president Prasad Harichandan, BJP Legislature Party chief Basant Panda and BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb.

Panda held the State government squarely responsible for the big scams while Harichandan saw a “nexus” between BJD and BJP. Mocking at the clean image of Naveen Patnaik government, the Congress leader described the chit fund scam as a "clean fraud".

He said while taking no action after CBI quizzing Patnaik’s confidant Saroj Sahoo has led people to believe that the buck stops at the chief minister's door, Amit Shah’s remarks has shown that the buck actually stops at BJP’s door.

Defending his party’s government, Deb blamed loopholes in the law for such scams taking roots. “It is the job of the Centre to amend the laws to prevent the scams. Congress and BJP have taken turns to rule at the Centre while we are a regional party maintaining equidistance from both,” he sought to clarify.

The last session on the topic “TV vs Cinema – Small screen posing serious challenge to the big screen?” was addressed by prominent film personalities like noted director Sushant Mani and actors Akash Das, Gungun and Elina.

“Viewing TV has too many interruptions at home, so watching movies in halls are preferable,” Mani said. “Viewing TV is like reading newspapers while watching films is like reading books,” he added. However, film and TV are supplementary and complementary to each other, Mani summed up.

Elina, who is going to play the female lead role in Tarang Cine Production's first venture ‘Ishq Tu Hi Tu’, saw no friction between TV and cinema. "What is important is acting and entertainment, whether the screen is big or small. So there is no competition between movies and TV serials," she pointed out.

Assigning equal importance to both the media, Akash said both cinema and TV are mirrors of the society. “TV offers you more options, but it can't give the effects of the big screen,” he added.

Gungun, however, spoke in favour of the small screen saying the reach of TV is incomparable which has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. And that is precisely why stars of the big screen are descending on the small screen to raise their popularity manifolds.