Ramaiah: Exponential rise in efforts to twist history

By Nischit N | NT

Bengaluru: After Basanagouda Badarli’s ter m ended as Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (KPYCC) President in March 2020, the post was vacant for nearly 10 months. It was in January 2021, that the Youth Congress elections were held with Raksha Ramaiah and Mohammed Haris Nalapad the top contenders. Ramaiah bagged the second highest number of votes, but was still was made president. He is the son of former Congress minister M.R. Seetharam.

Ramaiah junior has been making waves from the day he was made Youth Congress chief. His efforts to help people at the peak of the pandemic with medicines, ration kits and other essentials, did not go unnoticed. The Youth Congress Chief spoke to News Trail on his priorities and achievements.

How has been your experience as state Youth Congress chief?

It has been a great learning experience for sure. I have been extensively travelling throughout the state meeting youngsters, listening to their problems and working with grassroot Youth Congress workers to strengthen the organisation right up to the booth level. To sum up, I think it has given me a clear idea of what the aspirations and expectations of youth from various parts of the state are.

There are thousands of youngsters in the Congress. Why is it that Raksha Ramaiah stands out?

Raksha Ramaiah is not someone special to stand out. I am also one among the lakhs of youth in political parties and I made a conscious decision to start my career from the grassroots. If there is anything that stands out, it should be the vision of Sri Rahul Gandhi ji for the youth of this country. It is this vision that separates us from other parties. I am just a Congress worker trying to implement that vision.

Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra recently stated that hacker mastermind Sri Krishna alias Sriki was possibly used to rig the (Youth Congress) election. Your comment.

It is a diversionary tactic used by the BJP to protect their own leaders from the hacking scandal. The Congress stands united against such tactics. It will never divide us.

The Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (KPYCC) recently lodged a police complaint against Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut. Why?

Since 2014, there has been an exponential rise in efforts to distort our history, undermine our Constitution and freedom struggle. We have heard statements from BJP leaders and supporters about changing the Constitution and calling freedom fighters terrorists. This has been the RSS agenda all along.

I chose to go on the offensive on such issues and make sure that we send out a strong message that such shenanigans will not be tolerated. The police complaint against Kangana Ranaut was just a step in that direction.

How necessary are community development and education?

I think community development and education are closely intertwined with each other. Education as a liberating force is a vision that has been passed on to us in our family. My grandfather, the late Sri M.S. Ramaiah saw education as a great liberating force for the downtrodden. I feel education is the crux for the overall development of a nation.

We have heard that you are demitting office in December. Are you satisfied?

It is a decision which has to be made by senior leaders. I began my political career as a foot soldier of the Congress Party. Whatever might be the decision of the party, I will always serve my party as a dedicated foot soldier.

What were the plans you executed during your tenure as Youth Congress president?

We did execute some crucial and much needed plans. It was a long-pending request of our workers to have our own Legal cell as BJP leaders have often used fake cases to intimidate Youth Congress workers.

I am proud that we were able to create a KPYCC Legal Cell. We also have a fully functional research department and training department to empower our workers at the grassroots and our district level leadership. An empowered Karyakarta can build an empowered Congress Party. A great amount of progress has been made in creating a record number of booth committees in the last 6 months, the results of which we were able to see during the by-elections in Maski and Hangal in spite of the BJP being in power. There are definitely more long-term plans which you will see implemented in due time.