He can be termed as one of the prominent opening batsman among the generation next in the country’s politics and at 38, and is seeking a third term in the Lok Sabha. Having entered Parliament from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, in a by-election after the death of his father Madhav Rao Scindia, Jyotiraditya Scindia has now emerged as a Congress leader in his own right. Snatching time between election meetings, he shares his views on this election with K.V. PRASAD

The youth has a tremendous role in shaping the destiny of the nation

What lessons has the Congress learnt from the November Assembly election reverses and how do you see the Lok Sabha polls?

Without doubt our performance in the Assembly elections was dismal but it was less about the Bharatiya Janata Party doing better and more about us unable to tell the people about the failure of the BJP government in the State and our priorities.

Was internal fighting and factionalism a major cause?

It is always easy to catch a low-hanging fruit. I am not saying there is no infighting but that is not the only reason; there are many other reasons. The verdict has to be accepted. We have to regroup and re-strategise. In the Lok Sabha election, we are expecting much better results. As for numbers I am not predicting how many we will get.

The Bahujan Samaj Party played a spoiler for the Congress in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election in many places. What about this election?

The BSP managed to get a sizeable chunk of votes in the Assembly election. In many constituencies, the party fielded candidates who were not picked by the Congress. The BSP is not a factor in the Lok Sabha and unlike the Assembly, it has one candidate to work in eight Assembly segments.

So where do you see the BSP vote going?

The Scheduled Caste vote is coming back to the Congress in a big way. They have realised the Congress and the Centre have evolved and implemented policies for the benefit of the disadvantaged sections of society.

You had an early start, but how do you see the role of youth in politics?

The youth has a tremendous role in shaping the destiny. If you look at the history of the world — Babar, Alexander, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton or Rajiv Gandhi — change has been shaped by the youth. I feel India is witnessing a twin change, democratic and demographic. Today, some 70 per cent of the 700 million or so voters are under the age of 35. We have a huge opportunity to channelise this to build our economy.

Any thoughts on the controversial remarks by Varun Gandhi?

It is very sad when a young educated person tries to fracture the real strength of our [pluralistic] society. It is the gravest source of unhappiness when modern and educated persons talk like that.