NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, whose student wing All India Students Association (AISA) was at the forefront in the Cockroach Janta Party led protests at Jantar Mantar, has demanded that the voting age should be lowered to 16 from 18 years to empower the younger lot among Gen Z.This comes in the backdrop of the students protests that succeeded in getting Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign. For the Left parties like CPI(ML)L, the victory of their student outfits in raising the issues affecting Gen Z, has emboldened them and provided an opportunity to connect with the students to take up their concerns related to education, employment and accountability.Attacking the govt over its use of force against protesters, CPI(ML) L general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “In the protests at Jantar Mantar the world saw an awakening where Gen Z came out to talk about the things that affect them and sought accountability. I feel they are ready and therefore I feel voting age must be lowered,” Bhattacharya said.The voting age in India was brought down from 21 to 18 years through ‘The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988. While in most countries the age of voting is 18, in some countries like Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, East Timor, Greece, and Indonesia 16 or 17 year olds can vote.Bhattacharya in a statement released by the party on Tuesday said that if the RSS really wants to listen to India’s Gen Z, they should lower the voting age to 16. In today’s digital era of information revolution, 16-year-olds are informed enough to make their political choices,” he said.“RSS is reportedly quite desperate to reach out to Gen Z. Mohan Bhagwat is all set to address 2,000 students aged 15 to 19 brought from 100 cities on August 6 at Mumbai’s Nita Mukesh Ambani Centre! The numbers are impressive, but what will be the outreach about?,” Bhattacharya asked.“Modi (PM Narendra Modi) has already talked about ‘culture shock’, invoking patriarchal prejudices against India’s ‘misled daughters’. The orchestrated backlash, both online and offline, is forcing 15-year-olds to offer apology videos,” he alleged.With this attack on the ruling dispensation, CPI(ML)L has set the pitch for its outreach to Gen Z. “In the protests at Jantar Mantar the world saw an awakening where Gen Z came out to talk about the things that affect them and sought accountability. I feel they are ready and therefore I feel voting age must be lowered,” Bhattacharya said.
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He said that since he raised the demand on Tuesday, he has received positive responses from the youth. Bhattacharya plans to not only discuss this with AISA members but also take it up with Left parties – CPI(M) and CPI(ML) and also INDIA bloc members.Meanwhile, all set to keep up the momentum generated by the protests, the Left parties CPM, CPI(ML)L and CPI are working on stepping up coordination for the outreach among various sections at the grassroots including students. “The Left needs to coordinate with more focus as a group on issues and align with movements led by students, workers, women and farmers across states. To enable this we are working on a plan and a series of meetings have been held to discuss how we can improve coordination,” Bhattacharya said.
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