Kerala Congress(M) chairman and Finance Minister K.M. Mani on Tuesday called for a new Constituent Assembly to infuse more federal elements into the Constitution.
Addressing the golden jubilee convention of the party’s youth feeder organisation, Kerala Youth Front (M), here, he said that while the present Constitution of the country was considered one of the best, its federal character should be enhanced so that the regional aspirations of the nation could be better represented.
Reminding the youth that the Kerala Congress was among the oldest political parties which brought out the importance of regional politics in Indian milieu, Mr. Mani said the national parties, while they were essential, would never be able to extend full justice to regional aspirations.
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He said one of the most disturbing moments in his political career was when he found that in the last Parliament elections more than 2.5 lakh people had voted for NOTA, denoting that they were not in favour of any one of the candidates in the fray.
“Neither were they in favour of any of the candidates, nor were they ready to contest the elections to express their views,” he said and added that this apolitical stance was very dangerous in a democracy. Mr. Mani called upon the youth to work towards social change and not aim for power politics. An apolitical stance would deny the youth to work towards the change.
He said today’s young generation had a lot of opportunities to turn themselves from job seekers to job givers as the government had given shape to a policy of encouraging entrepreneurship.
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Mr. Mani also called for a joint effort by the State and Central governments together with the Rubber Board to hike the price of natural rubber to a remunerative level.
P.J. Joseph, working chairman, and P.C. George, vice chairman, of the party; Jose K. Mani, MP, and others spoke. KYF(M) president Mohammed Iqbal chaired the session.