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Yogendra Yadav - the only consistent face of mainstream political opposition to NRC?
The CAA/NRC agitation has largely been a leaderless people’s movement. Apart from a few isolated political leaders, many mainstream politicians have been keeping a safe distance from the youth protesting against NRC, with a notable exception.
The movement’s faces have been the many faces of women at Shaheen Bagh and the other occupy movements; the vocal voices on stage have been Kanhaiya Kumar, Chandrasekhar Azad, and Umer Khalid; and stars like Swara Bhasker, Deepika Padukone and Farhan Akthar, while the Khans were notably absent.
There is angst amongst the protestors that there has been only lip service from leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati and the parties they represent.
The notable exception is Yogendra Yadav, who has somehow managed to gain the acceptance of the movement and has been tagging along making speeches and working closely with the youth.
Yogendra Yadav was allegedly manhandled outside the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus where a clash broke out between members of the students' union and the ABVP. Yogendra Yadav has consistently and visibly been present at these rallies to makes statements like - “Modi can only see the white cap and 'hijab' and not the tricolour in the hands of lakhs of people. "Kaagaz main kuch bhi nahi likhvayenge".
These exactly are the words that the youth want to hear.
Has the opposition failed the youth hand the country? Were they too much embroiled in electoral number crunching when their youth wings should have joined the ranks? Or are they right in their thinking that their involvement could make the agitation look political and take away the authenticity of the movement? If it is the former it is a shame, if it is the latter time will tell how that panned out.
In the meantime Yogendra Yadav is filling the void of a leader who can guide and mentor the angry youth while sharing the space with them. Will Yogendra Yadav be able to leverage this in the long term to expand his coalition among the protesters into electoral gains in the future?
