Josh Prakash Majumdar is set to enter the Parliament on June 7, not as an MP but to receive the Best Speaker trophy from the minister of parliamentary affairs in an all-India contest that had been organised by the ministry last September.
Josh , a final year student of international relations in Jadavpur University, was the coordinator and head of the university’s team that topped the east zone qualifiers and took part in Youth Parliament, a national-level inter-university contest involving a mock simulation of Parliamentary proceedings. “Six teams qualified from 36 at the zonal levels. The finals were held in the respective universities of the teams. We had 55 members who got divided into the treasury bench and the opposition bench on stage.” The judges’ panel comprised an MP, an academician and a bureaucrat from the parliamentary affairs department.
A lot of serious work went into the preparation. “We had to write a script, decide on the call attention points, allocate designations for members…. We read up extensively on how to follow rules of procedure and the current topics of the day like farmer suicide, marital rape, foreign policy concerns in the Indian Ocean.”
Josh got chosen as the home minister and defended the fictitious National Institute for Security Mechanism Bill. “It was based on the National Counter-Terrorism Centre bill on a proposed federal anti-terror agency which is stuck in Parliament since 2010.”
The JU team was declared the national champion and Josh the Best Speaker. Josh’s crowning moment in years of debating and competing in mock parliament contests came when Afzal Amanullah, the secretary of the ministry, commented: “Aap ka grihmantri Tharoorji ka yaad dila diya.”
“Half of what I am is because of Mr Shashi Tharoor. I have read all his books and have used his quotes in so many of my speeches,” gushes Josh.
Following Tharoor’s career path, the boy wants to “be in international politics before coming back to India to join active politics”.
Politics is in his genes. His grandfather Jagannath Majumdar was a Congress MLA from Krishnanagar while his father Joyprakash Majumdar is the state BJP vice-president. When he first started debating in high school, Josh had approached him for suggestions. “He taught me how to simplify a problem and present it in a way that the audience will understand,” says Josh.
Josh has been winning other laurels right from his school days. Now a name in the local debating circles, he gets invited to judge more events than he competes in.
Josh says his biggest achievement has been revitalising the university’s debating activities. When he joined from Don Bosco Park Circus, the JU Debate Society was largely inactive. “There were no auditions for sending teams to various contests.
Now we need two rounds of auditions from among the first years, such is the level of enthusiasm. This April, we organised the biggest ever Model United Nations event in the city, held over three days with 700 participants from nine countries. I was the secretary-general and convenor. The debating culture is established in Delhi and Chennai colleges. We wanted to show them that Calcutta too could host an event on such a scale.”
Now it’s time to pack for Delhi. But he is not hoping for a chance meeting with his idol. “I want Mr Tharoor to know me for my accomplishments, not as a fanboy.”
source:telegraph