Indian Youth Congress

The Indian Youth Congress is the youth wing of the Indian National Congress party. As of 2006, the Indian Youth Congress has over 245,00,000 members across India, the largest democratic youth organisation in the world.

The Indian Youth Congress was a department of the Indian National Congress from the period just after the Partition of India in 1947 until the late 1960s. While prime minister, Indira Gandhi gave the Youth Congress a new dimension by establishing it as a frontal organisation of the Congress Party, with the objective of doing social work and arguing against right-wing parties. Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi was the first elected governor of the Indian Youth Congress; he later became Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary affairs in the Indian cabinet. Narayan Dutt Tiwari was the first President.

During the 1970s, under the leadership of Sanjay Gandhi, the Youth Congress undertook activities such as tree plantation, family planning, and fought against domestic violence and dowry deaths. After the death of Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi took over in charge of the Youth Congress. After he became prime minister in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi reduced the voting age to 18. Rahul Gandhi was appointed a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee on 24 September 2007 and was given charge of the Indian Youth Congress along with the National Students Union of India.

The Indian Youth Congress has its headquarters in New Delhi, and is presently headed by Rajiv Satav. There are 29 office bearers at the national level, followed by the state, district and block level. The Indian Youth Congress has a unit in all 18900 blocks of the country.