BANGALORE: Seems like Mani Rathnam's Yuva is getting off the reels. Five
IITians, all in their 20s, have decided to take up mainstream politics.
The youths, based in Jodhpur, will be in the city to campaign for their
national party, " Paritrana'' , which was launched in Jodhpur on Friday.


"Giving up handsome pay packages, comfort of family and support of
friends wasn't that easy,'' says Tanmay Rajpurohit, the national
president of the party and B Tech in aerospace from IIT Bombay followed
by an MS from GeorgiaTech and double masters in arts.

"But my inner voice told me that I should invest my efforts in my
country rather than making my pockets heavier,'' said Ajit Ashwalayan
Shukla, vice president of the party.
"People think we are crazy so much so that our families have also failed
to understand our motto, but we won't give up,'' he added.

The core team of "Paritrana' ' comprises Rajpurohit , Shukla, Amit
Beesen, also the vice president and a B Tech (Mechanical) from IIT
Bombay and a LLB graduate, Chandrashekhar (national treasurer), B Tech
(computer science) from IIT Kanpur, Bharat Sundaram, the PRO of the
party and B Tech from IIT Kanpur and PhD in electronics from Melbourne.

"Paritrana means complete relief from the various causes of distress,
and that is what we want to do for our people,'' added Chandrashekhar.
Low funds have not discouraged them in their efforts of holding
door-to-door campaigns in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and parts
of Maharashtra.

"We strongly feel that the politicians of today are no longer the voice
of the common man but instead they voice their own personal agendas
through which they can fetch maximum votes,'' said Shukla.
"We are not here for the power game. We are here to deal with the
grassroots issues of each and every small village that we come across,''
added Shukla.

The zeal and burning desire of the five youngsters sounds sincere. "I
believe that we are just five ordinary boys from the middle class family
with no godfathers in politics but have dared to come forward and fight
for our rights,'' said Chandrashekhar. "And we will succeed in it,'' he
added.

After the launch of the party at the Suchana Kendra in Jodhpur, the
party members, as a part of their promotional campaign will tour
Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai.