IIT alumni quit plum jobs for politics

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 13

They had the option of staying in cushy jobs and making a killing. But 50 IIT alumni from across the country decided to quit their profession for a larger vocation. The result: India got its first political party driven by educated young people who promise to make politics accessible to the youth and find lasting solutions to complex local problems.

The Bahujan Azad Party (BAP) will contest at least 100 seats across 11 states in the Lok Sabha elections.

In Punjab, the BAP proposes to fight all 13 parliamentary segments. In Jammu and Kashmir too, the core committee members of the party have appointed a state coordinator, besides establishing contact with Shah Faesal, the young Kashmiri boy who recently quit the IAS to join politics. “We are here to challenge the status quo and lay the foundation of a brand new politics,” says BAP president Naveen Kumar, who studied textile technology at Delhi IIT and is now creating models whereby aspiring young politicians can contest elections without spending huge money.

Naveen has a spirited team of young and some not so young IIT alumni. One of BAP’s core committee members Jagvir Kumar recently wound up his roaring business to contribute to the party’s new vision. 

Asked why they used the term “Bahujan” in their party description, the BAP members said the choice of the word was deliberate. “The idea is to stand with the marginalised by drawing upon India’s immense youth potential,” Kumar added, pointing to BAP’s poll symbol “a slate”.

The symbol speaks volumes about where the BAP leadership is from. The idea of floating a party originated a while ago when 50 IIT alumni, including Naveeen Kumar, Jagvir Kumar and their friends, decided to broaden their mission.

Asked why anyone should vote for them, the BAP members said because “we will devise technological solutions to health and education problems of India. That’s what matters the most and that’s what no one is talking about”.

The BAP also has on board Prof Arun Choudhry, a long-time aide of late Dalit icon Kanshi Ram. The party, which insists it’s no replica of Aam Aadmi Party, is preparing to contest the LS elections in Bihar, UP, JK, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra, MP and Punjab.