Stand up for your rights

Kaizad Bhamgara’s group Rise UP educates youngsters on why they need to vote

When the bombs went off in the Mumbai trains in 2007, Kaizad Bhamgarawas ‘too young to really do anything’. But post 26/11/08, he rounded up a core committee consisting of students from engineering, medical and law colleges, enlisted the support of schools, junior colleges and young working professionals and ‘Rise Up’ took shape.

Starting with email forwards and social networking sites, four months in, unlike many terrorreaction initiatives of the time, Rise Up not only maintains its momentum, their ranks swell every day. They now have cells in some colleges. They go to educational institutions to teach first aid, disaster management, CPR, educate them about the RTI and the Nagaraj Bill and of course, their right and duty to vote.

Simultaneously, Rise Up has joined hands with Shobha De against moral policing with the Seeti Bajao/Sita Sena campaign.

Most recently, Rise Up has been trying to organise meetings between candidates and their potential constituencies in an attempt to counter apathy and create a platform for debate between parties, basic accountability to the voters and a discussion of issues.

They have achieved limited success. “A majority of politicians seem to be afraid to step up to the mike and be asked uncomfortable questions,” admits Bhamgara.

“There can be no accountability expected when the people we elect have criminal records and fraud cases registered against them. It is our duty to elect the right candidates for better governance.

Apathetic communities have grown due to decades of abuse and neglect.” Rise Up is planning to counter this, and partnering with the ‘group of groups’, is introducing citizen candidates to the masses. “The general masses are made aware of the common people who have decided to join the election fray this time and hopefully garner support for them.

The people have found these sessions to be highly informative. For once a level of accountability has been offered. Whatremains to be seen is how many of these citizens will be able to beat the major political parties.” Bhamgara himself is contemplating joining politics once he turns 25. For him, his priorities would be supporting implementation of the Nagaraj Bill and police reforms as Rise Up is doing today. His to-do list includes ‘security, emphasis on employment opportunities, healthcare’ but it is the offering of ‘transparent account to members of the common public, complete accountability, a quarterly progress report highlighting work’ that sparkles with idealism – that though cynical of, one is still tempted to believe in.

This group of idealistic youngsters continues to work tirelessly, honestly and with great commitment. Bhamgara reels off a list of core members and others, “Our website was made for free by senior members, others have contributed to spreading the word, working odd hours, with tight deadlines… this is the reason behind our phenomenal growth as an organisation.” In the aftermath of 26/11, shocked and numbed, everyone asked each other, ‘but what can we do?’ Bhamgara signs off with an answer to that question, “We realise that the word ‘change’ is currently the most overused and abused word around. We offer a way for everyone to work with us, whichever way they feel comfortable. Visit our site, www.riseupindia.in., to start with.”