ROOTED IN THE MASSES

From raising farmers’ issues to rural jobs creation and MSP, these sons of the soil are aiming for change in Parliament

- Amarnath K. Menon, Prashant Srivastava and Jumana Shah

THE DEBUTANTS | GRASSROOTS WORKERS

SELVARAJ V., 63

CPI | NAGAPATTINAM (SC), Tamil Nadu

As CPI leader Selvaraj puts it, Nagapatt­ inam comes at the “tail end” for water from the Cauvery river, shorthand for the farmers’ distress over the lack of it for irrigation or even the dearth of state support for fishermen going out to sea. This was the first Lok Sabha election for Selvaraj, who has been a loyal soldier of the country’s oldest Communist party for over four decades now. The party chose to place its faith in their Tiruvarur district secretary since four­time MP from here and his namesake, M. Sel­ varaj, had been ailing for a while (he passed away on May 13). The new MP won by over 200,000 votes and he will be hoping to repay the people’s faith in Parliament.

SHASHANK MANI TRIPATHI, 54

BJP | Deoria, UP

An IIT Delhi graduate and son of the late Lt General and former MP of Deoria, Prakash Mani Tripathi, Shashank started with the non-profit, Jagriti Yatra, in 2008 to promote entrepreneurship in the Purvanchal (eastern UP) region, including Deoria, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj regions. He’s also been an integral part of the central Swavlambi Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) scheme, which again goes back to his core beliefs of encouraging awareness about start-ups, self-sufficiency and jobs crea tion. The Jagriti Enterprise Center Purvanchal has its head office in his ancestral village of Barpar in Deoria. Shashank has also authored three books including India: A Journey Through a Healing Civilization. He defeated the Congress’s Akhilesh Pratap Singh by close to 35,000 votes.