Revolution in the air, IITians in the fore

Gone are the days when IITs and IIMs produced just world-class techies and business brains. Now they are churning out political leaders with a vision for India, reports Sunita Aron.

Gone are the days when IITs and IIMs produced just world-class techies and business brains. Now they are churning out political leaders with a vision for India.

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First, there was Paritrana, a party floated by IITians. Now comes VICALP — launched in Noida in December 2006 — that promotes Value-based, Integrative, Catalytic, Alternative Leverage, Positive Options. It hopes to give the voter the power to recall or reject a poll candidate. And its members plan to take the plunge with the Uttar Pradesh election.

The group has done its homework. When the public ire over the Nithari killings engulfed Noida, members distributed pamphlets offering VICALP to the people. Aptly, the pamphlets read: “Chali chali phir chali chali, chali kranti ki hava chali.” IITian Ashok Agarwal says: “The response was stupendous... They welcomed the move but felt it was Herculean.”

But VICALP plans to go ahead with its two-pronged plan: One, it will soon move a PIL in Supreme Court demanding the option of ‘none of the above’ in polls. This has already been recommended by the Election Commission. Second, it wants candidates to submit an affidavit in which they concede their right to recall if they fail to deliver in a year’s time.

“We propose to back Independent candidates who will concede their right to recall if they fail to deliver a time-bound, need-based developmental programme evolved by consensus,” says Agarwal.