Vaibhav Agarwal, State Convener in Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) UP

To further his goals of becoming a social entrepreneur he joined the battleground that is politics. He enlightened us on his role…”Unlike the ex-IITians who floated a separate political party, he wanted to join one of the mainstream political parties so that he can “revamp the existing system from within”. Vaibhav has been appointed as State Convener in Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) UP.

Currently he is working with ‘Friends of BJP’ http://friendsofbjp.org/ as a UP Coordinator on a part time basis and also understanding the complex ground realities in the political arena. He believes that corruption and mis-governance erupts in the system because newcomers join politics to make it their source of income. So his first aim is to become an entrepreneur to earn his livelihood and in the long run join full time politics. But he intends to engage in socio-political activism from the start to prepare himself as a grown leader.

He also has a Political Lineage and also a family history in the political arena… His grandfather was an MLA from Bareilly and Minister of State in the UP Government in late 1970’s. However the family history was to no avail as he had to revive the old network from scratch, as his father preferred to earn his living through business. Reviving the old contacts and networking was not an easy task but he was a man inspired, Vaibhav says “My inspiration has been the Lead India campaign and RK Mishra is my role model”. He has taken up the responsibility of National Coordinator in the “Change India” campaign which is a platform for educated civil society to come together to bring about a Change.

“Films like Apaharan, Haasil, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Rang De Basanti are my favourite. I was also inspired by the US political system where most of the presidential candidates have graduated from top universities. I am fortunate enough to be graduating from India’s leading B-school,” he said.

He also believes that he has an edge others do not he explains “Yes. I am getting unfair advantage due to the IIM brand.Being an IIM graduate it was easy for me to initiate talks and to make a place in the party. But due to this IIM brand I am getting more media coverage and that’s an unfair advantage. Today Bollywood stars and Cricketers are exploiting their mass appeal to enter in politics but are not contributing to the society as a politician. It would be a big challenge for me to live upto the high expectations from an IIM alumnus. But I would surely be involved in the grass-root level development of our country and to make a visible positive change in the nation. “We at Yourstory wish that more such social entrepreneurs would make a stand and wish Vaibhav more strength in his tasks.