Ranjeet Shirole, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's 33-year-old candidate will reach out to 9.5 lakh youngsters through his campaign. He talks to Vivek Sabnis about tradition, technology and more
People feel that if the MNS comes to power, there could be more attacks on North Indians. The MNS is not a terrorist organisation, but a political party that fights for the rights of the common man.
It is being said that it was the Congress that made you contest the elections with the sole objective of cutting into BJP votes. I have been officially told to contest the election on behalf of the MNS by Raj Thackeray, who is only choosing nine constituencies out of a total 48 in the state. He has chosen new faces, who can win the battle. My name was declared much earlier than the Congress and BJP candidate in Pune.
How does it feel to be, so far, the youngest candidate from Pune? People are fed up with the same people and want to have some new faces to represent them at Lok Sabha. I will certainly try my best.
What are the issues you highlight in your campaign? We are focusing on controlling air pollution, bad roads and transport system, including the present BRT. The city is also losing its green cover. So, proper road development, enhancing public transport system, maintenance of proper hygiene and provision of adequate medical services in slums are my top priority. Creating sportsmen for national sports, spreading education in slums are some of the promises in the party manifesto, which will be released soon.
Are you also dealing with the issue of the non-Maharastrians like in Mumbai, as a campaign issue? Pune is not far away from Mumbai, and is facing problems just like other metros. My efforts will be to save Marathi and Maharastrian culture in Pune. This will start by focusing on youngsters in Pune, as our youth, especially the girls, are taking to smoking and drinking. As an individual, I can't stop this, but certainly can create awareness.
Being tech-savvy, how would you reach out to the young voters? We already started using Facebook and Orkut for creating a platform for supporters of the MNS. In addition, my own website http://www.ranjeetshirole.com/ is being launching today. Sending SMSes is another option for our campaign. I am also going to many IT companies in Pune to campaign. The idea is to communicate to as many of the 9.5 lakh young voters. What are the issues related to the IT professionals that you are touching upon? We blame IT professionals for leading lavish lifestyles with their fat salaries. But no one knows that the log hours they work. My efforts will be to provide them with a better transport system to travel to and from work. We have a very primitive transport system and BRT has been a total failure in Pune.
And what about other voters? I am trying to reach to 18 lakh voters in Pune by padyatras and rallies. My focus is on the slums. People live there in joint families and their rehabilitation should justify their family size. These people are given flats of 370 sq ft and my effort is to get them adequate-sized flats of minimum 700 sq ft. We also have many multiplexes without proper sanitation, which again should be a priority.
