LUCKNOW: Till a month back, Hamza Zubair Siddiqui, 20, would remain busy pinning down his competitors through his go-to wrestler’s move that he had honed in the last three years.
However, these days, he is using all his energy and the might of his voice to campaign alongside Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow Central constituency Ravidas Mehrotra.
With elections underway, not just veterans but people of his age, from a professional wrestler, a software engineer, a social worker to a consultant at a multinational company — all representatives of Gen Z —have also found an echo with UP elections.
Involved in digital campaigns and social media handling for their candidates and parties, the younger generation is managing the show for major political parties in UP.
Majority of these young professionals are volunteers with the political parties and have taken leave and put aside their regular jobs for a month and more till elections wrap up in the city and state.
“Just before the election dates were announced, I was getting a job as a gym trainer apart from my stints at the wrestling tournaments in Lucknow, Varanasi and Delhi. But I believed I was required more in the political pitch to help with social media campaign for the party,” Hamza told TOI.
Software engineer, Praphullit Pandey, 30, is also on a month long leave from his Bengaluru-based organisation while he sweats it out in Lucknow for the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) national social media team.
“I am looking for a change in politics. My main task is to put out videos of the candidates fielded in Lucknow on our social media handles to gain traction and visibility,” he said.
Running a trading company of his own that supplies confectionaries across the country, 32-year-old Zoheb Abbas is also riding the SP tide when it comes to handling media for the candidates.
“I am always on the run but it is the need of the hour that the younger generation joins in. I coordinate with my team and give them instructions over the phone while I do the leg work with the candidates all through the day,” he said.
In Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s team, Shipra Goswami (25) is also one of the younger team members to be made district coordinator by the party.
The young girl joined the team soon after completion of her post graduation in Bengaluru and became a part of the team of political analysts.
“I was never interested in politics, but I wanted to understand the process of governance and the working of those who govern us. The best way was to get attached with the party and candidates directly. Today, I am liasoning with political stakeholders, observing political dynamics, understanding how candidates work and also at times advising them,” Shipra said.
