Meet Ajinkya Shinde, a volunteer turned AAP Maharashtra Youth Wing Convenor
Following blog is written by Abhijit Dipke who is social media coordinator with AAP Maharashtra team.
In 2016 I met Ajinkya Shinde for the first time in Goa. He was a guy in his mid 20s who had just resigned from his high paying job and decided to work full-time for Aam Aadmi Party. After joining AAP, Ajinkya dedicated 1 year for Goa Elections. The party failed to open account in Goa Assembly Elections but Ajinkya continued his commitment for the party and started working with AAP Maharashtra Team. At the same time I also started helping him in party related activities.
Kisan Sammelan: In Sept 2017, AAP Maharashtra Team was organising Kisan Sammelan. A successful event required presence of farmers from different parts of Maharashtra. To make this happen, Ajinkya visited every district of Maharashtra and held meetings with farmers. He almost travelled a distance of 13,000 km and turned the Kisan Sammelan into a very engaging and successful event. His dedication and determination was clearly visible when everyone was paying attention to the speakers on stage and Ajinkya was arranging and lifting chairs for the crowd. After giving his best for the event, he was seen standing in a corner of the last row, smiling on his achievement.
Family and Career: Ajinkya is originally from Alibaugh, a coastal town in Maharashtra. His parents are farmers in Alibaug. He moved to Latur but his actual home is his car as he hardly stays at one place and has to travel frequently to different towns for party related work. The computer science graduate also worked for years in a Pune based international IT company. Before resigning from the company, he was working for the Aam Aadmi Party based on his availability as the Convenor of Pimpri Chinchwad. Now he is the Convener of AAP Maharashtra Youth Wing.
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| Ajikya Shinde with AAP Maharashtra Team |
There were times when I couldn’t sleep at night. I was confused, I had to work for this movement (AAP) which is our only chance to change the system but I had a job too and with that job I couldn’t give enough to the party. And this was creating a great dilemma for me. I had to choose one because I couldn’t have managed both simultaneously and hence I decided to quit the Job. I am more concentrated on AAP and I am free to move from one place to another. I am much more happy.
He actually meant the word “happy”. The emotion was clearly visible on his face.
Hunger Strike: In 2015 Latur was facing one of the most horrifying droughts. Residents had no water to drink and authorities were busy in their routine. Ajinkya Shinde engaged the local youth and sat on chain hunger strike against the water crisis in Latur. The strike continued for 14 days and at the end authorities agreed to provide water supply on a daily basis.
The Change: As a staunch supporter of AAP, Ajinkya is focused on the ultimate goal of changing the age old system. Once I visited a shop with Ajinkya. The owner asked Ajinkya about what was going on his life to which Ajinkya replied: "I don’t have a job and I am a full time volunteer of AAP". The owner smirked and said, "Why would anyone take such a decision of giving up their personal life and job?". Ajinkya replied, “Doing something for the society and working for CHANGE gives me satisfaction. No other job could have done that".
The Meeting: Earlier this year, we called a meeting in Pune and asked Ajinkya to join. He promptly agreed and joined the meeting little late. When asked what took him so long, he said that he got to the meeting venue from Mumbai via train which was over crowded. This was because he parked his car in Mumbai which ran out of fuel and Ajinkya had only ₹300 at that time. With that much money he could not get enough fuel for the car to travel from Mumbai to Pune, so he took the train. We offered him financial help on many occasions and every time he denied the help.
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| Ajinkya Shinde with AAP Spokesperson Raghav Chadha |
Author Abhijit Dipke (twitter @aaptimist_) is the Social Media coordinator of AAP Maharashtra. He works closely with Ajinkya Shinde. You can connect with Ajinkya Shinde or send your questions related to AAP Maharashtra Youth Wing to his Facebook profile. You can also follow him on Twitter @AjinkyaShinde18.
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