Praveen Mishra is a young filmmaker, artist and photographer. He is among that section of the literati including artists, scientists, advocates, IT professionals, activists, students and teachers — that is perhaps for the first time, entering the political arena as a formal party, ready to fight the coming elections, and determined to win it too. Nineteen candidates of NSM will be pitted against the dominant political parties — the Bharatiya Janta Party and the Congress.

“As an artist fighting against censorship, I could identify with the NSM’s struggle against existing ideologies,” says Mishra. Being among the youngest members of the party, Mishra says, “For a change, this is a movement that truly belongs to the people. As a person who grew up in a small town in Bihar, I can relate to the modesty and humility of this struggle too.”

The NSM’s mother organisation, the Jan Sangharsh Manch, is a civil rights organisation, which started its struggle against oppressive, top-heavy government institutions and industrial houses in 1979. “Apart from the original trade union workers who are our major members, we have doctors, engineers, social workers, space scientists and management gurus who are actively participating in this unique political struggle,” says Mukul Sinha, NSM leader. Sinha is going to contest the elections from the Shahpur constituency in Ahmedabad. Sinha himself was a physicist working at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in the late seventies. A clash with the management over ill treatment meted out to a class IV employee turned him into a union activist. Armed with a law degree, Sinha revolutionised trade union politics in Gujarat. In the last five years, he has been fighting to bring justice to the Godhra riots victims.

Maya Valecha, a doctor, will be NSM's candidate from Sayajiganj in Vadodara.