Things changed drastically with the 2002 riots. Pravin witnessed the violence across Gujarat with a camera in hand. A year later, he made Dharamveer, a short film exposing the political and religious ideology underlying the communal violence. The film won the critics’ award at the Mumbai International Film Festival.

“As young people, we have to take a stand in life. It is definitely not the easy way out but it is the only way to understand the context and contradictions of our times,” says Pravin, who joined the New Socialist Movement (NSM) and mainstream politics. He was the photographer and media advisor for Modi during his last campaign.

Mukul Sinha, 56
An IIT graduate, Mukul Sinha was working as a physicist at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad in the 70s when an incident changed the course of his life. At PRL Sinha raised an objection to a watchman being beaten by an officer, but was told to stick to his academic pursuits. Sinha went on strike and the first union of workers in any academic institution was formed in 1979. Over the next decade, Sinha organised workers in academic institutions and industries to form unions. After being cast out by the scientific institute, Sinha studied law and began practising as an advocate apart from working for people through his civil rights organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch. “We felt the need of a political front because it was the only way we could fight against the system, from within. The New Socialist Movement goes back to the oldest form of socialism, a term which has now been stripped of its meaning and value,” says Sinha, who will contest elections from Shahpur constituency in Ahmedabad.

Maya Valecha, 51
Dr Maya Valecha gave up a lucrative gynaecology practice in Vadodara to pursue activism and will contest the Gujarat Assembly polls for the first time this year under the banner of the newly-formed NSM party from the Sayajigunj constituency. Valecha decided to enter mainstream politics after she realised that political activity was equally important to change the system. Her first stint in activism was during the Nav Nirman struggle in Gujarat in the early 80s. “I was a student then, but actively participated in the movement. I decided then that it’s not just about being in the government, but the need to change the political system.”

However, after graduating from the Baroda Medical College (BMC) she started a gynaecology practice, which lasted only two years. “I realised I could not do both. In the end, activism won.” Since the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, Valecha has been campaigning under several banners including the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), various trade unions as well as NGOs. She also worked tirelessly against slum demolitions in Vadodara and Surat. She is presently associated with the Jan Sangharsh Manch, a civil rights organisation, which combats communalism and also has several PILs to its credit in the Gujarat High Court.

Dinesh Parmar, 39
He spun the charkha with his father to supplement the household income. After graduation and a fellowship programme in social management, he joined the Behavioural Science Centre at St Xavier's College as an education officer. Now the director of the same institute, Dinesh Parmar has joined the Congress. He will fight the elections from Vadgam, his hometown in Sabarkantha district.

Parmar has been working on advocacy and human rights for almost two decades. “During my work in a non-governmental organisation, I realised that social activism is always at risk in the existing political scenario,” says Parmar. Since the Godhra riots of 2002, Parmar has been working incessantly to get justice for the victims of minority communities.

“Modi's regime is not just anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim, it is also anti-development. He claims to be the messiah of five crore Gujaratis, but in effect he is a friend to only five crorepatis in this state,” says Parmar.

Parmar has been working in Naroda-Patiya and Vatva for the past five years. Vadgam has a population of about 1,92,000, but neither a bus stand nor a registrar's office. “The present state government has not been able to guarantee potable water, primary facilities and roads to all the people in the state. We need someone dynamic who can travel from village to village.”

Tapan Dasgupta, 42
With a degree in English Literature and journalism, Tapan Dasgupta organised several student campaigns to help during the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, the Vadodara floods in 2005 and the Surat floods in 2006 to name a few.

With a strong footing in student politics in Vadodara's M S University (MSU) and after organising relief work during Gujarat’s natural calamities in the past, Tapan Dasgupta (42) will contest the Gujarat Assembly elections from the Sayajigunj constituency as well under the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) banner. A second-timer, Dasgupta contested the Lok Sabha elections from Vadodara in 2004 with fair results. Dasgupta was also an active member of the All India Democratic Students' organisation (AIDSO), serving as the state's joint secretary and member of the party's organising committee. “I have organised student movements and campaign from Kutch to Ahwa and have seen most of Gujarat. In my interaction with several people, I have learnt that the truth is obscured from people, be it about health, education or even crime,” Dasgupta said.