25-year-old ‘giant killer’ on a mission

At just 25, Prakash Jarwal became the youngest MLA of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after defeating his nearest rival, BJP’s Gagan Rana, by over 17,000 votes, winning him the title of “giant-killer” along with a few of his other colleagues.

Barely a year ago, Prakash was just like any other youngster with a 9-to-5 job, drawing a fixed salary and enjoying the occasional weekend hangout with his friends.

Like many others, he was tired of all the things that he found wrong in this world, but what set him apart was his commitment to actually work for the change that he wanted to see.

“I have always been passionate about doing whatever I can to help those in need. Even before I joined the AAP, I tried my best to help the people of Deoli. Ever since I was in high school, I gave free tuitions to poor students who couldn’t afford quality education. I used to go to teach girl students at their homes and invited the boys to my place,” shares the MLA from Deoli constituency.

Apart from that, he also helped people fill out forms for opening bank accounts, applying for government schemes etc. “It was like a free helpdesk set up at my home where anyone who was unable to read and write could come and ask for help,” adds Prakash.

When he filed his nomination papers with the AAP in April, he was sure that being just a 25-year-old guy with no political experience, he wouldn’t be taken seriously. It thus came as a surprise to him when he was short-listed for the Deoli constituency.

While he, along with his team, was consistently working for the people of Deoli, what really brought him to prominence were two cases in quick succession in August. The first was the case of an autorickshaw driver set on fire and the other of a missing 10-year-old girl.

“The two happened in a span of three days. In case of the auto-driver, the police had registered a case of suicide despite the presence of witnesses. I held my ground till they registered an FIR for murder under Section 302. In case of the 10-year-old girl, her brother, who knew me because of the autorickshaw driver case, came to me as the police wasn’t doing anything even after the girl was missing for days. So with the help of the party lawyer, I got the High Court to monitor the case, so the police had to report day-to-day progress to the HC. The girl was found after one- and-a-half months,” adds Prakash.

He has already busied himself with work for his constituency. He realises that people have high expectations.

“These people don’t even get water to drink. My first task is to operationalise the Sonia Vihar pipeline in the constituency. But my larger agenda is education, security and health. Those who have access to these three things are the ones who are able to grow. That’s the real challenge for us,” concludes Prakash.