Truant schoolkids fuel campaigns

PUNE: Ten-year old Rahul Gaikwad should have ideally been in school. But these days he has been bunking school and is busy shouting slogans for an independent candidate from Tingrenagar, Bhairabnath Haribhau Ukarde.
Two biryani meals a day and some fanta is what Rahul and scores of others ��� some as young as 7 years ��� have been promised by the candidate.Packed in a van, Rahul and the young brigade have not only been shouting slogans, but also doing various dance moves, playing to the tunes of popular Hindi and Marathi numbers.
Rahul and his friends from the Ektanagar slum area have been bunking school for the past few days to actively campaign for Ukarde.
As 9-year-old Nitin Ubale ��� a fourth standard student at a municipal school ��� even said that his parents don't mind he and his elder brother Sachin missing school to campaign for the candidate, who stays about 150 metres away from their home. Nitin's father is a construction worker and mother a housemaid.
Ukarde's followers admit that as many as 100 youngsters have been actively electioneering for the last couple of days. "These youngsters seem to have more enthusiasm and, at times, can be more effective while shouting slogans, like Baccha baccha kehta hain, Bhairav dada saccha hain, or Ekach vada Bhairav dada," said one of them.