This advocacy group is all set to release manifestos centered around youth needs ahead of  Kerala, TN assembly polls

Political parties and politicians across Tamil Nadu and Kerala are gearing up to face the assembly polls. Candidates are decided, promises are made and campaigns are planned. But what role do the young people of the country play here, apart from casting their votes?

Apparently, a lot more. Advocacy group Young People for Politics is now drafting youth manifestoes for both the states, taking into consideration the demand and needs of people below the age of 30. The manifestoes will then be presented to all the political parties fighting the polls and the organisations' volunteers say that they will be organising campaigns throughout the government's tenure to ensure that the demands are met and implemented.

"These manifestoes will voice the basic political principles and demands of young people," says its founder Radhika Ganesh. "For this purpose, we are collecting inputs from people belonging to different groups, including student politicians, representatives from Dalit and Tribal communities, working professionals from urban and rural class, labourers, health workers and so on," she says, adding that the manifesto is not just dependent on online data collection, but is based on grassroot surveys and research.

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To avoid depending only on data available online, around 30 of their on-ground volunteers in Tamil Nadu now concentrate on different focus groups. "Before forming YPP in 2019, we had its grassroot counterpart called Kani Nilam, which was formed in 2016. They ran election desks during the 2019 general elections," she says. While Radhika says that YPP doesn't lean towards a political party, but has always opposed hate politics, she does not forget to mention how the group has always been criticised by the right-wing for 'not being right enough'.

While the Tamil Nadu manifesto will be released on February 14, the Kerala manifesto is expected to be released by the end of February. "These will be available in regional languages too. While we had a group of existing volunteers in Tamil Nadu, we are yet to form a group in Kerala," says Radhika. At the same time, she is unsure of the group will create similar manifestoes for other states too. "These manifestoes are demand-driven, The young people in Tamil Nadu have decided that theirs is social justice politics and that will only be effective if they make an ideological demand. Every demand is based on a constitutional value," she says, adding that in Tamil Nadu, they will focus on issues like NEET and caste crimes.