Abhijeet Dipke has risen to the occasion in a way that literally no one expected him to. With a page of 22 million followers, the choice of cashing out as an influencer was the easiest choice to make.
Instead, he read the writings on the wall, heard the voice of the cockroaches, and has embarked on a historic journey to build humongous youth pressure against the Modi government.
One often wonders what it takes to be a mass leader, and watching Abhijeet go makes me realize - it takes strong intuition, the ability to understand the moment, and the insane energy of a man on a mission.
On 15th May, exactly one month ago, he was sleeping on his sister’s couch in the US, applying for jobs in the US. In less than 30 days, his life has turned upside down.
He flew out from the US on the night of 4th June, travelled 24 hours to arrive in Delhi on the morning of 6th June.
He spent the full day protesting at Jantar Mantar, fighting jet lag and 45 degree C heat.
That same night he flew to Mumbai. Drove to pick up his parents who he had shifted to a friend’s home for their safety. They drove all night to arrive at Aurangabad on the morning of 7th June.
Abhijeet regrouped, consulted with his supporters across the country and in the next 2 days planned the nationwide protests led by CJP against the Education Minister.
In just 3 days, he left for Pune on 10th June, conducted two press conferences and one massive protest rally on 11th June.
That same night he flew to Lucknow and arrived around 3 AM of 12th June. After addressing a student protest in Lucknow, he needed to get to Amritsar by the next afternoon.
Without a direct flight or connection available, he drove overnight from Lucknow to Amritsar, his car broken down during the ride and then he rented a taxi and arrived in Amritsar a few hours before his protest on 13th June.
Early the next morning he left for Bengaluru, spent the first half of the day traveling and arrived in the evening of 14th June to address a huge protest rally in the city.
Late tonight he will arrive in Jaipur and lead the protest tomorrow, 15th June afternoon in the pink city.
On 16th June, he will be in Nagpur to lead a CJP protest.
And it’s all being done to mobilize the youth of India to come to Delhi on 20th June to demand the Education Minister’s resignation.
Nobody knows what will happen next, but one thing is for sure - Abhijeet’s ability to create a movement from nothing in one month shows what is possible and what he’s capable of with more time and resources and organization at his command.