Meet India's Most Innovative Protester, A Lawyer From Varanasi Who Makes Fun Very Seriously

Dissents is the essence of democracy. We have heard this many a time. But most dissenters fail to draw attention of the people and hence their voice remain unheard. Varanasi's Ravikant Vishwkarma, perhaps understands this pretty well, that's why he makes sure every time he protests people leave everything and just watch him. He is innovative and doesn't leave anything to chance. With his own style, Vishwkarma, over the years, has been able to make his voice heard.

A lawyer by profession, Vishwkarma has been a municipal councillor in Varanasi. No wonder, he has a fair idea what draws the attention of politicians. That's why he is known more for his innovative protests than being a lawyer of a former councillor.

Here are some of the much talked about protests that Vishwkarma has conducted over the years. They sound funny, but he feels that they were the earnest efforts to make people's voice heard.

1. Kamukta Shanti Yajna (Libido Satisfying Prayer)

Many politicians in the country have been accused of rapes and a sexual misconduct. This made Vishwkarma think of conducting a Kamukta Shanti Yajna, primarily aimed at telling politicians to mend their ways and be more respectful towards women.

"I Varanasi, we pray for everything. We pray to Lord Shiva and other deities for correction of things. These days we get to here a lot of stories related to sexual misconduct by public representatives. That's why I thought of conducting this kind of prayer," he says.

2. Vaidh Pati-Patni Praman Patra (Valid Husband-Wife Certificate)

Uttar Pradesh government's decision to form anti-romeo squads irked Vishwkarma so badly that he decided to make people realise how wrong the decision was. Even Muslim men were accused of Love Jihad. According to Vishwkarma, in 21st century adults should be free to choose their partners and government should not interfere in it.

He decided to share an image in which he was getting married. He said that we are living in a time where man and wife must carry their wedding photo while going out.

3. Mask On Shiv Linga

This was one of the most hard hitting message that he wanted to send against unchecked air pollution. While the entire India was engulfed with smog and it was extremely difficult to breathe, Vishwkarma decided to send a loud and clear message: "Even gods are not safe."

He said by doing this, he wanted to do two things. First, he wanted to pray to Lord Shiva that the region gets rid of this incurable air pollution and make government realise that it has to do a lot to curb pollution.

4. Sitting In Sewer Water and Sipping Tea

This happened when most part of the city was full of drainage water. Being the constituency of PM Modi, Varanasi is expected to be clean particularly after the national mission of cleanliness called 'Swachh Bharat'. However, like any other Indian city, municipality is rarely found to get things in order.

Therefore, Vishwkarma decided that he will sit in the street and have tea while it was full of sewage filth. He said that people could not even go to the temple because their clothes would get dirty. SOmething extraordinary was required to draw the attention of the authorities, so he did that.

5. Floating In Kyoto (Oops, Varanasi) Water logging

We all know what happens after rains in many Indian cities. Varanasi is no different. Everything there is even a bit of rain, people have to suffer water logging. One day Vishwkarma decided that he would call out the authorities of the city who aim to turn the historic city into Japan's Kyoto. He made a small boat and started to ferry as if he was doing it in Kyoto. Vishwkarma got a llot of support because locals knew that he was making a valid point.

His ways may seem a bit radical at times, but his intentions are pretty clear. He simply wants to wake up the authorities from slumber.