Before making his presence felt strongly in the political arena, Kumar Vishwas had long before established himself as a poet with a great following among the youth Hindi heartland.
Born in Uttar Pradesh on February 10 in 1970 to a Gaur Brahmin family to a lecturer father and a homemaker mother, Vishwas was well on his way to become an engineer, just as his father wanted. But he dropped out of engineering college as his heart yearned to study literature and poetry. He pursued it in MMH college in Ghaziabad and went on to top the post graduation course with a record 76% that as some reports say is still unbroken. He has been a professor of Hindi literature since 1994 with Lala Lajpat Rai College, Ghaziabad being the last place where he taught.
Vishwas rose to fame among the Hindi speaking youth for his romantic poetry. He is credited with bringing in modern set-up in his performances by using things like mood lighting, background screen projections and music support.
Vishwas who fancied writing for Bollywood found himself doing activism for Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption (IAC) movement that demanded the passing of a Jan Lokpal Bill. His poetry changed its theme from romantic to patriotic as he lent support to IAC's cause by performing his poems and songs at IAC's various events.
He stood by Kejriwal right from the start of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) based on IAC's ideology. Now contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi, Vishwas is giving a stiff competition to Congress' Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Smriti Irani. His popularity among the youth and his poetry skills gave him a chance to represent AAP in his home state of Uttar Pradesh though it is said that he was initially not keen in contesting elections.
The Hindi literature professor entered the political foray exuding confidence. He even dared BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to contest against from Amethi.
Vishwas soon found support from all corners. The Aam Aadmi Party had set up two toll free numbers so their supporters could convince voters to elect their candidate The number meant for Vishwas recieved 20,500 calls mostly from western UP area, Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.
Though Vishwas recieves negative statements from the Gandhi family, he has obtained great support from 'the other' Gandhi family descendant, Srikrishna Kulkarni. Kulkarni, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi has not only praised Vishwas as 'self-made' and 'courageous' but even went to Amethi to show his support to the poet-politician.
Vishwas' popularity in the social media has surpassed that of his own party leader Arvind Kejriwal and also Congress's Rahul Gandhi. He has close to three million followers on Twitter and over two million likes on his Facebook page. He is currently the second most trending candidate on Twitter with Narendra Modi topping the chart.
The guerilla campaigning by AAP in Amethi is said to have sent shivers down Congress' and BJP's spine as both have sent their key leaders Priyanka Gandhi and Narendra Modi to campaign in Amethi. AAP workers in Amethi have claimed violent attacks carried on them by rival parties' workers.
The internationally renowned poet has been in news for some of his controversial statements and remarks. He had once issued statements praising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. (RSS).
Vishwas had earlier courted controversy for his jibes at Kerala nurses' complexion and Muharram procession. He was quick to apologise for both those incidents.
He was recently in news since an FIR had been lodged against him for assaulting a camera person of a local Hindi daily in Amethi.
With a great ability to mobilise youth, create campaigning strategies and his following among the youth of the Hindi belt, Kumar Vishwas is AAP's best bet to take down the Congress's stronghold of Amethi.
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