The SOS man

From playing junior cricket for Karnataka to being a saviour to thousands during the pandemic, Indian Youth Congress president B.V. Srinivas has come a long way

- PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR

THE PHONES KEEP ringing at 5, Raisina Road in Delhi, where the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has set up its Covid-19 war room. It has been a month since the SOS team members (#SOSIYC) have had a full night’s rest. Amid the acute shortage of oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds, ambulances, remdesivir injections and plasma, the SOS team has become a beacon of hope for the common man.

And one man has been at the centre of it. From celebrities to foreign embassies and fellow politicians, everyone has been tagging IYC president B.V. Srinivas in distress posts on social media.

The 40-year-old called the “SOS Man” and “Oxygen Man”, has been the go-to guy for thousands grappling with an overburdened health care system. The IYC war room is like a nerve centre and his network of 1,000 volunteers has been coordinating with Covid-19 centres across the states. “The state teams are constantly scrolling our social media accounts for appeals pouring in from their regions and following up,” Srinivas told THE WEEK. “We have formed three teams—one to track social media requests on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; a rural team that made WhatsApp groups to connect with village-level volunteers; and the third team to attend calls.”

He said he built his team in March 2020, after Rahul Gandhi asked him to create a volunteer base to reach out to people during the lockdown. A year later, on March 5 this year, the IYC passed three resolutions at its national executive meet—reach out to people during the second wave, work on tackling unemployment and support the farmers’ protest. “During the meet, Rahul ji warned us of the impending second wave and asked us to channel all our energy to help people across the country,” said Srinivas.