New Delhi: Indiapicture, Publicis Capital and I Congo together culminated the Blow Up Event at the India Habitat Center in Capital Tuesday, 26th April, 2011. This campaign is aimed to make citizens realize the fundamental duty as prescribed in the constitution of India – “To save public property and abjure violence”.

The central idea was to highlight the financial damage due to destruction of public property which happens during demonstrations and agitations against the government. In order to avoid this in the future, came up the idea of providing potential protestors with free images of public property to burn and vandalize instead. It is nothing but an effort to change the bad reputation of the nation that is known for destroying public property worth considerable amounts during these agitations.

The Event featured a photo exhibition on riots, agitations and protests highlighting the damage. The Exhibition was followed by a documentary highlighting the presentation of a solution and Blow Up Events across sections and regions of the country, further leading to a Panel Discussion. Various eminent personalities were present at the event and discussion including Wajahat Habibullah, Ex Chief Information Commissioner of the Government of India and Right to Information watchdog in Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Shahid Siddiqui, Member of the Parliament of India representing Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Kaul Founder, President of People’s Action, a registered society in India involved in social, economic and political advocacy on issues related with good governance in the National Capital Region of Delhi, and Lalit Nagar, leader Gujjar Community, currently serving as a MEMBER OF P.C.C. (Pradesh Congress Committee). The campaign website ‘www.blowup.co.in’ was also formally launched during the event along with three viral campaigns to popularize the concept among social activists and political parties besides general public.

Mr. Dushyant Mehta, Founder and CEO, Indiapicture, India’s leading photo stock company, said “Having a first hand experience of the turbulent times in the valley, I have always believed protesting for any issue should be such that doesn’t in-turn cause inconvenience and harm to the public at large. This belief system along with my experience in visual media germinated the idea of Blow Up that presents a peaceful alternative to protesting”.

Mr. Mehta inherits the legacy of oldest photo studio in Kashmir- The Mahatta’s and is passionate about the power of images. “My belief that a picture can tell thousands of stories along with the creative insight of Emmanuel Upputuru and on ground support from Jeroninio Almeida helped me realize Blow Up”, Mr. Mehta added. Emmanuel Upputuru, National Creative Director, Publicis India, said, “Working for such a meaningful social campaign gives me a hearty creative satisfaction that I feel is above any award or accolade”. It is worth note that Mr. Upputuru has won a plethora of national and international awards, including Cannes, One Show (New York), D&AD (London), Clio (Miami), ADFEST (Bangkok), Abby and Global EFFIE 2007-2008. Mr. Jeroninio “Jerry” Almeida, Chief Volunteer at ICONGO and a social entrepreneur expressing his pleasure and happiness on the success of Blow Up, said, “I have been a social volunteer from my early days but what has pleased me is the cutting edge idea for social awareness in Blow Up and hence I have tried my best to transform this into a big ticket project and initiative. The very idea to target life size images rather than public property has interested me.”

The event was culmination of a campaign which started April 1, with its very first Blow Up event. The first of many such events was held in Neemka village in Haryana, where Gujjar Community pledged not to destroy public property during agitations and protests. Next was in Nawada village in Bihar with another peaceful demonstration on 11th April by burning an effigy of ‘Ambassador Car’ as a new way of protest where the same mob was in news on 31st March 2011, for protesting against poor power supply in town resulting in torching the office and residence of the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) executive engineer. Similar demonstrations were held in Kashmir, Jharkhand and Maharashtra culminating today.