Rahul's Forgotten Promise - "You Will Not Remain a Dalit"

Bangalore: Shivkumari still remembers the night that made her famous, 15th January of 2009 when Rahul Gandhi had stayed the night at her house. “I will change everything. You will not remain a Dalit,” he had promised, says an article by FirstPost.

Shivkumari has a tiny five foot by five foot room for a home. All it has is a lantern, a few utensils, and a bale of hay lying in the corner. She works in the fields during harvest season in order to feed her family and earns Rs 3000 a month for these three months. For the remaining part of the year, she does odd jobs at Brahamin and Thakur households in the village.

Shivkumari, the mother of five is disheartened and resigned to her fate. Yet she remembers, she stood in her tiny home, trembling with hope and was asked “Do you feel cold?” And she responded “No. I am scared,” reports Danish Raza for FirstPost.

“Look at me, I am your brother. I am here to end all your woes,” Rahul had assured her, breaking her uncertain reserve. Shivkumari soon began listing her many sufferings, her inability to pay the loans taken by her late husband, Lallan Harijan, and how much she wanted work under MNREGA, a Below Poverty Line (BPL) card, or a house under the Indira Gandhi Avaas Yojna scheme. The next morning, Rahul Gandhi’s parade left Semra, leaving Shivkumari with a hope of a better life.