Click to play videoBadalpur (Uttar Pradesh): The phone hasn't stopped ringing in Pannalal's house since Friday.
That's because his first cousin Mayawati is ready to be sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Pannalal is busy celebrating his sister's sweet victory.
In Badalpur, the village where Mayawati spent the first four years of her life, not everyone is as ecstatic as Pannalal is.
Mayawati is not an icon or a heroine for 28-year-old Jagat Singh, a Dalit and a tailor, who is struggling to make ends meet.
Jagat has been voting for Mayawati ever since he got his voting rights convinced that behenji will help him find a better job. But today, Jagat says he has lost all hope.
“Nothing will change for me. I will continue stitching,” he said.
And as Mayawati starts her new innings, this Dalit family in her village is still skeptical about its future but there are those who still believe that they will soon be riding the winds of change.
Dalits here take pride in their caste. It has been years since Mayawati last came home.
But almost all Dalit families claim to be related to her and are now hopeful that the Dalit ki beti will remember her village again.
“She will have to do something for us,” said a resident of the village, Chandravati.
“We expect so much from her. We have voted for her,” said another villager,” Lalchand.
Clearly, Mayawati has a very strong support base here, especially among the women. But the villagers of Badalpur also have a long wish list that they hope Mayawati will attend to.
Will Mayawati fulfill the aspirations of her people? That's perhaps her new challenge.
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