Devraj stood at the village handpump in Lakhaicha, trousers rolled up, holding a bucket full of wet clothes – the uniform he wore to the Industrial Training Institute where he was learning how to be an electrician. All of 18, he said he had registered as a voter and was looking forward to casting his ballot for the first time.
Who did he plan to vote for, I asked. Devraj smiled. But before he could answer, a middle-aged man, Shakti Singh Chauhan, intervened. “If you ask for my opinion, I am satisfied with the government,” he declared. “Badlav ki koi avashyakta nahi.” There is no need for change.
Lakhaicha is about an hour’s drive from Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. The village is in the Barabanki parliamentary constituency, reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.
Nine of ten people in Lakhaicha are Dalit Pasi, the largest of the Scheduled Caste communities in this part of the state. Devraj is Pasi. Yet, Chauhan, from a community counted among the Other Backward Classes, was able to hijack the conversation.
It is only when the conversation turned to the topic of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign slogan – “Ab ki baar, 400 paar”, this time, we will cross 400 – that Devraj found his voice.
This story was originally published in scroll.in. Read the full story here.
