Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi interacts with a cobbler during his visit to Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: As one crosses Sultanpur town and proceeds toward Lucknow, one comes across a tiny wooden shop where Ramchet, the cobbler, can be seen sitting among a heap of slippers and shoes and busy repairing them.
Until a few days back no one even noticed the shop but everything changed since July 26.
Ramchet’s shop has now become a centre of attraction, not only for the people in Sultanpur district but also for those living miles away.
It was the day when former Congress president and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi stopped for sometime at his shop while on way to Lucknow after a court hearing in Sultanpur and stitched a slipper.
For Rahul, who also inquired about Ramchet’s wellbeing and his financial condition, the visit to a poor cobbler’s shop may have been intended to convey the message that he stands behind the poor and downtrodden but for Ramchet it turned out to be a blessing.
Rahul, who had a stitching machine delivered to Ramchet almost immediately after his visit, also tried his hands on an altogether new thing. He stitched a pair of slippers, which belonged to a customer of Ramchet and had been kept there for repair. ‘’Rahulji stitched the slippers,’’ Ramchet said.
Ramchet’s shop suddenly hogged the limelight in the national media and soon he started getting offers from the people from different places to sell the slippers. ‘’Initially I was offered Rs five lakh and later the offer price went up to Rs ten lakh,’’ he said.
The poor cobbler, who could barely earn enough to make two ends meet, however, refused to part with the slippers. He also refused to deliver the slippers to their original owner and instead offered him money in lieu of the same.
‘’It’s a souvenir for me…..my leader (Rahul) has stitched them….I will put them a glass frame…there is no question of selling them if someone offers a crore,’’ a humble Ramchet, a resident of Majre Mathia village, said.
A banner, containing his name and cell number, has also come up before his shop since Rahul’s visit and since then his cell phone has not stopped ringing. ‘’After Rahulji’s visit, the village panchayat chief and local officials approached me and offered to help me get a house, ration cards and other things,’’ he said.
Rahul had, on July 26, appeared in the special MP/MLA court in Sultanpur in connection with a case pertaining to his alleged objectionable remarks on union home minister Amit Shah.