Why chai-wallahs in Bihar are angry with chowkidar?

Thirty-year-old Vikrant runs a tea-shop on the national highway which connects Samastipur and Dalsingsarai with Barauni and Begusarai.

Being the main artery, which connects North Bihar with Central Bihar, Vikrant has a roaring business on this NH. But, of late, he is miffed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His refrain is: the ‘chai-wallah’ promised moon during 2014 elections but did nothing for his ‘fraternity’. “Now the self-proclaimed ‘chai-wallah’ has changed his nomenclature as ‘chowkidar’. But this time, we won’t be befooled,” he averred.

“During 2014 elections, we got carried away listening to his (Modi) speeches. When he promised jobs and ‘achche din’, I and my family decided to back him as I felt my younger brothers should get into a job and avoid being a chai-wallah like me. But despite doing ITI, my younger brother is jobless. And the other one, who has done B.Ed, too could not get employment,” Vikrant dwells at length why he is so deeply anguished with Modi. “The unfulfilled promise to provide two crore jobs to youth every year will cost this ‘chowkidar’ dearly,” he predicted.

But then Vikrant is not alone. In Vaishali, his fraternity member Vijay Kumar (he deliberately avoids his surname, so as not to be identified) is equally seething with rage. “I am not a Lalu (Prasad) fan. But this time I will vote for the RJD candidate just to punish the self-styled ‘chowkidar’ who weaved numerous dreams in 2014 but shattered it in the next five years,” he opens up after much persuasion.

“A small trader, who runs a tea-shop on national highway or a state highway, is not interested in politics. For him, eking out a livelihood is more important. ‘Koi jeete, hamey kya?’ (How does it matter who wins). But one should not make false promises. For the last four-and-a-half years, there was no government vacancy. ‘Chunav aaya, toh vacancy nikla. (With elections, came the advertisement for various posts). But it’s too little, too late,” says a furious Shivji Rai of Samastipur, whose son qualified in the SSC (staff selection commission) written exam but could not qualify the interview.

“Phir appear hone ke liye, uska toh age nikal gaya. (If he wants to appear again, his age-wise eligibility is over). How can I forgive this chaiwallah-turned-chowkidar for not creating new jobs,” argued an angry Rai.