Ram Chet, a cobbler in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, is no longer just another man stitching torn sandals and polishing leather shoes on the roadside. He is now the man in demand, people are coming to his makeshift shop to click selfies, officials are asking him if all is well and passers-by are stopping their cars to greet him. All thanks to a visit by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
In Sultanpur to attend a court hearing in a defamation case, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha stopped by Ram Chet’s shop. During this brief halt, Mr Gandhi asked the cobbler about his trade and also tried his hand at mending shoes. Visuals of him trying to stitch a sandal had gone viral. A day later, Mr Ram Chet got a sewing machine from the Congress leader. This machine makes it easier to stitch shoes and will help Mr Ram Chet in his work.
The cobbler said his life has changed after the Congress leader’s visit. “People are stopping their bikes, cars and calling out to me. He has given me a lot of respect,” Mr Ram Chet said.
The cobbler is getting huge offers for the footwear Mr Gandhi stitched that day, with one caller offering as much as Rs 10 lakh. “The offers are becoming bigger. They started with Rs 5 lakh and have now gone up to Rs 10 lakh. One caller offered me bags full of cash, but I refused. I won’t sell them,” he said. While responding to a reporter’s questions, the cobbler jokes, “Rahul Gandhi is my partner. We run the shop in partnership.”
Mr Ram Chet said he won’t return the footwear to the person it belongs to either. “I will pay him the price of the sandals.”
Recounting his conversation with the Congress leader, Mr Ram Chet said Mr Gandhi asked him about his work. “He asked me how shoes are pasted, I showed him and he did it.”
Mr Ram Chet lives in a makeshift hut that has no power supply. Officials have started making the rounds of his shanty since his photograph with Mr Gandhi circulated on social media. “People from the administration are now coming and asking me about my problems. They never came before.”
The cobbler’s run-down accommodation doesn’t have power supply. Asked how he will use the sewing machine in the dark, he told news agency PTI, “My son’s home has electricity supply. I will keep the machine at his place and do the sewing work.”
Raghuram, the cobbler’s son, told ANI that they were delighted to meet the Congress leader. “He treated us with respect and dignity. He asked me why I am not in this profession anymore. I told him that when I worked as a cobbler, people did not respect me. So I left the profession. I work as a labourer now,” he said.
