A weight off their shoulders: Porters at Anand Vihar railway station share their burdens with Rahul Gandhi

Rahul’s s visit to the porters comes as part of the Congress’s campaign to portray him as a “Jannayak” or “people’s person”. He was earlier seen riding with truck drivers, fixing bikes with mechanics in Karol Bagh, and visiting the Azadpur mandi.

While interacting with porters, Rahul flagged that the voice of the poor and farmers was “suppressed”, as “two-three rich men control the media”. “Even this station will be sold in some time, Adani will run it. They are getting ready to privatise railway stations,” the Congress leader told the porters.

One of the porters in the video states, “The times may be modern, but we are still poor. The government should increase our wages. In 2008, porters were given jobs under Group D. We appeal to the government, if that can happen again.”

Another porter said, “In 2014, Rahul Gandhi came to visit porters in New Delhi… otherwise no one bothers about us. Earlier, 10-12 yrs ago, the rate for porters was Rs 60, now it has been changed to Rs 100. Only that has changed, a mere Rs 40.”

“We lose our eyesight as we grow older, our limbs give way. We hand over our permits to our kids… we want the government to give at least Rs 4,000-5,000 as pension when we retire,” a porter flagged.

The porters also stated that several of them had graduated as engineers, gotten B.Ed or M.Sc degrees, but could not find jobs. “There was no use of the degree, I am doing a labourer’s work,” one of them said.

Rahul, who listened to all their demands, said, “The weather is a little bad now… it will surely get better. Why did the weather go bad? Because the poor in India cannot find a way. The youth of India cannot find a job… can’t see a future. There’s fear in their hearts, which gives rise to hatred. To rectify this, we must protect the poor, carve a way out for them.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, had mocked Rahul for “carrying a bag with wheels”. “Has he ever carried his own bags? If he had, he would know the use of those wheels. Party has been carrying his “luggage and burden” for many years now,” BJP national spokesperson
Shehzad Poonawala said.

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