Lucknow: A day after Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi made a brief halt at his shop, cobbler Ram Chet on Saturday got a sewing machine from the Congress leader, a party spokesperson here said.
Gandhi had on Friday on his way back to Lucknow from Sultanpur stopped at cobbler Ram Chet’s shop.
“Jannayak (leader of the people), yesterday had met a cobbler family and understood the pain of their work and today Shri @RahulGandhi has sent them a sewing machine which is used in cobbling work so that they can make their future work easier. We are proud of our leader, Jannayak Rahul Gandhi,” UP Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said in a post on X in Hindi.
“Understanding the pain and suffering of the people, standing with them and helping them is the definition of a leader,” he said.
UP Congress Manish Hindvi told PTI that on Friday Rahul Gandhi had met Ram Chet for about 30 minutes in Vidhayak Nagar in the outskirts of Sultanpur and talked to him about the challenges of his work.
“By giving the modern machine to the cobbler, Rahul Gandhi ji has sent a message to the entire country and society that he stands with the poor and the oppressed,” he said.
Ram Chet said he greeted Gandhi — who he had only seen on TV before -– with a cold drink after the leader gave him a surprise visit. “He said he will see what he can do for me,” Ram Chet said.
Gandhi had gone to Sultanpur to appear in a court in connection with a 2018 defamation case.
He was accused by local BJP leader Vijay Mishra of making “objectionable comments” against Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru during the Karnataka elections.
