NAGPUR: Farm widow Kalavati Bandurkar, who became a poster-woman of Vidarbha's agrarian crisis in 2008 after Rahul Gandhi visited her home at Jalka village in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, on Thursday refuted as an "absolute lie" Union home minister Amit Shah's claim that Congress did nothing for her.
Kalavati also asserted that "she has not received any help after 2014". "I have nothing against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, but it's a fact that my life changed only because of Rahul," Kalavati told TOI over the phone.
Speaking during the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Shah had said that though Rahul met Kalavati, it was only during Modi regime that welfare measures could reach her.
Kalavati rose to prominence after the Gandhi scion mentioned her and Shashikala, another woman from Vidarbha, in his speech during the no-confidence motion faced by the UPA government in 2008 over the nuclear deal with the US.
Fifteen years down the line as the BJP-led government faced a no-trust motion, Kalavati recalled her struggle back from the brink.
"My husband died by suicide in 2005 (due to the farm and debt crisis) and it was difficult to even make two ends till 2008, when Rahul visited us. It was only after that we got all the help.
"First I got Rs 3 lakh with which I repaired my house and improved living conditions. This was followed by Rs 30 lakh from (NGO) Sulabh International. The money has been parked as fixed deposits and I get monthly interest of around Rs 16,000," Kalavati said.
After Rahul's speech, Kalavati was approached by a host of NGOs, including Sulabh. Nothing was heard of Shashikala, who also featured in Rahul's speech and lived in Yavatmal's Sonkhas village after that.
Kalavati pointed out that the last help came till 2012 and she could build a new house. She was able to get her daughters married and now leads a comfortable life. Kalavati had seven children - two sons and five daughters.
Kalavati had met Rahul in nearby Wasim when he was in the region during the Bharat Jodo Yatra last year.
The constituency under which Kalavati's Jalka village falls has a BJP MLA, Sanjeev Reddy. The village comes in the Chandrapur Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Suresh Dhanorkar of Congress till recently. Dhanorkar, the lone Congress candidate to be elected to the Lok Sabha from Maharashtra in 2019, passed away in May this year.
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