Rahul Gandhi helps Rohtas woman reach home

PATNA: Thirty-year-old Sunita Devi, who was prevented by cops from crossing the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border at Ghazipur on Sunday to board a bus for Rohtas, got help from unexpected quarters. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi arranged a vehicle for Sunita and her relatives to return to Rohtas on Monday.
Sunita’s story caught the Congress leader’s attention after a video showing her sobbing and pleading to let her go as her husband had died at their village, went viral on social media.
Before leaving for Rohtas in an SUV arranged by Rahul on Monday, she also got a call from his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. “You are like my sister,” Sunita quoted Priyanka as saying over phone.
Priyanka assured Sunita, who lost her 38-year-old husband Ravindra Choudhary while she was stuck in New Delhi, of providing all financial assistance. “You are free to call me whenever you need my help. I will also ensure that your three kids get good education,” Priyanka reportedly told Sunita.
Earlier in the day, Srinivas B V, Youth Congress president, wrote on his twitter handle in Hindi, “Rahul Ji Aur Priyanka Ji ki badaulat aaj Sunita Ji apne ghar ja rahi hain. Unke pati ki 3 din pahle mrityu huiy thi”. Srinivas revealed that the party workers started tracing Sunita on the directive of the two senior leaders of the Congress.
Sunita’s repeated pleas to allow her to cross the Delhi-UP border to reach home even on foot fell on deaf ears on Sunday. “I want to go back home. My husband has died there, and I need to see him one last time,” Sunita was heard telling the traffic personnel deployed at the inter-state border at Ghazipur.
A police man told Sunita that he was there to ensure that no one crossed the border without valid travel pass. “Mein koi bada officer nahi hun. Isliye koi madad nahi kar sakta hun (I am not a senior officer. So I can’t help you),” the cop is heard saying.
Sunita’s elder son Bittu Patel said his mother had gone to New Delhi on March 14 to see her sister. “But she got stuck there due to the nationwide lockdown. On Thursday, my father who was sick for one and a half years, breathed his last in her absence.”
“Ishwar unka bhi kalyan karen jo aise wakt par jarurat mand logo logo ki madad karte hain,” Bittu said expressing gratitude for the help his mother got from the two Congress leaders.