Why young Dalits are waiting for a new icon in Uttar Pradesh this election

The Dalit youths say their icons are failing them

His small earnings from a makeshift carpentry shop helped Rohit Bacha, a middle-aged small farmer in Udaychandrapur village in the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency, get his two daughters through college.

Bacha, a Dalit from the Pasi community, says his dream is to ensure his other three children, a daughter and two sons, also get a college education. It is with some pride that Bacha says his daughters are “BSc pass”.

The name of his shop, “Aashiq Furniture”, is intriguing. “It is in the name of my childhood friend,” Bacha says. “He is Muslim. A beautiful friendship we have,” he says.