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In Kanpur, Ram Nath Kovind’s family is eagerly waiting to hear from him

After Ram Nath Kovind’s selection as the presidential candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), back home in Kanpur Dehat, his family has already called the Raj Bhavan in Bihar twice.

Ram Nath’s elder brother, 76-year-old Pyarelal, who runs a garment shop in Jhinjhak, is still waiting for an official confirmation from his brother that he has been picked as the presidential candidate. “It is a big day for him and for all of us. There is a mood of celebration in our ancestral village, Paraukh,” Pyarelal was quoted as saying.

Ram Nath has seven siblings and all his brothers took ‘Kovind’ as the family name only after he added it after entering politics. As per the Indian Express report, BJP leaders in his village were distributing sweets through the day while all the Thakurs and Brahmins were celebrating.

There are only four Dalit houses in the village. Pyarelal didn’t stop short of talking about his Dalit identity. He said that his father was the Chaudhary of Paraukh village and was also a practitioner of Ayurveda, hence, he said they led a normal middle-class life. “There was no crisis. All five brothers and two sisters got an education,” he said. “One brother retired as an accounts officer in Madhya Pradesh while another was a government school teacher. Ram Nath became a lawyer while some others did business,” he added.

Ram Nath is said to have converted his parental home into a Milan Kendra as an accommodation for baratis. Besides Pyarelal, Ram Nath’s nephew Deepak, who is a government school teacher, said that all his first cousins have tried to approach him to find better jobs. But Ram Nath always inspired them to achieve something on their own. “Maine jaise swayam safalta paayi, vaise tum log bhi mehnat karo (Just like I worked hard and achieved success on my own, you should work hard too),” Ram Nath would tell them.

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