Ganga Baishya, 39, lives with her husband and two school-going sons on a hillock in East Guwahati that is home to a large number of low-inc...
Ganga Baishya, 39, lives with her husband and two school-going sons on a hillock in East Guwahati that is home to a large number of low-income families from the city. Like many of her neighbours, she works as a domestic worker in two homes inside a middle-class apartment complex, just down the hill – but separated by much more than just geographical elevation.
In the 2016 Assembly election, Baishya voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party. For change, she said. Like many others in Assam who had become wary of the Congress’s 15-year rule.
Change happened. The BJP stormed to power with a strike rate of nearly 70% in the seats it contested.
Baishya’s life seemed to change too – but not quite in ways she had imagined.
A not-so-happy change
Months after the new government took over, she was forced to start working for the first time in 23 years of being married and living in Guwahati. “It was after they did the poisa-bodli,” she said referring to the government’s demonetisation exercise. “After that, my husband couldn’t manage all by himself.”
The downhill slide continued. The ever-increasing fuel prices meant her husband’s business slumped further. “Earlier, he says for every Rs 100 of fuel, he would earn Rs 800-900,”...
