NEW DELHI: By day he campaigns with sweaty, ill-clad farmers in south India, promising them a better future. By night he switches on his virtual office and links to his 10th floor office in Manhattan.
Meet new Indian member of parliament Madhu Yashki, the 43-year-old son of a poor farmer who went to New York, became a topshot immigration lawyer but returned home when he learnt that farmers in his home state of Andhra Pradesh were so debt-ridden they were committing suicide.
His drive to give hope to those who had lost all was spotted by the Congress party which offered him a party ticket to contest the April-May national elections and Yashki - who had no political background - won by a whopping margin of over 130,000 votes.
His journey began when reports crept into the US media that farmers in Andhra Pradesh were hanging themselves from trees and drinking pesticide to end their woes after rains failed and they could not pay back their loans.
"I was deeply pained. I could not come to terms with this reality. So many farmers, some in my own district, killing themselves. It was just too much to bear," said Yashki.
In one area alone of his parliamentary constituency of Nizamabad, Machareddy, 52 farmers committed suicide in two years. Already a philanthropist of sorts - having been a lawyer for immigrants in the United States - Yashki began sending money to farmers' families.
"I sent about 10,000 rupees (222 dollars) per family to all the 52 families. Later I visited the districts and met them. Apart from money, I also counselled them and provided psychiatric help to the children," he said.
Soon Yashki had traded his Fifth Avenue office for the potholed roads of Andhra Pradesh, taking the time in between to telephone New York or, when in cities, link by computer to handle his clients' interests.
Yashki drafted an action plan that included low-interest loans to debt-burdened farmers. The Congress state government implemented the 2.4 billion-dollar package within days of coming to power last month. "Since then, I have been holding block level meetings to see that this money is quickly disbursed to the farmers," he said. -AFP
