Rahul Gandhi Steps Into Bihar’s Makhana Fields, Puts Spotlight on Exploited Farmers
His trousers rolled up and sleeves folded high, Rahul Gandhi waded barefoot through a waterlogged field in Katihar’s Korha Assembly constituency on Saturday, bending down to pluck makhana — the prized fox nut — as a group of weary farmers stood by, explaining their painstaking and often hazardous work.
This was no casual interaction; it was a carefully symbolic gesture from the Leader of Opposition, who is crisscrossing Bihar on his “Voter Adhikar Yatra” — a campaign aimed at amplifying the voices of those he says have been systematically excluded from both economic growth and political power.
The scene was raw and evocative: farmers standing knee-deep in muddy waters, their sun-baked faces revealing a lifetime of struggle. Gandhi listened quietly, hands on his knees, as they described the centuries-old cultivation process that demands long hours, manual labour, and physical risks, yet yields them little reward.
Later, Gandhi took to social media platform X, posting photographs of his field visit and sharply criticizing the disparity between the global market value of makhana and the meagre earnings of those who cultivate it.
Bihar grows 90% of the world’s makhana, but the farmers and labourers who toil in the sun and rain don’t even earn 1% of the profits,” he wrote.
“In big cities, it sells for ₹1,000–2,000 per kg, but these hardworking people — the very foundation of the industry — get barely anything.
Who are these farmers and labourers? They are mostly Dalits and extremely backward communities.
All the hard work is done by these 99% Bahujans, while the benefit goes to only 1% of middlemen. The vote-stealing government neither values nor cares for them — neither provides them income nor delivers justice.
The right to vote and the right to one’s skill are two sides of the same coin – and we will not let either be taken away.”
Bihar’s makhana industry is a multi-crore trade, and yet, the lives of those at its core remain mired in poverty.
The riverine belts of Mithilanchal in North Bihar are the heart of this production, and cultivation is largely carried out by the Mallah community — a historically marginalised group with deep roots in river-based livelihoods.
They are among Bihar’s most impoverished, yet their expertise sustains nearly the entire global supply of this superfood, which is now a staple in luxury diets around the world.
By choosing to wade into these flooded fields and sit alongside farmers, Rahul Gandhi not only showcased solidarity but also struck at the heart of Bihar’s caste and class disparities.
His visit is a calculated political statement: a direct challenge to the BJP-led NDA government, which has attempted to position itself as a champion of rural development, even as Gandhi accuses it of perpetuating structural exploitation.
With Bihar headed for crucial electoral battles, the Congress leader’s optics-driven field visit signals a renewed Opposition strategy: rooting political messaging in ground realities, amplifying the struggles of Bahujan communities, and calling for systemic reform in agrarian markets that remain deeply skewed in favour of traders and middlemen.
In this narrative of “two coins” — the right to vote and the right to one’s livelihood — Gandhi is drawing a sharp link between electoral justice and economic dignity, seeking to reframe Bihar’s caste-based inequities as an issue of national conscience.
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