Name: Pampa Shaw
Age: 39
Profession: Cook, along with rental income, and earnings from co-owned tea-and-snacks stall run by her brother
Education: Class V
Family: Husband Shambhu Nath Shaw, part-time driver and cashier for a local café, and daughter Koyel (17), who appeared for her Higher Secondary examinations this year
Place: Shyambazar
Constituency: Kolkata North
Profession in 2014, 2019: Cook, co-owner of a tea-and-snacks stall
Did she vote in 2014: Yes.
Did she vote in 2019: No, because of name deletion from electoral roll by an EC error
Did Modi deliver on his promise of acche din: To me or anybody that matters to me, no
Why not: My life has barely changed for the better, and I am very well aware that every benefit we received from a government in this time — from Lakshmir Bhandar to Kanyashree — came from Mamata Banerjee’s state government
Has Modi kept his guarantee? If he did, I did not see any signs of it. A temple built somewhere, or a law repealed somewhere else… these things do not make any difference to my life. But decisions such as demonetisation and the ill-planned lockdown at the start of the pandemic caused many problems for us
What is the single biggest change that has taken place since 2014: Way too many people I know talk about religion now, in daily life. There is, sadly, a startling rise in bigotry and Islamophobia, which we never experienced growing up
What is the one issue she would like changed now: Purchasing power must improve. While the prices keep going up, interests keep going down, and the same amount of money lowers in value with each passing day
What she wants from new govt: My daughter, who wants to pursue higher studies and have a flourishing career as an independent woman, should get adequate opportunities. There should also be more financial assistance under various schemes
What she doesn’t want from new govt: Less priority to religion or inconsequential issues such as the citizenship matrix in politics and governance; adequate importance to welfare, infrastructure, and reduction of inequality
Kolkata North votes on June 1
