Dana Majhi, carrying the corpse of his wife on shoulders for miles, shook the conscience of humanity and defamed the state all over the world, not long ago. But a recent picture of the ‘poor’ tribal Kalahandi man reportedly riding a new motorcycle has taken the Internet by storm!
An unconfirmed photo showing Dana Majhi with his recently-purchased motorcycle has been trending on the internet.
Dana Majhi had grabbed headlines last year for carrying the corpse of his wife for nearly 10 kms from the hospital after he was denied a mortuary van by the hospital authorities in August 2016.
Majhi’s wife, Amangdei, who was suffering from tuberculosis, had died at a government hospital onAugust 24 last year.
With no other help and money, Dana Majhi carried his wife’s body on his shoulder and the incident went on to stoke a huge outrage not only in Odisha but also across the country and outside.
Following outcry, help started to pour in from different quarters including a financial assistance of Rs 9 lakh from Bahrain PM.
Even the administration, often considered insensitive to people’s plight, came to his aid and allotted him a house under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Awas Yojana. The house is under construction and Majhi currently is residing in the village Anganwadi centre.
His three daughters are in a residential school in Bhubaneswar after an educational institute offered to provide them free education. In between, Majhi remarried. His new wife, Alamati Dei, is now pregnant.
All this and more has evidently helped Majhi to dream big. “He (Majhi) told me he has a new house and now needs a motorcycle for going around,” Manoj Agarwal, the owner of the Bhawanipatna Honda showroom, said.
Majhi still cultivates the small patch of land he owns, but neighbours say he is a changed man. “Dana is not the same Dana now. He got all the benefits while we got nothing,” complained Gundal, a Melghar resident.
Majhi, meanwhile, is proud of his new machine. In all senses, it is a case of ‘neighbour’s envy, owner’s pride’. For the moment, Majhi is more concerned that he does not know how to ride a motorbike and has to sit behind his nephew.