No one comes close to PM Narendra Modi: Dom Raja aka Jagdish Chowdhary

Varanasi: The chief cremator at Varanasi, Jagdish Chowdhary, said he has decided to be a proposer for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nomination on Friday as he is the “first PM” who has worked for the poor and the backward of the region.

Chowdhary, known as the ‘Dom Raja’, will be the most significant local personality out of the proposers for the PM, given the message it sends in Kashi from the ghats. At his house on Manikarna Ghat, Chowdhary told ET that Priyanka Gandhi would have stood no chance if she had contested against Modi.

“The way Narendra Modi has done work…no one comes close to him. The best example is Varanasi - look at how the ghats are cleaned day and night,” Chowdhary said.


In the 2017 assembly elections, in an interview to ET, Chowdhary had praised both Modi and Akhilesh Yadav. But this time, he is fully behind Modi. “Jo kaam kar raha hai, ussi ka toh log gungaan karenge naa (people will praise the person who is working). The country has improved under Modi and the poor have got so many benefits,” Chowdhary explained. The family, which has been cremating bodies at the Manikarna Ghat for generations, has also reared many cows in their house. Chowdhary also said that there is no contest in Varanasi and Modi will win by a record margin.

“The way Modi magic is all over the city, there is hardly any hope for any contestant,” he said. When told how Priyanka Gandhi would not be contesting despite much speculation, he said it would have been futile in any case. “She may be a face, but in Varanasi, she would have faced a very difficult task,” he said.