Yahiya burnt Rs. 23,000 after unable to exchange it.
While the opposition parties in Parliament are taking a divided stand on protesting the government’s decision to ban high denomination currency notes, a small tea vendor in Kerala is showing his anger in a different way.
Yahiya, a 70-year-old tea vendor from Kollam district of Kerala, has shaved off half his head in protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to ban old currency notes of Rupees 500 and 1000. He has pledged not to grow hair until Modi is voted out of power.
The story of Yahiya came to light when Dr. Ashraf Kadakkal, assistant professor at the University of Kerala, on a Facebook post, narrated the story of the tea-stall owner on Sunday. The Facebook post is titled “Mann Ki Baat from a small hotel owner to a former tea vendor.”
“My name is Yahiya. Peers call me Yahi, others prefer calling Yahikkakka. I am nearly 70 years old, a native of Kadakkal Mukkunnam in Kerala’s Kollam district. I live with my wife and two daughters,” says the post.
“When I realized I cannot marry off my daughter from what I make from climbing coconut trees and working in farms, I sold everything I had and went to the Gulf. Nothing but a life of suffering awaited me there, a poor, uneducated man. I came back with whatever little I made. With that money, and a bank loan from Kadakkal Co-operative bank, I got my daughter married,”says the post.
Yahiya runs a small tea shop where he serves different kinds of food including beef and chicken fry to earn a living. He chose to wear a nightie as he was doing everything from cooking to cleaning. “Had I been running this store in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, I would have been hanged,” says the 70-year-old man.
Yahiya’s life took a major turnaround when Narendra Modi announced demonetization on November 8.
“I had Rs 23,000 in cash, all in the demonetised notes. I tried my best to get it exchanged from nearby banks, stood in queues for two days. On the second day, blood sugar level dropped and I almost collapsed. Some Good Samaritans helped me to a government hospital.
“Other than the loan account at the co-operative bank, I don’t have a bank account. Since all transactions at co-operative banks were frozen, I realized I cannot get it deposited anywhere,” added Yahiya.
After realizing that it was not easy to deposit his hard earned money, he returned home, burned entire Rupees 23,000 notes, went to a nearby barber shop, and shaved his head half bald.
“I vow to grow it back only when PM Modiji, the man who, in a jiffy, burnt all my hard work and savings into ashes, is voted out of power and this country is saved.”
The Facebook post ends by saying “This is my pledge and my protest.”
“Dear Yahiyakka, sorry for treating you like a clown all these years. Your protest is so powerful and meaningful that the bandh the strongest party in our state is conducting tomorrow,” Dr. Ashraf says on his post.