WATCH: Bihar’s ‘Graduate Chaiwali’ says her cart confiscated again, will shut shop

Bihar’s famous ‘Graduate Chaiwali’, Priyanka Gupta, has alleged that the Patna Municipal Corporation authorities have repeatedly confiscated her cart despite her having required permission to set up the stall. The economics graduate from Bihar has her stall near Patna Women’s College. In a video that has gone viral, Gupta has said that her stall has been confiscated for the second time and it is misogyny that has led the authorities to harass her. 

“Most of you know me – Graduate Chaiwali…the so-called graduate Chaiwali,” she said in the viral video. “I forgot my limits. I thought I was doing something different in Bihar, which is why you all were supporting me… but this is Bihar. Here women are confined to the kitchen. Girls have no right to move forward,” an inconsolable Gupta said in the video.

She said that there are many carts in Patna, many of which have been set up illegally. People even sell alcohol illegally, she said. But if a girl sets up her own business, then she is harassed over and over, said Gupta. 

“I forgot that I should be confined only to the kitchen, get married and run the household. Doing business is not my right,” Gupta said. 

“I already got permission from the Commissioner to set up my stall there. Then how can my stall be lifted from there over and over without informing? I have lost against the system. Those who have booked my franchise, I am going to them and return their money. I am shutting my company and going home,” she said. 

She said that the Nagar Nigam and system in Bihar “showed her her status” and said that women must only stay and home and do nothing in Bihar. 

In August, Gupta’s stall was seized as part of an anti-encroachment campaign. She reached out to Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to restore her stall, following which her stall was restored. She said that Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav asked her to write a letter to him, and that the Deputy Commissioner of the municipal corporation had also assured her of help. She said she has a licence for the stall. 

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