Shiv Kumari Gautam doesn't know where Rahul Gandhi is. But she surely wishes that the Amethi MP, who had stayed overnight in her hut along with British politician David Miliband in 2009, had some inkling about her plight.

Unseasonal rain and hailstorm have ruined the wheat she had planned to harvest this season. The money she had spent on seeds and fertiliser cannot be recovered because of the poor quality of the produce. In the end, it's a bleak story for Shiv Kumari and about 1,100 farmers in Amethi's Semra village. Only if Rahul knew.

Bleak story: Shiv Kumari at her house in Semara village in Amethi has had her wheat crop ruined

A case in point is that neither he nor any other Congressmen visited the family of farmer Amarnath Prasad Yadav, who committed suicide here in early March because of crop failure and anxiety over how he would get his four daughters married.

Fresh from a 56-day sojourn where he reportedly contemplated the futures of his party as well as his own, the Congress vice-president had on Monday launched an attack on Narendra Modi's 'suit-boot waali sarkar' for being antifarmer and pro-corporate.

But he was seen wide of the mark, especially since his parliamentary constituency has the dubious distinction of having the per capita income of Rs15,559 as against the state's average of Rs26,698, which is already among the poorest in the country. The national average is Rs74,193 (all figures for 2014-15).

What could Rahul have done? The Amethi parliamentarian can disburse funds to the affected farmers from his MP local area development (MPLAD) scheme to panchayats.

He has released nearly Rs5 crore for solar pumps, interlocking of roads, marriage houses, transformers etc, but done little for the wilting farmers, according to Amethi district magistrate Jagat Raj. Rahul has never brought up the plight of his constituency's farmers in Parliament.

RaGa takes the high ground on the Land Bill

When farmers had been fired upon in Haveri (Karnataka) in June 2008 for demanding fertilisers during the UPA's rule at the Centre, Rahul kept quiet.

He also could have taken up the Amethi farmers' issue with the state government.

But he hasn't even broached the subject with UP's ruling Samajwadi Party, which is a friend of the Congress and was a UPA partner.

Sonia Gandhi had on April 2 written to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav about the plight of farmers in her Rae Bareli constituency, but Rahul hasn't taken any such initiative.

'I have no knowledge about this. Hence I am not in a position to say anything,' Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal told Mail Today. Chandrakant Dube, who is Rahul's representative in Amethi, is now in Delhi.

District Congress president Yogendra Mishra said: 'We have told the district's administrative officers about the misery of these farmers. We can only hope that they will help the affected farmers.'

In Shiv Kumari's village, for instance, Ram Jagat Kashyap had spent Rs6,000 in sowing wheat on 1.50 bighas. But the produce he got was only 25 kg, that too of poor quality. 'This wheat cannot be consumed by humans. In fact, even animals won't touch it.

Shiv Kumari Gautam, a widow, points to her damaged crops. Like several other farmers in Amethi, the future looks bleak for this mother of four

'Despite our plight, no one from the state government or the Centre has visited the village. The Congress activists, who claim that they care for us, are also missing. Rahul should have visited the village to see how we are becoming poorer,' Kashyap said. Shiv Kumari, a widow, had sown wheat this season in her two lands — each of 10 biswa. She had spent Rs 4,000 on seeds and fertiliser. But the produce she got was only 25 kg.

'In a normal season, I would have got about one quintal of grain. Besides, the poor-quality wheat will sell for only Rs 7 per kg and I won't get more than `200 though I had spent Rs 4,000. I don't know where Rahul is. But I feel he should have visited the village to know about our suffering,' she said on Tuesday.

A child at a wheat field in Rahul's constituency

She doesn't expect anything from the Congress vice-president despite his pro-farmer rhetoric. Shiv Kumari knows that despite her celebrity status in the locality — because of Rahul and Miliband's visit on January 14, 2009 — she is a labourer who still toils for another man's land.

She said: 'My husband Lallan Gautam died nine years ago. My kids were very young when the Englishman and Rahul visited my hut. Later, on Rahul's direction, a woman from Mumbai offered me a khadi weaving job.

'A truckload of bricks was also sent to me and I built a single-room house. 'It's because of his initiative that I am a member of the Savera selfhelp group. I deposit `20 per month and can take a loan of Rs 10,000 any day at an interest rate of Rs2 per annum. But I'd rather not take a loan because I won't be able to repay it,' she said.

Prior to the high-profile visit in 2009, her parents used to support her. 'They don't support us now. But my eldest daughter Renu (18) and son Sanni (16) are farm labourers.

'They helped me buy an asbestos sheet to use as roof for our house. I really don't have any complaint against Rahul, except that he made me famous. You can see I am leading a tough life. This year's weather has added to my woes. My family and I are on the verge of collapse,' Shiv Kumari added.

Then British foreign secretary David Miliband (left) visited Amthis in 2009 along with Rahul Gandhi (right)

Uttar Pradesh Mining Minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, who is the Samajwadi Party MLA from Amethi, said relief was on its way. 'It is the state's duty to provide relief to farmers. But the Centre is not helping us financially.

'Still, we have given Rs 1,100 crore to the affected farmers of Uttar Pradesh. As the representative of Amethi farmers in the Assembly, I keep meeting them. But leaders like Rahul Gandhi come here just to win elections,' he said.

Family of Amethi farmer who killed self rues apathy

Amarnath Prasad Yadav of village Chaturbhujpur in Amethi is dead. But no one really cares — neither Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, nor the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP).

Amarnath was 45 when he took his life in early March this year after the standing wheat on his two-bigha land got destroyed by unseasonal rain and hailstorm.

Meera Devi's husband Amarnath Prasad Yadav committed suicide earlier this year

Since then, no one from the Congress, whose vice-president represents Amethi in the Lok Sabha, met the grieving family members. A minister of Uttar Pradesh government did stop by for a minute, only to insult the family with a compensation of Rs 5,000. But why is this apathy?

Apparently, the SP believes that Amarnath was a supporter of the Congress and that, in their eyes, disqualified his family from any meaningful assistance. While the Congress leaders claimed that they did meet the family members, it has been disputed by the villagers. No matter what, in the end there is no succour for all those who Amarnath left behind.

'The ruling party leaders blamed him and his family for voting for the Congress in Lok Sabha polls and refused to help. The Congress leaders didn't visit our village,' said Bhimsen Pandey, a friend of Amarnath. He reminded that Chaturbhujpur is barely 12 km away from Gauriganj, the district headquarters of Amethi, where Rahul's office is located.

'Last week, on his way to some other village to attend an event, state's Mining Minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati had stopped here for about a minute and had given `5,000 as compensation to Meera Devi, the widow of Amarnath. It was like a slap on our face. We wanted to refuse this money but feared he would get angry,' Bhimsen added.

The resentment was echoed by another local, Ugrasen. 'We are suffering because of Rahul. Seventy per cent of the crop was damaged due to rain and hailstorm. District Magistrate Jagat Raj and Sub-Divisional Magistrate Subhash Chandra Prajapati passed through our village more than 20 times after Amarnath committed suicide. But they didn't feel like stopping here to meet the grieving family and provide them some assistance,' he added.

And he has grievances about Rahul Gandhi too. 'In Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said he will fight for the farmers. But it's merely lip service. I don't know why he is away from Amethi. He should have been here. But then he doesn't do anything for us.

Even his representatives are staying away from our village,' Ugrasen said.

Amarnath's wife Meera Devi said, 'I have not even got the postmortem report of my husband. I would have told this to our MP if he was here. My husband was disillusioned after the crop loss because we had to save money for our four daughters. No officer or politician wants to meet us. Minister Prajapati gave me Rs 5,000 which I would have thrown on his face if I was in the normal state of mind.'

'We have to pick the lesser of the two evils'

Rahul Gandhi to Amethi voters on March 15, 2013: 'Each rose that has been used in decoration here at my programme costs Rs5 here. In Lucknow, it may be selling for Rs10 and in New Delhi, for Rs25. But my dream is to see it selling in America. I want to see it decorated on every table in America.'

Rahul in Amethi's Semra village on January 15, 2009: 'The women of Self Help Groups (SHGs) of Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana in Amethi would be sent to foreign countries to learn about community development.'

Forgotten promise: Farmer Raj Kumar Yadav works in the field in Amethi

Fast-forward to 2015. Villagers from Amethi say these were nothing but empty promises of a high-profile politician who is not bothered about the plight of the poor people. 'The rose fields are empty because of the recent hailstorm. Every woman of the SHG is a disguised farmer, but our MP has forgotten his promise to them,' said Karma Devi of Semra village in the constituency.

Raj Kumar Yadav, who works in the field of one Baijnath Singh, an absentee landlord, said: 'I will vote for the Congress in the Lok Sabha and the Samajwadi Party in the Assembly elections. But that doesn't mean that any of them is good for the farmers. We know that they were together between 2009 and 2014. They are two sides of a khota sikka. But that is the problem with Indian democracy. We have to pick the lesser evil.'