SURAT:

, a

on train, who shot to fame after his video mimicking Indian politicians went viral on social media, has been rendered jobless. Despite his video having been watched by lakhs of people on social media platforms, he is not in a position now to support his family of seven.

Dubey was arrested by Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at Surat railway station on May 31 for unauthorized hawking on train. There was an uproar on social media over his arrest with people alleging that he was held because of his funny comments in the video about politicians. However, Indian Railway authorities denied this and said it was 11th time that Dubey was arrested for hawking. He was sent to jail by a railway court for 10 days for repeated offence, but city police commissioner Satish Sharma helped him get out on bail on June 3.

“I used to earn around Rs20,000 per month by hawking. But I am jobless now as I cannot hawk on trains as everyone knows me now and I may get arrested again. There are policemen in each coach of trains and no hawker can get in,” Dubey told TOI.

Dubey’s father, who was an autorickshaw driver, died of heart attack in 2012. He lives with his mother, wife, two school-going children and two younger brothers, who are studying. His two sisters are married. Dubey, who has studied up to class VIII, is eldest among five siblings. He used to make a trip each daily in trains from Valsad to Surat and return and Valsad to Mumbai and return.

He started hawking in 2005 following on the footsteps of his maternal uncle. “I realized people don’t pay attention to persons simply selling products in trains and so started making jokes five years ago. I make jokes on politicians as people are well versed in it,” he said.

Dubey came to limelight when Manan Desai, a standup comedian from Vadodara, shared his video online. “I had shot the video on February 14 but did not share it since it had political comments and elections were around the corner. I shared it in May-end and it went viral. Dubey is a talented person. We are trying to help him do live performances,” said Desai, who later did couple of videos with Dubey and shared them on social media too.

“I did not know that Desai was a popular comedian when he shot my video. I became popular overnight on social media when he shared it online on May 23. A shop owner in Valsad told me that my video has gone viral after which I contacted Desai and thanked him,” Dubey said, who is now looking forward to offers from entertainment industry to make a new beginning in life.