A story with a rocky beginning found an “unexpectedly” happy ending in Bihar.
It started on August 27 when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was in Darbhanga during his 14-day ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in the Bihar poll, when his party colleagues organized a motorcycle rally to neighboring Muzaffarpur, 52 km away. Mr Gandhi’s security personnel allegedly took the four-year-old Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle of Sumana Saurabh, 21, the owner of the hotel, after having tea at the Maa Durga Line roadside hotel in the Shahpur area near Mabbi on National Highway 27. The two-wheeler was never returned, sending Mr. Saurabh on a desperate hunt for the “trackless” vehicle. “My lifeline suddenly snapped,” Mr. Saurabh told The Hindu, recalling knocking on every possible door but to no avail.
“I was asked to go to various places — Sitamarhi, Motihari and Dhaka (in East Champaran district). I hired a car and had to spend about ₹ 25,000. I contacted several members of the local Congress, RJD and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties, but did not get any clear answer. I was very worried about the police leader Mabbha I at the Mabbha police station who suggested the complaint of Madan. My motorbike was stolen Finally, exhausted from running from pillar to post, I contacted some local persons on social media who highlighted the story and maybe Rahul Gandhi-ji came to know about it,” said Mr. Saurabh.
Rahul Gandhi’s security personnel allegedly took a Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle belonging to Mr. Suman, who is also the owner of the hotel, after tea at the Maa Durga Line hotel in Shahpur, on the roadside. | Photo credit: Amarnath Tewary
Three days later, he received a call from Chhattisgarh Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, who was camping at a Patna hotel for the closing ceremony of Mr. Gandhi’s yatra on September 1. “He asked me to come to Patna by 7 am on September 1 to receive the keys of the new motorcycle from Rahul Gandhi-ji,” said Mr. Saurabh.
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Mr. Saurabh, along with his father Anil Kumar Rai and others, again hired a car and reached Patna in time, where Mr. Gandhi met him at the Ambedkar statue near the Patna High Court and handed over the keys to a new Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle he had picked up from a shop in the Boring Road area of the state capital.
“I was excited when something unexpected and unprecedented happened to me. I got the same new bike, that too from a political party leader of Rahul Gandhi’s stature. I am thankful to Rahul Gandhi-ji for understanding my concerns. The bike costs more than ₹ 1.5 lakh, which is a big amount for me,” he said, adding that I changed the color of the vehicle and got a new color. My bike used to be a mix of black and blue and this one is black and red.”
A young man lost his bicycle while traveling.
Rahul Gandhi got her a new bike pic.twitter.com/LWDZPnG7fp
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 2, 2025
The Congress party later shared a video of the meeting on its social media.
“I will vote for the RJD candidate,” Mr. Saurabh said when asked about his preference as a voter.
Mr. Saurabh clarified that his family had always been RJD voters when asked if he would vote for RJD’s three-term MLA Lalit Yadav, the Mahagathbandhan candidate from Darbhanga Rural constituency, because party ally Mr. Gandhi had provided him with a new motorcycle.
“I was an RJD voter, even my family voted for this party for a long time – bike or no bike!” he said.
Mr. Saurabh belongs to the Yadav Other Backward Class (OBC) community. According to the Bihar Caste Based Survey Report 2022, Yadavs constitute 14.26% of the total population in the state.
He works at a Samsung showroom in Muriya locality, about eight kilometers from the roadside restaurant he opened for a rent of ₹15,000 “a few months ago” to improve his income. His father-in-law Pritam Rai usually supervises the work at the hotel and Mr. Saurabh stops by for a few hours every morning and evening. His older brother is a teacher.
“We’re all happy now,” he said, smiling slyly at his new vehicle, which he’s proud to drive to work and to the hotel where he checks the books at the end of each day.
Darbhanga goes to polls in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections on November 6. The result will be announced on November 14.
Published – 29 Oct 2025 19:51 IST
