Neta Ji's Wife, Who Was A Quiet Schoolteacher Until February, Has Since Become The Unofficial Second Government Of The District And She Is Much More Efficient Than The First One

DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS — Balram Singh Yadav is the elected MLA. His name is on the certificate, the banner, the poster, and the party's official roster. He attends the Vidhansabha sessions, votes on legislation, and makes occasional statements to the press that are drafted by his party's media cell and delivered by Balram with the rehearsed conviction of a man reading a chyron he wrote last week and has mostly forgotten. He is the representative of the people. He is also, increasingly, less the operating authority of his constituency than his wife, who runs it with a specificity and efficiency that Balram has not matched and makes no claim to match, having understood within the first four months of his tenure that Sunita Ji handles things and things get handled.

The saree business opened in March, three weeks after Balram's election. It is called "Sunita Boutique and Emporium" and it is located on the main commercial road of the district town, in a shop whose rent has not been publicly discussed and whose landlord has recently received approvals for a small construction project that had been pending for fourteen months before February. The saree business turned over ₹4.2 lakh in its first year. In its second year, it is on track for ₹58 lakh, which is an increase that the market for sarees in this district does not explain and the affidavit does explain, just not clearly. The affidavit says "trading income from textile business." The textile business is thriving. The district government school where Sunita was teaching Class 7 Hindi has been without a Hindi teacher since March. The students are managing. This is not being managed.

Sunita Ji's real governance function became clear within eight months. Those who need something from the MLA's office — a transfer, an approvals acceleration, a petition forwarded to the right desk — quickly learn that the path to Balram goes through Sunita. Not because she guards access to him. She does not. Balram is accessible, amiable, and perfectly happy to receive constituents and listen and nod and say "dekhte hain" — "we'll see" — which is a phrase that in Indian administrative Hindi means anything from "yes" to "no" to "this depends entirely on what my wife decides after you leave." What they learn, usually by the second visit, is that Sunita Ji's decision is the one that will be implemented. Balram's nod is ceremonial. Sunita's nod is operational.

She sits on the District Women's Welfare Committee, the School Infrastructure Committee, the Mahila Samakhya advisory board, and two other committees whose names change depending on the government scheme they are attached to. She has not been elected to any of these positions. She was appointed. Committees appointing MLAs' wives to advisory positions is not unusual in Indian governance. It is, in fact, so usual that it has its own informal name in district offices: "pativrata posting" — appointment by virtue of marriage. The posting comes with access, with invitations, with a chair on the dais, and with the understanding that the committee's recommendations will receive prompt attention from the district administration, which they do, because Sunita Ji's phone number and Balram ji's phone number are saved in the Collector's contact list under the same entry: "MLA Sahab."

After five years, if Balram loses the election, Sunita will return to teaching Class 7 Hindi at the government school, from which she has been on leave and which has been without a Hindi teacher for five years and has found ways to manage. She will stop getting calls from the Collector's wife. The saree business will continue in some form. The marble floors will remain in the government bungalow, which Balram's successor will move into and which will require, per government records, "minor repairs" before occupation. The next MLA's wife will order the next renovation. The marble is eternal. The power is renewable. The Hindi teacher position remains vacant.