Mahto with his wife and daughter

Jamshedpur, May 14: Sunil Mahto had a dream. And the JMM leader’s win in the Lok Sabha poll has made it a reality.

Mahto lost to Abha Mahto in the 1999 Lok Sabha election. But now, after almost two decades of long struggle during the Jharkhand movement, 38-year-old Sunil Mahto is thrilled at having become the new Jamshedpur MP.

Having done his schooling from Janata Middle School Gamharia and BCom from Jamshedpur Cooperative College in 1987, Mahto took his first political steps as an activist of the All-Jharkhand Students’ Union (Ajsu), which was then the JMM’s students’ wing. As an Ajsu member and later a JMM leader Mahto had a plethora of legal cases against him during the Jharkhand movement. While most cases have been settled in court, some are still pending.

Mahto was put in jail just before his graduation examination. However, a magistrate granted him permanent bail and got out before his examinations. “I was mentally prepared to answer my graduation papers from jail. But the magistrate was kind enough to grant me bail,” he says as he relaxes at home with his family.

Mahto was eager to study law, but his interest in politics compelled him to leave his course midway. So, politics took away a budding lawyer to give Jharkhand a leader. But that’s not all. What state politics gained, the field of sports lost. As a students Mahto was a highly talented goalkeeper, who impressed several people in the JSA football league. “People always appreciated my prowess as a goalkeeper. However, I hung up my boots as Jharkhand movement took up most of my time. The assassination of JMM founder Nirmal Mahto was also one of the reasons which forced me to say goodbye to soccer,” he adds.

Away from the political arena, Mahto is a doting father to 11-year old Ankita and a caring husband to Suman.

Suman, who once donned Bihar colours as a spiker, looks after the family restaurant in Gamharia. She married Mahto in 1990. “It was an arranged marriage. He is very hard working and mature. He will not utter a word unless it is extremely necessary. Sunil loves simple home-cooked food. Would you believe it, we had chapaati and potato fries for dinner after the poll results were declared and he emerged victorious,” she laughs. “It was after a long time that the family enjoyed a meal together,” she adds.

Halfway though the conversation, Ankita, a Class VI student of Vidyajyoti School in Gamharia, scrambles off Mahto’s lap and leaves the room in a huff. “She is angry because Sunil will be leaving town for a few weeks. She has stays away from him for so long, what with all the campaigning for the poll. Now she wants him to stay,” explains Suman as Mahto, clad in shorts and T-shirt, tries to console his weeping daughter.

The newly-elected MP likes to wear cotton kurtas and pyjamas and leather sandals. “Sometimes he also wears jeans and T-shirt. At home he is always in his shorts and T-shirt,” his wife says.

Mahto appreciates honest and hard working people. “I love meeting villagers for their simplicity and modesty. They are untouched by materialism. I hate dishonesty and people who talk big but do nothing,” he said.