For the first time since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power six years ago, signs are emerging that his seemingly unshakable hold over legions of migrant workers may be slipping.
Over the last two months reports have poured in from across the country about the suffering of those who lost their incomes almost overnight when Modi announced a nationwide lockdown. Now anger is starting to surface in key states at a leader who just last year won his second term in office with a sweeping majority.
"Why did he abandon us?” Jammun Jha, a textile factory worker who lost his job in the northern town of Noida, asked of Modi. The 50-year-old had been trying late last month to get on a bus to his village, some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) away in the eastern state of Bihar.