we only survive as a vote bank she asserts but unlike other politicisns she doesnt have to give long speeches but that doesnt faze her as she talks confindently about martin luther king casting herself in the same revolutionary mould her tone reflecting a quiet but unwavering confidence charged by the spirit laxmi leaves home at 5 am travels on campaign extensively and returns only late in the evening to chalk out the next days plans our community contributed to the tea industry but we are still an impoverished lot laxmi is on a mission that goes beyond contesting lok sabha elections on an assam united democratic front audf ticket her opponents are congress heavyweight mani kumar subba and asom gana parishads joeseph toppo a playing field that wont have any pundit betting on her win she quietly disappeared after that to most others she meets laxmis stripping in guwahati is a story of their own suffering so whether she loses or pulls off an upset she says she wont lose sight of the bigger dream of bringing justice and recognition to marginalized sections of societyon november 7 2007 during an adivasi rally in guwahati to seek st status laxmi was stripped and hounded by hoodlums in full public view her campaign is mainly in the tea gardens where the adivasi vote is around 4 lakh of the total 125 lakh but fate had other things in mind and today she has become assams mascot for adivasi rights today she says that incident of shame is her political staff i was in jharkhand last april for a book release function and thats where i first heard of martin luther king she says as others looked on scared a local businessman threw her a jacket and took her to the police the band of supporters that travel with her doortodoor and villagetovillage also seems to be steadily growing a testimony to her resolve kuworigaon assam laxmi orang wasnt supposed to be famous they understand her the odds against laxmi are steep indeed theres a world of difference between the girl who was stripped during a protest in guwahati in 2007 and the one who will make her political debut from tezpur next month