Chandrababu’s Insensitivity Responsible For Crimes Against Women

Venkataramapuram, Krishna district: During the course of my padayatra today, yet another example of the ruthless manner in which the Chandrababu Naidu has rendered co-operative institutions helpless came to light. Hanuman Junction sugar factory was once a hub of flourishing activity an a source of great prosperity to the sugarcane farmers of the region. Hanuman Co-operative Sugars was founded four decades ago, thanks to the generosity of Adapa Rangayya, a great benefactor of sugarcane farmers of the region who were shareholders. This legendary friend of farmers distributed 100 acres of fertile land among 3000 farmers to found the successful enterprise.

It is widely known that in 2002, Chandrababu was behind the acquisition of this farmers' co-operative by a private entity for a meager 11 crores. What happened to the great sacrifice made by Adapa Rangayya? Land worth hundreds of crores belonging to farmers of the region went into private handsand quite unsupringly, the management declared a lockout claiming losses. Is it a mere coincidence that the takeover, the subsequent lockout on the pretext of losses and the resultant suffering of the farmers took place under chandrababu's watch?

Sahasa Vanitha Award winner and a true braveheart, Janga Lavanya, a software engineer, walked along with me narrating her ordeal. Last February, after she was returning from work, she was attacked by a gang of  hoodlums armed with knives. The brave young techie fought back and despite sustaining grevious injuries, escaped by the skin of her teeth. To her credit, she recovered in real quick time and despite the scars that the experience had on her, she regained her confidence in no time and is back at work.

"Anna, I can never forget the help extended to me by the Tamil Nadu government which responded promptly and cracked the case in no time. I tried to meet the AP chief minister to request him to send a letter of appreciation for the efforts put in by the Tamil Nadu government to ensure justice to a Telugu girl. However, my attempt to meet him proved fruitless," said Lavanya. She was all praise for the TN government and the people of the state who came forward spontaneously to help her. Cutting across party lines, politicians of the state stood by this young girl from a neighbouring state, she pointed out. "I don't know what would have been my fate and whether I would have survived had I been attacked in AP in such a gruesome manner," she shuddered as she said these words. When I heard Lavanya express her misgivings about the safety of women in Andhra Pradesh, I was reminded of the rising number of atrocities against women in the state, which seemed to correspond with the indifference of the chief minister.

A disturbing was truth revealed yesterday by the ADR report according to which, Andhra Pradesh ranked third in the list of states with highest crimes against women. What is worse is that underlying this dubious distinction is the involvement of Ministers and MLAs from the Telugu Desam party in such crimes against hapless women.

The involvement of legislators from the ruling party in call money cases, the unstinted support they get from the official machinery flowing from the top, the Rishiteshwari and vanajakshi episodes and among the most appalling of them all—the disrobing of a poor Dalit woman send a shiver up the collective spine of society. The most disturbing aspect which underscores all these cases is the unwavering support given by the government to those pepetrating such heinous acts. One wonders where Andhra Pradesh is headed!

Another shocking incident which was no less than frightening than the Nirbhaya case was reported from Amaravati yesterday. As I was on my padayatra, I asked our party leader Vasireddy Padma to rush to the aid of the victim.

If you don't act against the perpetrators of crimes committed on women and instead back them, wouldn't there be such unfortunate incidents? Wouldn't these maniacs get more brazen? Is it not incumbent upon the government to take immediate action against such criminals regardless of their social, political standing? Isn't it the responsibility to instil confidence in women by supporting the victims in an unbiased manner in such cases for the number of such incidents to come down?

My poser to the chief minister—Before elections you had repeatedly proclaimed that women would be fearless under your rule. However, atrocities against women have been taken place on an unprecedented scale in your current regime. Isn't your insensitivity and your failure to act against the perpetrators of such crimes responsible for the insecure environment of women in Andhra Pradesh today?

You issue a GO withdrawing all cases filed against your partymen involved in all kinds of crimes. What does this signify?