Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 121: Chandrababu, Do You Have The Credibility To Convene An All-Party Meet On SCS?

Sattenapalli, Guntur District: Aruna Kumari of Bhrigubanda met me along with her children this morning, during the course of my Padayatra. She had been an Agri-gold agent and had joined the scheme in full faith. She had not only invested five lakh rupees of her own but had persuaded villagers she knew to also invest Rs.10 lakhs hoping that they would all get higher returns and dividends, as promised. One fine day, the company vanished into thin air. All of them lost everything they had and when they turned to the government for help, instead of being of any assistance to them, it took the side of the offenders. She was being harassed by those who had invested their savings and was under a lot of pressure. This led to the death of her husband due to a heart attack.

“Anna, My son was forced to drop out of school and has now taken to working in the fields. I had to sell an acre of our precious agricultural land to repay the debts I owed and I am now on the brink of poverty. I had applied for widow’s pension, but the Janmabhoomi committee members have to be bribed if my application is to be processed. Left with no option, I gave them the necessary bribe, but even that did not help.” Her plight was pitiful and was yet another illustration of how the insensitive TDP government sacrificed the interests of the poor at the altar of selfishness. Its party leaders eyed the assets of Akshaya Gold and Agri-Gold and were deaf to the pleas of the victims. The children accompanying her were under 10 years of age. They were dressed in the attire of my father, the late Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy. It was a very pleasing sight to see these children dressed in this manner, holding placards which demanded Special Category Status for AP. It is shameful that the rulers lack the awareness these children seem to demonstrate!

I noticed that a child, Poshita, often met me during my Padayatra. She also met me in Delhi. Her parents said, “She feels inspired by your determination and single-mindedness. Therefore, we had come to meet you on more than 20 occasions. We want you to be an ideal, a role model for this child.” I was deeply touched by their words.

Sattenapalli was represented by the great freedom fighter and Gandhian, Vavilala Gopalakrishnaiah for many years. It was ironic that this historic place now became synonymous with corruption. People told me that they were being implicated in false cases, their assets seized and that they were being victimised. Fear was the dominant emotion here. They were afraid of what the authorities would do to harass them. To cite one example, Anganwadi teachers did not come to meet me today, but sent their petition for justice through someone else.

Their appeal read—“Anna, there are about 160 of us. We are being paid a very meagre salary for the hard work we do. We work like slaves for a pittance. We want to come and explain to you in detail about our situation, but are scared of the vengefulness of the TDP leaders. We are being warned that we would lose our jobs and would be implicated in cases if we come and meet you. Anganwadi teachers got together to stage a protest at Amaravati against the betrayal of election promises by the TDP. However, the government using force, descended on us. It did not even consider the fact that women were being harassed in this manner and hauled us away to the police station on the festival day of Ugadi. We were threatened, served notices and were photographed!” This petition filled with anguish shocked me. What sort of harassment is this? What is this law of the jungle?

Chandrababu Naidu convening an all-party meeting for Special Category Status to the state was another shocker! It is similar to a dacoit calling for a meeting to act against robberies! I have a question for the chief minister—do you have the merit or propriety to convene an all party meeting on SCS? Haven’t you opposed the demand for SCS and ridiculed those fighting for it all along? How do you expect people to trust you when you have a history of flip-flops?