My Aim Is To Find A Permanent Place In The Hearts Of The Masses Like My Father

Damodarapuram, Srikakulam district: It was here that 15 years ago on June 11, 2003 to be precise, my father rested for the night in Dandugopalapuram during the course of his Padayatra. It was a pleasant coincidence to stay for one night in the very same place in the same village. This has special significance for me in this long 327 day Padayatra. It was indeed Divine Grace that I could rest here for the night on my birthday eve. I felt as if I was in the presence of my father and that he blessed me on my birthday.

I recalled my father’s words—“only when every impoverished individual smiles with satisfaction will my birthday have real meaning and significance.“ My father carved a niche in the hearts of the masses of the state because his governance was predicated completely upon people- friendly schemes. It is my objective to walk the extra mile to serve the people of the state walking in the footsteps of my father and to create for myself, as he did, a lasting place in the hearts of the masses. This is my resolution on this birthday. Local residents told me that hundreds of cuckoos filled the morning air with the music of their calls when my father stayed here 15 years ago on his Padayatra.

As soon as I stepped out of my camp office, hundreds of people came forward extending birthday greetings to me. I felt happy to know that many of my well-wishers and party workers took up service programs and voluntary work to mark my birthday. They heeded to my call of staying away from ostentatious celebrations in view of the suffering of the common man following the devastation caused by the cyclone.

All along the way, scores of women and children lined the Padayatra route holding out flowers to me and extending their birthday greetings. Some parents made me perform Annaprasanam while others requested me to conduct the ceremony of initiating a child into the world of learning, (Aksharabhyasam) for their children. Their love and affection added to the joy of my birthday.

I learnt that the local minister’s atrocities on Dalits began with a villager, Chukka Gunnamma, of Chakipalli Dalitawada, who lost her husband five years ago. She lived with her only daughter and ran a small shop next to the local Anganwadi. In fact, in the past, it was their family which gave a part of the small piece of land they had for the Anganwadi centre. She has tremendous respect for my father. Gunnamma also became the local Sarpanch. The local leader, as soon as he became a minister, razed her small shop. What is worse is that he ensured that a follower of the TDP put up a shop there. This was purely out of discrimination. Gunnamma turned into a daily-wage labourer left with no alternative. Her widow pension was also stopped for four years. Can anything be more barbaric? There is no village free of such atrocities in this constituency. In the village of Tallavalasa, ten Dalit families having been cultivating four and a half acres of land. They complained that the TDP government turned their land as a part of the lake only out of political hostility towards them. While the pensions of 58 individuals were withdrawn most mercilessly in SB Kothur, the villagers had to go to court to get them restored, they said. The arrogance and headiness of power is such for these TDP leaders that they are using it to torment the poor.

I have a question for the chief minister--beginning with lands in the capital city of Amaravati, down to Neeru-Chettu programs in villages, it is the poor, Dalits and those from weaker sections who are affected under your rule. Is this not true? Is it not a fact that the highest number of atrocities against Dalits have taken place under TDP rule? Who are you trying to fool through your Dalita Tejam?

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