Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 94: TDP Humiliates Dalits, But Deceives Them In The Name Of ‘Dalita Tejam’! 

Pedda Alavalapadu, Prakasam District: Tatapudi Bhushanam is a Sarpanch and a Dalit Sarpanch at that, who had been unanimously elected five years ago. He has been with the ruling TDP from the time of its inception.

Bhushanam has been reduced to being a Sarpanch only in name. The arrogance of the local TDP leaders belonging to the upper castes and their dominance is such that he is not even allowed to sit in his chair in the office! Every single decision is made by the local TDP leader belonging to the upper caste. The poor Dalit Sarpanch has no say in anything and is not allowed to raise his voice. He has to put up with every atrocity and all kinds of injustices passively. Bhushanam has to sign on the dotted line and is always shown his place or where he belongs in the upper caste TDP leaders’ scheme of things. When he rebelled against this high-handedness of the upper caste leaders, several hurdles were placed in his path. His authority to sign on cheques of the school, was withdrawn, he was harassed in the name of his caste and was called cobbler repeatedly as a term of abuse. Panchayat funds were swindled by the leader belonging to the upper caste.

Read: Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 93: Why Do Farmers Always Suffer Losses In Your Rule, Chandrababu?

He was finally removed from office on false pretext using flawed orders. Left with no other option, Bhushanam took to legal recourse and got relief. But even that proved to be of little help. When Bhushanam brought this injustice to the notice of Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh, they did not heed his pleas and remained unmoved.

When he realised that there was no point in continuing in TDP, Bhushanam decided to join the YSRCP. He met me along the way making and mending shoes, expressed his anger and protest at the TDP, and formally joined the YSRCP party. What kind of justice is this? Is this how a Dalit Sarpanch should be tortured? Are their party leaders any different? One of his Cabinet colleagues is believed to have described Dalits as being shabby and ignorant with low IQ levels. If the spirit of true upliftment is missing, what is the point in Chandrababu Naidu talking of Dalita Tejam? You humiliate Dalits and you talk of empowering them! Isn’t this deception?

Akshaya Gold, Agri Gold, Siri Gold—all these scams are examples of public loot. It was the poor and middle classes who suffered the most. Today, some Akshaya gold marketing agents met me and narrated their troubles to me. In 2007, believing what the firm had told them they made many poor people invest in the company. From the time that the company wound up its operations, the worried investors began to hound them. When they met Chandrababu Naidu during the elections, he had promised that if the TDP comes to power their problems would be resolved.

However, once the TDP came to power he did nothing to attend to the issue even though they met him several times. They had all become victims of stress they said. I have raised the issue of Agri Gold victims several times in the assembly and on other fora, including public meetings. People have been pointing a finger at TDP leaders saying that they are behind such dubious firms and fly by night operators.

In the evening, unemployed youth who had completed physical education courses met me and told me they were assured by Chandrababu Naidu that every single school would have a physical education teacher. He had announced that sports culture would be encouraged. He had also promised to implement GO 29 on physical education. However, none of these assurances were met. Not even 200 posts were filled, whereas in contrast, during my father the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure, 2000 vacancies were filled! What the TDP is doing is grave injustice.

False promises and deception are synonymous with the functioning of Chandrababu Naidu. Educational institutions in cramped, congested premises where there is little space for children to move, leave alone play, have been allowed to mushroom. Aren’t these institutions run by the proxies of Chandrababu Naidu? This is precisely why he has betrayed the assurances given to physical education teachers and aspirants.

I have a question for the chief minister—as per the data released by NCRB in 2017, AP stands fourth in states flagged for Dalit atrocities. Isn’t this shameful? Isn’t this a reflection of your insincerity towards serving the poor Dalits? If an elected Dalit representative is mistreated and humiliated, what is the fate of the poor, common Dalit? Aren’t you staging another act of deception now that elections are around the corner in the name of Dalita Tejam?