Kamma

Will Pawan Kalyan’s Yatra Prove Decisive in Andhra Pradesh?

While the actor-politician will undoubtedly draw crowds, it remains to be see if the Jana Sena Party can convert the support of his fans and the Kapu community into votes for the Telugu Desam Party.

Hyderabad: Jana Sena Party (JSP) supremo and popular actor Pawan Kalyan has sounded the political bugle in Andhra Pradesh for the assembly election in 2024. He is all set to begin his roadshow from East Godavari district on Wednesday, June 14. Interestingly, the first phase of the ‘Varahi Yatra’ will cover 11 key assembly segments where a potentially crucial and captive Kapu caste vote bank is concentrated. While there will undoubtedly be huge crowds, will the actor-politician be able to convert this support into actual votes this time around and transfer them to the benefit of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)?

Pawan Kalyan in the recent past has repeatedly declared that he will ensure anti-incumbency votes are not split. As part of this effort, he joined hands with the TDP and an alliance between them seems a foregone conclusion now. In fact, the surprise meeting between TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi is being seen as the fruition of Kalyan’s efforts to build a united opposition to take on chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The JSP and BJP are already in a formal alliance.

Projecting strength for a better deal?

While the JSP officially contends the yatra is meant to consolidate its base, highly placed sources within the party say it is also a show of strength to negotiate a better deal in future seat-sharing discussions. “The JSP got about 5% vote share in 2019. The crowds that will turn up during the yatra will most definitely help us punch above our weight and negotiate a better deal during seat-sharing discussions,” the source told The Wire.

The TDP thinks otherwise. “We don’t think exerting pressure on us is the agenda of the yatra. Pawan Kalyan has always been clear from the beginning about a YSRCP-mukt Andhra Pradesh. In fact, he was quite accommodating during the informal alliance talks. Moreover, he has said publicly that the JSP’s strength is limited and cautioned his fans and supporters to understand the ground reality and make practical demands,” TDP spokesperson K. Pattabi told The Wire.

The JSP contested 137 of 175 assembly segments in 2019. It retained its deposits in only 16, winning just one seat. Interestingly, the 11 segments to be covered in the first phase of the yatra are from these 16 segments. This suggests a conservative approach, attempting to consolidate the party’s strengths before venturing into other districts. Pattabi thinks this is a good decision. “Even the late YSR [Jagan’s father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy] started began his padayatra in 2003-4 from his stronghold of Idupulapaya,” he told The Wire.

Pawan Kalyan and N. Chandrababu Naidu on January 8, 2023. Photo: Video screengrab

Will the Kapu vote consolidate behind JSP and help TDP?

Pattabi is also confident that the Kapu community, to which Kalyan belongs, will consolidate behind the JSP. Therefore, the TDP will also benefit from a vote transfer. “Jagan Mohan Reddy has always ignored certain communities like the Kammas [the TDP’s core voter base]. He doesn’t even bother to appeal to them. He is doing the same with the Kapu community. Cabinet minister Kodali Nani even said recently that they don’t care for Kapu votes,” he told The Wire.

According to JSP leader Panchakarla Sandeep, both the delta districts of East and West Godavari are strongholds of the party. “Pawan Kalyan has many fans in this belt. Moreover, there is substantial support from Kapus here. But we also have support among the backward communities like Setti Balija and Agnikula Kshatriya (fishermen). Even forward castes like the Kshatriyas support us,” he told The Wire.

Raju Raviteja, a former JSP leader who co-authored the book Ism with Pawan Kalyan detailing the party’s political ideology, believes otherwise. “Kalyan’s attempts to garner Kapu votes against Jagan is a non-starter. At the ground level, Kammas and Kapus are political rivals. It will be a challenge for him to convince them to work together. Moreover, the Kapus feel Pawan Kalyan will sell their interests to the TDP,” he told The Wire.

YSRCP national media advisor Devulapalli Amar agrees with Raviteja. He asked why the Kapus will carry Naidu’s palanquin. “First, Kapus do not vote as a monolith. Second, they will not agree to a combination which will make Naidu the CM, which means they will not work wholeheartedly on the ground for some other leader’s victory. Finally, they know Naidu’s history of political betrayals and the treatment he meted out to the Kapu community after he became the CM in 2014. So, they will be very cautious of him,” he told The Wire.

When asked if the JSP is aware of these challenges, Raju Raviteja said that Kalyan is “too close” to him to “have an objective assessment of the situation”, since his style of leadership is “too impulsive”.

Also Read: Why a Meeting Between Amit Shah and Chandrababu Naidu Says a Lot About BJP’s Fears

What about the fans?

Raju Ravitej believes Pawan Kalyan’s fans are his biggest liability. “His fans are unruly and violent. While Kalyan goes around trying to convince people to vote for him, the behaviour of his fans is convincing people to vote against him. He takes one step forward while his fans push him two steps backwards,” he said.

He added: “Of course, he can rein in his fans to some extent. But he doesn’t want to do that because he wants them to chant his name and use this support to consolidate his position in his own party and overcome elements that rebel against him. Kalyan takes control through organised chaos and the tragedy is that this beats his own organisation hollow, giving him a pyrrhic victory of sorts.”

This raises an important question about Kalyan’s capability to have control over his MLAs if he does manage to win a few seats. Will he be able to stop them from jumping ship to the TDP or YSRCP? In fact, the party’s lone MLA in the current assembly, Rapaka Varaprasad, also distanced himself from the party and is now closely associated with the ruling YSRCP.

Why does the Kapu vote matter?

It matters for three reasons. One, it is estimated that the Kapus constitute about 15-17% of the state’s population. Two, they are desperate for political power and feel a sense of indignation that they have been deliberately kept out of power by the Kammas and Reddys. Three, they are concentrated in geographical pockets with an especially high concentration in East and West Godavari.

The third reason is crucial. A high concentration of vote share in a particular geography tends to convert into a disproportionately high number of seats. This is usually explained by psephologists using the Cube Rule. It refers to a principle in political science that applies to electoral systems using the first-past-the-post (FPTP) method.

More specifically, the ratio of seats won by a political party to the total number of seats is approximately proportional to the cube of the ratio of the number of votes won by the party to the total number of votes.

For instance, this is evident in Karnataka, where the BJP’s vote share has consistently been less than the Congress’s. Yet, the saffron party has sometimes managed to win more seats – simply because its vote base, like the Lingayat community for example, is concentrated in certain large pockets of the state. But the Congress vote bases are spread thinly across the state.

With the TDP and the Kapu community desperate for power, Pawan Kalyan and his ‘Varahi Yatra’ might prove to be decisive in Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh Caste Killing: Fact-Finding Report Accuses Police of Inaction

Y. Hemavathi’s murder in Chittoor district could have been prevented if the police had taken action on complaints filed by the couple, a report says.

New Delhi: The murder of 23-year-old Y. Hemavathi – killed by her parents for marrying out of her caste – could have been prevented if police had not ignored previous complaints made by her and her husband, a fact-finding team has said.

A three-member team of Human Rights Forum visited the Mandipeta-Kotamuru village in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, where Hemavathi – a Kamma woman – was killed on June 28 for marrying Kesavulu, a Dalit man. She was abducted by her parents – Y. Bhaskar Naidu and Y. Varalakshmi – and some relatives, while the couple were returning to their village from a hospital. She was taken to a field, thrashed and killed. She had given birth to a boy just a week before she was murdered.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh: Woman Killed by Parents for Marrying out of Caste

The team said that Hemavathi was abducted previously by her parents, because they objected to her marriage to Kesavulu. The police had refused to file an FIR and also ignored complaints of harassment that the couple and Kesavulu’s family made, the report says. Bhaskar Naidu’s threats had forced the couple to leave their native village and relocate frequently, as they feared their lives were under threat.

Sequence of events

According to the report, the couple fell in love in 2012 and got married in 2017. From the beginning, Hemavathi’s parents did not condone their relationship, forcing them to get married secretly. Hemavathi’s parents filed a kidnapping complaint against Kesavulu with the Palamaner police. This is a common pressure tactic. A few years ago, the Centre argued before the Supreme Court that an FIR should not be registered in such cases before seeking the woman’s view. The Centre’s argument said that complaints should not result in the harassment of couples who have married against the wishes of their parents.

In Hemavathi and Kesavulu’s case, the police apparently “settled” the complaint and sent Hemavathi back to her parents’s home. The fact-finding report says that Hemavathi was beaten up by her parents for marrying Kesavulu.

“A few days later, however, Hemavathi escaped from the house after which she and Kesavulu moved out of their village. Fearing for their safety, they stayed for varying periods of time in Bengaluru, Mogili, Chittoor, Tangalla Agrharam and Bangarupalyam,” the report says. Bhaskar Naidu continued to try and track the couple down, asking Kesavulu’s friends about their whereabouts.

Hemavathi, who discontinued her B.Tech after her marriage, resumed her course in 2018. Her sister Nikhila called her to say she would like to hand over academic certificates. Hemavathi went to meet her alone, as the family did not allow Kesavulu to accompany her. She was abducted by her family and locked up in her parents’s house.

Also Read: ‘Love Will Triumph When Honour Killings Are Prevented. Caste Will Be Annihilated When Love Triumphs’

Kesavulu tried to file a complaint with the Gangavaram police station, but officers refused to file an FIR. They told him he should obtain permission from another Kamma person. “Apart from demanding money, they also said he must go to the Palamaner police station to file the complaint. No FIR was therefore lodged,” the HRF report says. Hemavathi, again managed to escape from captivity and returned to Keshavulu.

In January this year, Hemavathi’s family used casteist slurs against Kesavulu’s father Govindaiah and also attacked him. Govindaiah was working on a road construction project in the village close to Bhaskar Naidu’s house. When Kesavulu, Hemavathi and Govindaiah tried to file a complaint with the Palamaner police station, they were again ignored. Govindaiah was asked to seek permission from the contractor of the CC road project, who was a relative of Bhaskar Naidu, for the complaint to be filed. No FIR was lodged on this occasion also, the report says.

In addition, the report says that two members, also from the Naidu (Kamma) caste, encouraged Hemavathi’s parents to commit the crime. One person allegedly said he would “manage things”, while another provided the family with details of the couple’s movements when they went to the hospital.

Palamaner in Andhra Pradesh. Photo: Google Maps

‘Family was nurturing hate’

“HRF believes that Hemavathi’s killing was not a murder committed in a fit of anger or the spur of the moment. Her family was nurturing hate because she had married a Dalit and intended to teach the couple a lesson,” the fact-finding team noted.

It says the police could have prevented the killing if they had acted upon the complaints they received earlier. “The SC/ST (POA) Act empowers the police to initiate preventive action if they perceive any danger from a non-SC/ST person to a SC/ST person. In this case, the police of the Gangavaram and Palamaner stations, willfully neglected their duties and are therefore culpable,” the report said. It wanted the personnel who neglected their duties to be included in the FIR.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested five members of Hemavathi’s family – her parents and three siblings. All are accused in the killing.

Andhra Pradesh: Woman Killed by Parents for Marrying out of Caste

Hemavathi had given birth to a son a week before she was murdered.

New Delhi: In a case of caste-based ‘honour killing’, a woman was killed on Friday, allegedly by her parents in Usarapenta village of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. Hemavathi, a 23-year-old Kamma woman, married Kesavulu, 25, a Dalit man, against the wishes of the former’s parents two years ago. Hemavathi had given birth to a boy just a week before she was murdered.

The couple had settled in a village called Baireddipalle, as they feared their life was under threat from Hemavathi’s family. The woman’s parents had in the past threatened Kesavulu and his family, news reports said.

A week ago, Hemavathi gave birth to a boy. On Friday, she and her husband visited a hospital in Palamaner, where they had gone for a health check up. While they were returning, they were intercepted by Hemavathi’s parents, Y. Bhaskar Naidu and Varalakshmi, and some relatives. According to the New Indian Express, they thrashed Kesavulu, forcefully abducted Hemavathi and left the infant behind.

“They beat me up and abducted her on a two-wheeler. They said that they were taking her to the police station. However, they took her near my home, killed her and threw her in the well,” Kesavulu told mediapersons.

Also Read: ‘Love Will Triumph When Honour Killings Are Prevented. Caste Will Be Annihilated When Love Triumphs’

After the injured Kesavulu reached his village, he informed people about the attack. The police were also informed and a complaint was filed. During a search, police found Hemavathi’s body in a canal. She was severely injured, and police suspect that she was thrashed with sticks before being killed.

The woman’s family is absconding. Their house was ransacked and a two-wheeler was set on fire, apparently by members of Kesavulu’s family. Police have rushed additional forces to Usarapenta vilage, and a police picket has been set up.

Based on a complaint filed by Kesavulu, a case has been registered under the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and various sections of the IPC. Search teams are on the lookout for all those accused in the crime, police said.

Andhra Pradesh: Why Pawan Kalyan’s Political Debut Flopped

Despite stitching together an alliance with the BSP and Left parties, the Jana Sena could win just one assembly seat.

Naakonchem tikkundi, kaani daanikolekkundi, Ah tikkento chupista, andari lekkalu telustaa. (I am bit mad but there’s a method to my madness. I’ll show what that madness is and will settle scores with everybody).

This was a dialogue delivered by Pawan Kalyan in Gabbar Singh, the Telugu remake of Salman Khan’s Dabangg, released in 2012. Gabbar Singh’s huge success put him on a higher pedestal. Popularly known as ‘Power Star’, he has acted in more than 25 films, mostly with themes such as anti-establishment, rags to riches and family drama. With the success of these films, Pawan Kalyan connected well with student and female audiences.

Like many other Telugu film personalities, Pawan Kalyan announced his entry into politics in 2014, starting the Jana Sena Party (JSP). Politics in Andhra Pradesh is virtually polarised around two castes – Reddys and Kammas. Pawan Kalyan, a Kapu, an agrarian caste, tried to alter the political landscape through his social and ideological interventions.

Also Read: Is Jaganmohan Reddy Serious About Ending Sand Mining in Andhra Pradesh?

Though the party was formed in 2014, he did not contest that year’s state or Lok Sabha elections, but unconditionally supported the BJP-TDP alliance. In the 2019 elections, he aligned with the BSP and the Left, an ideological somersault that prompted critics to question his integrity.

JSP’s campaign

The JSP’s election campaign largely centered around Pawan Kalyan. This self-centered strategy to put himself before social identities and structural factors proved costly to the JSP alliance. Pawan Kalyan lost both the assembly seats he contested, though the constituencies (Gajuwaka, Bhimavaram) are Kapu bastions. His party could win just one of the 175 seats in the Andhra Pradesh assembly.

From the 1950s, Andhra’s political space has been controlled by two social groups – Reddys and Kammas. However, from the 1980s, the Kapus, with relative upward social mobility, started consolidating to compete with Reddys and Kammas in acquiring political power, access to land and control over natural resources. The consolidation process began with Vangaveeti Ranga in the 1980s, who challenged the Kamma economic hegemony in the provincial towns of Andhra Pradesh. He was murdered in 1988, and Mudragada Padmanabham took over.

Later on, Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan’s brother, took over the mantle of Kapu aspirations, In 2009, he formed the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), but could not fulfill the aspirations of the upward social mobile Kapus.

A decade later, Pawan Kalyan’s political debut was immediately hailed as a formidable challenge to the two dominant castes. Political analysts and media felt he could be the kingmaker in Andhra politics. But strangely, even his charisma did not translate into votes and the JSP won a single seat.

Chiranjeevi’s political experiment

This result was in sharp contrast to the PRP’s performance in the 2009 elections. Chiranjeevi’s party, despite having little time to develop grassroots cadre, and for campaigning, still managed to win 18 seats with an 18% vote share. The party’s success was attribute to its adoption of social justice (samajika nyayam) as the principal agenda. This social justice operated at two levels. Firstly, Chiranjeevi tried to fuse several Kapu jatis together (as jati cluster), as has been done from the 1870s. Secondly, he felt that this fusion would lead to unity among Dalits and OBCs, making Kapus the formidable force in Andhra politics.

These hopes did not materialise because of two reasons. The economic and cultural hierarchies among several Kapu jatis, who are spread across the two Telugu states (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), prevented the fusion. The impending social and structural limitations between OBCs and Dalits and Kapus remained as they are. These reasons were also responsible for Chiranjeevi, once hailed as the giant killer, losing in his native place (Palakollu).

The fact that Kapus claim an ambiguous status in the caste hierarchy – sometimes OBC, sometimes upper caste – confused the other stake holders. That the PRP deployed both ‘identity politics’ and ‘representative politics’ at the same to attain hurt its prospects.

Acotr and politician Chiranjeevi. Credit: PTI

Pawan Kalyan instead chose to form a mahagathbandhan by aligning with the BSP and Left parties. This may be an outcome of the discussion of an alliance – popular in universities – between lal salaam (Karl Marx) and neel salaam (Ambedkar). Pawan Kalyan, on several occasions, displayed affinity towards Gaddar and Katti Padmarao, who represents the communist and Dalit ideology in the Telugu states.

While his brother took up the task of uplifting the Dalits, OBCs in the name of social justice, Pawan Kalyan brought communists and Dalits together in the name of ‘social transformation’. Pawan Kalyan, the combination of idealism and pragmatism, evaded the discussion on caste and replaced it with class. But even his attempts failed.

Is there space for alternative politics in AP?

Initially, Pawan Kalyan’s oratory skills and “angry man” image won him many supporters. 2014 was also simmering with the issue of bifurcation. Considering the situation, he supported the BJP-TDP (NDA alliance) in 2014 and nullified the Congress with slogans such as “Congress hatao, desh bachao“. His presence consolidated the Kapu vote bank and was instrumental in making N. Chandrababu Naidu AP’s chief minister.

Also Read: Why Voting Patterns of Farmers in Andhra Pradesh Go Beyond Agricultural Issues

Eventually, he left the NDA and began attacking the BJP, Naidu on failing to deliver the special category status and charging them of corruption. Despite these attacks, he could not maintain his momentum. In fact, he has criticised by opposition parties, calling him a “weekend politician” or even Chandrababu Naidu’s ‘B’ team. During the campaign, he was criticised for not taking on the TDP.

It is evident that a mish-mash of a leader’s charisma, a vote bank and an alliance does not produce results. They have to be diligently stitched together, with complete allegiance, to open up an alternative political space. Pawan Kalyan was unable to grasp the political economy of Andhra Pradesh.

These results show that Andhra politics has space for alternative politics. With persistence, it can be achieved someday, if not today.

Ch. Satish Kumar is an associate professor at Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata.

How Telugu Political Biopics Cherish Memories of Feudalism

Biopics of politicians N.T. Rama Rao and Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy eulogise them, omitting flaws or aspects the audience may consider “immoral”.

With the 2019 general elections as the driving force, the past few months have seen a spate of biographical movies lined up for release. The latest among them, PM Narendra Modi, has run afoul of the Model Code of Conduct and its release has been stayed by the Election Commission. Another film, Lakshmi’s NTR, directed by Ram Gopal Varma has been allowed to be screened in Telangana but not in Andhra Pradesh till the completion of elections. Lakshmi’s NTR is based on former AP chief minister N.T. Rama Rao. However three other films, Yatra, NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu were released as they were deemed not to fall within the purview of the model code of conduct (MCC).

In May 2018, the film Mahanati, directed by Nag Ashwin, was released. A biographical film based on popular Telugu actress Savitri, the film was a blockbuster and drew huge audiences. It was able to withstand competition from even big-budgeted films boasting star power.

Also Read: ‘C/O Kancharapalem’ and the Politics of Unspeakability of Caste

After the tremendous success of Mahanati, NTR’s son Nandamuri Balakrishna announced two biopics: NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu. The former was released on January 9, 2019 and the sequel was released in February 14, 2019.

Ram Gopal Varma’s Lakshmi’s NTR is also based on NTR, but focuses on him after Lakshmi Parvathy (his second wife) enters his life. The movie was meant to be released on March 22, 2019, but the Election Commission and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) did not clear it. After RGV petitioned the Telangana high court, the film was released on March 29, 2019.

Unilateral narrations of complex biographies

Writing biographies or making a biopic is an intricate process of presenting the complexities of human lives. However, the politics of biography/autobiography signifies a careful selection of life events to present them from a particular viewpoint. Almost all contemporary biographical films portray a unilateral dimension of the lives of celebrities. Yatra, a film based on the life of Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy, portrays his padayatra which played a crucial role in bringing him to power in May 2004.

While the film makes implicit remarks about the factionist past of Rajasekhar Reddy’s political career, it explicitly deifies him. It highlights his attempts to understand the grassroots issues and struggles of the rural masses.

Mahanati captured various dimensions of Savitri’s life and struggles to establish herself as a leading actress. However, the film highlights the polygamous and promiscuous husband Gemini Ganesan as the core reason for her tragic death at the age of 49.

While honesty, bravery, patriotism and heroism are projected as the personal qualities of NTR in both NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu, the films do not explore the complex process of caste consolidation of Kammas during the 1970s and 80s. The film highlights the failure of the Congress against the backdrop of Emergency from 1975 to 1977. While the Emergency created unrest among the people, it also helped the process of caste consolidation. Both the films unsurprisingly, make deliberate attempts to glorify NTR as chief minister of AP, but also deflect responsibility for some decisions.

A controversial decision to reduce the age of retirement of state government employees from 58 to 55 years in 1983 led to strong resistance from employees. It is depicted as a decision taken by NTR after being misguided by Bhaskar Rao (his close associate).

Also Read: Review: ‘Landless’ Disrupts the Popular Understanding of Caste and Land Relations

The family planning programme introduced by the Indian state in 1951 has been disseminated using various media in the 1970s. For example, school textbooks praised it as “benefits of a small family”. Distribution of condoms and incentivising tubectomy and vasectomy by the state led middle classes denigrating the lower castes (SC/STs) and Muslims, who were believed to not practice birth control.

NTR had twelve children. However, the film NTR Kathanayakudu avoids any reference to his children. But NTR Mahanayakudu tries to explain the rationale behind his choice. In the film, the political question is relocated to the heterosexual conjugal space. NTR, while his wife is on her deathbed, explains that because their first died to small pox, his wife wanted to give birth to as many children as she could, so the first born might take rebirth in her womb one day.

Lakshmi’s NTR narrates the the actor-politician from the day Lakshmi, a school teacher enters his life. Though the film tries to bring respectability to man-woman relationships outside the realm of marital conjugality, it also presents NTR’s daughters, sons and sons-in-law consistently in a negative light. The film doesn’t explain the reason behind their negative response towards widower NTR’s second marriage. The property question that generally arises in the context of a second marriage has been downplayed.

However, it condemns the various allegations and character assassinations that Lakshmi endures from NTR’s children and sons-in-law. The character of Lakshmi is elevated through a portrayal of a platonic and imperceptible relationship with NTR. NTR’s son-in-law N. Chandrababu Naidu is projected as an important conspirator who overthrows him from the position of CM.

Ideological gaps

It’s important to understand the ideological gap between the contemporary audience and the period in which these films are set. For instance, in Mahanati, Savitri is supposedly the third wife of Gemini Ganesan. The film does not portray the relationship between Gemini Ganesan and Pushpavalli, whose daughter Rekha is a famous Bollywood actress.

Gemini Ganesan’s character says he married his first wife Alamelu, the daughter of his affluent uncle, out of helplessness. He says his family was broke after his father’s death. Therefore, it was a loveless marriage with social and economic commitments. But he also says that he has no love for Pushpavalli (citing no reason) with whom Ganeshan must have had a consensual relationship/marriage. Other than the cursory reference, Pushpavalli is totally absent in the narration. Savitri is portrayed as the second wife and not as the third wife.

However, if the film depicts Savitri as the third wife as she chooses to enter conjugality with Ganeshan who already had two other wives, it might make her appear to be complicit in the “injustice” meted out to those women. This might have put at risk the empathy of the contemporary middle class audience for Savitri.

The contemporary middle class ideology of monogamy constructs “any form of polygamy as injustice to women”. The collective memory of polygamy among Hindu middle classes has been erased in contemporary times with the rise of Hindu nationalism after the 1990s. Thus, the quintessential middle class Hindu is ‘monogamous’ as against the constitutive “other”, the polygamous Muslim male.

Also Read: In Tollywood, the Bottom of the Pyramid Is Leading the #MeToo Movement

However, historically the Hindu middle class man has been known to be polygamous and had access to women through second/third (finite number of) marriages, concubinage, Devdasis, sex workers and lower caste/Dalit women. Historically, monogamy has only been enforced on Brahmin, upper-caste women in order to protect the caste purity. Mahanati is set in the 1950s, a period in which Hindu men could marry any number of women.

The Hindu Marriage Act (1955) prohibits marriage of Hindus whose spouse is alive, thus making polygamy illegal in India since 1956. Even after ruling out polygamy, the cases of second wife or concubinage were so large in number that most of them were dealt at the level of caste panchayats to pronounce “justice” to women in polygamous relations in absence of protection from the law of the state.

The film Ankur directed by Shyam Benegal captures such transformation of traditional society that accommodates the ‘concubine’ in the conjugal life of Hindu male, to the modernity in which Hindu middle class male is ashamed of any public acknowledgement of polygamy and his access of lower-caste women as sanctioned by the caste system.

In contemporary society, any woman who accesses a married man or is accessed by a married man is constructed as being “unjust” to the man’s first wife. The question is not simply being “immoral” or “sexually impure”, but also being complicit in the process of injustice done to the first wife from caste endogamous “arranged marriage”.

This contemporary ideology led to various cases of violence and lynching of ‘second wife’ or ‘concubine’ in past two decades. Though the privileges of social, legal and economic protections are available to the first wife, she is often constructed as the “victim” of polygamy in the modern context, despite the fact that the “second wife” or “concubine” is actually left with no social and economic securities.

Since the contemporary middle classes cannot empathise with a woman who chooses to be the third wife of a man and stigmatises her as being “unjust”, Mahanati chooses to avoid the explicit portrayal of Pushpavalli. Moreover, the film cites the husband’s promiscuity as the reason for Savitri’s death.

A still from the movie Mahanati.

NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu, both portrayed the relationship between NTR and his first wife Tarakam (played by Vidya Balan) as the ideal “love”, placed within the heterosexual, caste-endogamous marital conjugality. Both the films depict an unflinching loyalty of both the husband and wife. The film ends with the death of NTR’s first wife Tarakam in 1984, avoiding the portrayal of the second wife, as depicted in RGV’s Lakshmi’s NTR.

Lakshmi’s NTR is a relief from the ideology of middle class monogamy. A young married woman Lakshmi, is fascinated by the Telugu film star and politician NTR. She deifies him as a god. Her love for NTR is constructed beyond the social boundaries of marital conjugality, wifely devotion, monogamy and the empirical boundaries of the village from where she travels to the city to meet NTR.

Lakshmi loves NTR yet has warm feelings for her husband too. There is no melodrama about her firm decision to legally separate from her first husband to marry NTR. She shows no signs of mental conflict during her decision of remarriage. The film intrigues the middle class audience, who find it difficult to escape from the binaries such as morality/immorality and good woman/bad woman. Lakshmi is a compassionate wife, mother, as well as a devotee of NTR who follows her passion and heart’s desire breaking the boundaries of marriage and motherhood.

Reminiscence of feudalism and caste consolidation

Reddys and Kammas, the landowning castes, have consolidated their caste groups to negotiate their space in electoral politics of the modern democratic state. This forms the backdrop of films like Yatra, NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu. They reimagine the hegemonic power of a particular caste group through to justify nepotism for the “protection and welfare of the larger masses”. On the one hand, leaders like NTR and YSR implicitly consolidate their respective caste groups, in the films. But there is an explicit portrayal of how they are empathetic to marginalised sections.

Also the ‘period film’, as a genre, enables the collective space for audience to cherish memories of feudalism unapologetically. The period film transports the audience into another socio-cultural milieu where there is validity for the ideals that may be unacceptable in contemporary times.

Therefore, hero-worship, fanaticism, aggrandising certain caste identities seem acceptable for the contemporary audience, as it is set in a different time period. Portrayal of NTR’s so called flawless leadership, uncorrupt public face and highly monogamous personal life enables the audience to accept hegemonic feudal figure as the leader and savior of the masses.

These biopics provide a collective momentum for the ideals of consolidation of castes while the larger audience are provided with vindication of lives and achievements of these “heroes” and iconic political figures.

Sowjanya Tamalapakula teaches at TISS, Hyderabad.

Why Voting Patterns of Farmers in Andhra Pradesh Go Beyond Agricultural Issues

Irrigation politics, caste coalition competitors and money power – all three factors play an influential role.

A recent pre-poll survey, conducted days before the first round of voting for the Lok Sabha election, reported farming distress to be a “very real” issue among 10,010 respondents from across 19 states of India.

But the survey also reported that “farming distress might not be much of an electoral issue” to dent the popularity of the incumbent Central government.

Only 6% respondents found “farming related issues” to be the “most important issues” while voting. These farmer respondents are likelier to be from Maharashtra and Haryana than from the remaining 17 states included in the survey.

The findings focus on the Lok Sabha elections, but since they appear within a year or two of farmers’ protests in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Nasik, Maharashtra and Delhi, they raise questions about the concept of viewing farmers as ‘political groups’.

How can we understand the current electoral politics of India’s farmers? My research on farmer politics in Andhra Pradesh (AP), and the concluded assembly elections in that state, offers some clues to how it plays out in the southern state at least.

Farmers’ interests in irrigation and higher incomes

Plenty of evidence — anecdotal and scholarly — points out that farmers participate in state elections with region and locality-specific farm interests. This has been the case in the current Andhra Pradesh assembly elections. But, “farm-related issues” do not include only concerns regarding farming related subsidies, loan or insurance schemes and output prices.

Other economic and social interests also matter to farmers, especially poorer ones, in their voting. In the 2019 AP assembly elections, for instance, farmers have taken seriously their (in)ability to access limited government welfare benefits as particular caste and class groups.

Watch: In Guntur, Dreams of a ‘World Class’ Capital for Andhra Pradesh

The use of ‘money power’ during elections also seem to play a role in the voting choices of poorer farmers.

In the Rayalaseema districts, large and middle farmers from the dominant Reddy and Kamma castes have turned to horticulture since the mid-1980s. In an arid ecology, they have depended on their capacity to invest in costly bore well irrigation to succeed in horticulture. While fruit output prices were relatively low through the 1980s to mid 1990s, they were aided by moderate input prices, particularly of electricity. This equilibrium changed in the late 1990s. Wealthy backward caste (BC) farmers also began to attempt horticulture in lieu of oilseeds production. Only some succeeded in this rush for risky groundwater extraction.

The late 1990s also saw the introduction of economic ‘reforms’ in Andhra Pradesh under the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), starting with increasing electricity tariff. Consequently, for both the wealthy Reddy and Kamma horticulturists – who lead the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the TDP respectively – and the BC farmers, receiving bore-well and power subsidies has been a major political interest.

But, this irrigation politics has come under ecological strain lately. With sparse sub-surface irrigation coverage, groundwater extraction has led to large-scale bore well failures in the area. Scores of middle and small BC farmers have had to destroy their fruit-bearing orchards while richer farmers have sunk additional wells or have purchased water.

Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s Congress government sought to construct canals under its Jal Yagnam programme in 2004, and in some stretches, newly constructed canals have been linked with local tanks and ponds now. But since then, the local irrigation politics has become more polarised. Keen to replace YSR’s legacy of irrigation, TDP leaders have organised Jalasiri Harathi (i.e., paying obeisance to water bodies) programmes in village tanks and ponds across the state since mid-2018.

Reports of TDP supporting farmers obstructing YSRCP leaders from visiting local water bodies have been common during these programmes. BC horticulturists supporting YSRCP have been asked to vote TDP if they wished to use tank waters during the summer months ahead. On its part, the YSRCP has promised ‘free bore wells’ in its 2019 manifesto, if voted to power, enthusing many poor BC farmers in the region.

Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. Credit: Facebook

The politics of managing social exclusions

Irrigation for horticulture has been a major political concern in this arid region, but farmers are also driven by two other social concerns in their voting behavior.

As members of caste groups, they vote to be able to lay claims on the government against the claims of other caste groups whom they consider their ‘competitors’.

In so doing, caste coalitions try defending and commanding local social spaces – from village streets and squares to sub-district spaces and offices – against their competitors.

The dominant Reddys are concentrated in Rayalaseema districts, where they make for 25% of the regional population. They have long constituted the chief vote bank of the Congress and now the YSRCP. To the Reddys, the incumbency of the YSRCP is therefore an opportunity to ‘recover’ their social pre-eminence and economic interests.

Even for small Reddy farmers, recovering this pre-eminence is attractive. It means commanding both ‘respect’ and labour from local BCs and SCs. It also means commanding ‘preferences’ for themselves and their supporters in agricultural and welfare schemes. For some richer Reddys, it means receiving public work contracts, liquor shop licenses, ‘cuts’ in large infrastructure projects, and being posted in key administrative positions as part of the rural bureaucracy.

Many local backward castes and Scheduled Caste peasants have voted against the Congress’s ‘Reddy Raj’ by joining the TDP. But in villages with multiple backward castes, maintaining a homogenous political identity across castes has been difficult among the BCs. The thin and uneven ownership of bore-wells has contributed to this in particular. Relatively well-off horticulturists amongst the backward castes are often the local TDP cadres.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh Government Fails to Live up to Tall Claims on Education

During this 2019 elections, many poor BC famers loyal to the TDP spoke angrily about how government benefits, especially housing and farm subsidies, in their villages had been cornered by a few such leaders and their supporters during the last five years. In some villages, the local TDP leaders countered this charge by saying that they lobbied hard with higher level leaders to get the highest number of beneficiaries from their villages for receiving ‘government benefits’. How could they help if benefits were still too meagre? Overall, the anguish among poor peasants loyal to the TDP was palpable in this election.

The use of money power on the part of the two main political parties aimed to manage these political fault lines. The richer Reddy and Kamma politicians at the regional level have tried to engage the poorer BC and SC castes through monetary incentives at the last moment.

In some backward caste villages, with the exception of party leaders, almost all resident individual voters allegedly received an average of Rs 1,000 from one party, and Rs 500 from another. Poorest voters received a premium of another Rs 2,000-4,000 per family from one party. Dinner parties were additionally thrown for male voters while female voters were paid separately. In other villages, voters complained of receiving less or no money.

The manner of distribution of money sustains two inferences. One, dominant caste party candidates differ in their capacity to command a trusted chain of cadres across villages to distribute money. Second, as voters, farmers make judgements about the level of ‘dissatisfaction’ they have about an incumbent government when they are receiving money for a vote. This time around, TDP leaders were trying to wean back the ‘moderately dissatisfied/fence-sitting’ backward caste supporters. At least some farmers who received money would vote for the party, or at the least, would split their family vote between the two parties. Overall, money-power and (alcohol) was specifically directed at poorer lower caste peasants to influence their voting behavior.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Credit: Special arrangement

The possibilities and limits of field-level politics

As the CSDS survey reveals, the expectations about farm subsidies and higher incomes matter in farmers’ voting choices. Richer farmers tend to highlight such economic interests. Poorer farmers, on the other hand, also seem to evaluate an incumbent party’s welfare distribution record when voting.

But in states like AP, with sharp sub-regional and caste-based inequities, such class-relative expectations often take a regional and caste specific expression. Further, rural welfare schemes have seen a cut-back in the last five years in the state. Farmers in caste groups therefore respond to a composite set of expectations in which the aim of realising higher incomes from farming combines with the aims of receiving welfare benefits and dominating local social spaces.

The distribution of money for electoral advantages has become a reasonable political practice in this sort of agrarian scenario.

Nilotpal Kumar teaches at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. The views expressed here are personal. He is the author of Unraveling Farmer Suicides in India: Egoism and Masculinity in Peasant Life(OUP 2017).

Will the Victims of Caste Violence in Andhra’s Peda Gottipadu Village Get Justice?

Violent clashes between youth from two communities after a minor skirmish led to mob violence that injured many, while the police watched and did nothing.

Peda Gottipadu Dalit Victims’ Struggle Committee demands justice for the victims in front of the Guntur district collectorate. Credit: Matangi Dilip

On January 9 this year, while the whole of Andhra Pradesh was preparing for the upcoming Sankranthi (Pongal) festival, more than 35 civil society organisations representing marginalised castes had gathered under the leadership of senior advocate Santha Kumar before the Guntur district collector’s office to demand justice for the Peda Gottipadu victims. Some of the slogans the agitators raised were “Justice to the Peda Gottipadu victims?”, “Withdraw false cases filed by the police against the victims”, “Arrest the real culprits?”, “Down with the upper casteism”. But why did the agitators gather there and what happened in Peda Gottipadu village?

Minor incident and the flare-up

At the stroke of midnight on new year, two youth belonging to the Dalit Mala caste in Peda Gottipadu village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh were roaming around their village on motorbikes, wishing random people a happy new year. On reaching an area where people of the Rajaka caste (dhobis/washermen) predominantly live, their bikes skidded due to water on the streets. Decorating the front of the houses with rangoli after sprinkling water during the festive season is a tradition in coastal Andhra villages. Two Dhobi women, who were making rangoli at that time, rushed to help the two men. Chiding them, they told them they should have been more careful while riding at night.

When the youth were about to leave after offering their apologies, a group of people from the Kamma caste who were watching the entire incident from their homes suddenly came to the spot and began hurling abuses at the stunned youth. “It appears we are not able to control these Malas anymore! These days every Mala household has a bike and they are roaming everywhere without any check,” a Kamma woman shouted at the top of her voice. Without any warning, all of them began hurling stones and sticks on their bikes. Hearing the commotion, over 20 more Kammas arrived and joined in the assault of the hapless youth. Abandoning their bikes, the youth ran for their lives.

When they reached their Mala hamlet, the youth informed their elders about the incident. The elders, in turn, immediately called the police station at Prathipadu, the mandal headquarters. Interestingly, the police responded immediately and came to the village in the middle of the night. After listening to both the sides, the police asked the Kammas to apologise to the victims on account of their casteist slur. According to the law, insulting Dalits by their caste is a punishable offence under the non-bailable Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. But the police took no such action. The police may have acted in good faith, but as the servants of the state, their conduct is objectionable and unacceptable. The Mala elders went with the police’s suggestion and decided to bury the hatchet. As a result, the two men accepted their apologies and returned to their hamlet. The police, as a precautionary measure, remained in the village to prevent any further fallout.

However, another group of Kammas in the village did not digest the fact that Kammas had apologised to the Malas. After all, the Malas, until a few years ago, depended upon Kamma patronage and support for survival. The group considered it as an insult to their socio-economic and political supremacy in Andhra Pradesh. The same night, they gathered and hatched a plan to avenge the insult to their caste. By early morning on January 1, they mobilised hundreds of Kammas from nearby villages. Armed with two trucks filled with rods, sticks and beer bottles, they were waiting for the right moment to strike. They found the right moment when two Malas – 55-year-old Jonnalagadda Prakash and 51-year-old Jonnalagadda John – went to a barber shop in the village’s main area dominated by the Kammas. The Kammas pounced on them and beat them mercilessly with sticks. One person’s head and legs were severely injured and the other person’s hand was broken. The two injured men were dragged into a dilapidated house and locked up. Later, the Kammas called up the Malas and asked them to take away the injured men. The Malas rushed to rescue the injured men and with the help of police took them to the Government General Hospital in Guntur for treatment.

Dumbstruck Peda Gottipadu Mala Dalits after hearing about the false cases against the victims by the police. Credit: Matangi Dilip

While a good number of Malas were waiting at the hospital, the mob attacked the Mala hamlet with iron rods and sticks. They also threw beer bottles at people who were running for their lives. Such brutality against the helpless and terrified Malas, however, did not seem to have curbed the anger of those whose so-called caste-pride was ‘wounded’ as their people were made to tender an apology. They were hell-bent on teaching a lesson to the Malas, who dared to complain against them to the police. They even molested the Mala women and dragged them by their hair to the roads. The hooligans even entered a church, where many women of the village were offering their prayers on the occasion of the new year. They indulged in indecent acts before them.

The entire episode took place right in front of the village police, who neither tried to stop the mob nor helped the women. It was only when the hooligans left the Mala hamlet after having a free-run, the police imposed Section 144 in the village.

But the question is whether a trivial motorbike incident was the reason behind the caste violence or something else?

Domination vs self respect

Caste-based violence and atrocities against the Dalits by the upper caste are neither a recent phenomenon nor do they take place suddenly. Violence has been used as a weapon against the marginalised communities by the upper castes for several years now. It is employed not just to teach the ‘downtrodden’ a lesson, but also to keep the lower castes in their ‘respective places’ in the society.

In recent years, particularly ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, came to power in the Centre, violence against the Dalits and against the Muslims and other religious minorities has been on the rise. Flogging of Dalits in Gujarat’s Una and the violence against the Dalits in Bhima Koregaon are just two instances that reflect this unfortunate trend. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana too have seen attacks on the Dalits whenever the latter tried to question the social and political domination of the upper castes. The Karamchedu massacre of July 17, 1985, where the Kammas killed six Madiga Dalits for objecting to the pollution of drinking water; massacre in Tsunduru village on August 6, 1991, where the Reddys hacked eight Mala Dalits to death simply because a Mala boy’s feet accidentally touched a Reddy woman in a cinema hall; Rohith Vemula’s suicide on January 17, 2016; and the killing of Manthani Madhukar, a Madiga Dalit youth, on March 14, 2017 by caste Hindus for falling in love with an upper caste woman in Peddapalli district of Telangana – are some of the incidents of violence that reveal the true nature of the Telugu casteist society.

The violence against the Mala Dalits in Peda Gottipadu can be attributed to similar reasons as seen in the above incidents – daring to question the domination of the Kammas. Peda Gottipadu is like any other coastal Andhra village where almost all the majorly populated castes and communities in the state reside. About 2,500 Kamma families, 1,000 Mala Dalit families and 400 Madiga Dalit families reside in the village. A majority of the Kammas are engaged in agricultural businesses as landlords, besides in various profitable businesses, such as liquor and construction.

Until a few years ago, a majority of the Dalits were engaged in agriculture as labourers. It is common knowledge that agriculture labourers, especially the Dalits, are treated worse than slaves by the upper caste landlords in rural areas. A majority of the younger generation from the Dalit community in Peda Gottipadu are educated. Unlike earlier generations, they do not want to suffer casteist humiliations at the hands of the Kamma landlords. They refused to work in the agricultural fields and moved to Guntur town, which is approximately 24 km away from the village, to work in construction, automobile, electrical, carpentry, cabinet-making, painting etc. The Dalit youth from Peda Gottipadu are not only earning their livelihoods but also self-respect that these jobs offer. They have also established the Ambedkar Yuva Jana Sangam or the Ambedkar Youth Association, through which they propagate the philosophy of Ambedkar to fellow Dalits. The association has become a platform for discussions not just on Ambedkar, but also for the village panchayat politics, politics in the state, caste-based sufferings of the Dalits outside their village and so on. The Dalit youth have started questioning the politics and domination of the Kammas in the village. They have questioned the Kammas’ domination in three recent incidents.

Police picket at Peda Gottipadu Mala hamlet. Credit: Vadlamuri Krishna Swaroop

The first incident was about the use of the panchayat funds by the Kammas. Since the Kammas are the majority in the village, it is they who decide on how panchayat money is spent and the kind of developmental works to be taken in the village. However, the Kammas constructed a cement road in their own locality with the money sanctioned for the same in a Dalit locality, and the Mala Dalits caught wind of this. A portion of the tax money collected from the Dalit households was also used for the same. The Dalits questioned their misuse of the funds and the Kammas could not digest the fact they were being questioned by the Malas.

The second incident relates to Janmabhoomi Maa Vooru committees initiated by chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government. During the meetings of these committees, Mala youth questioned the committee members for not giving pensions to the elderly and the differently-abled persons from the Dalit community. What is more, under the programme of Neeru-Chettu (Water-Tree), a programme again initiated by the Naidu government, the Kammas in the village, in the name of supplying water to all the newly-planted saplings, attempted to encroach upon a pond that belonged to the Madiga hamlet. The Mala youth came in support of the Madigas and together, they foiled the Kammas’ attempt. This incident angered the TDP leaders from the Kamma caste, for despite possessing political power both in the village and the state, they could not take control of a pond that belongs to the lower caste Madigas.

The third incident relates to closing down of a liquor shop in the village by the Dalit women. A Kamma, who is one of the main accused in the violence against the Malas, had opened a liquor shop in the village. Prior to the opening of the shop, the villagers had to go to Prathipadu, which is some four km away from the village, to buy alcohol. In a way, the distance seemed to have deterred the villagers from consuming alcohol. But once the liquor shop came inside the village, many Dalit men became regular customers and would spend a large part of their earnings on it. Dalit women then gathered and joined hands to agitate against the liquor shop, and succeeded in closing it down. The owner, enraged at the Dalit women for closing down his business, was perhaps waiting for an opportunity to get even.

The immediate response of the state

Top police officials of the district, instead of arresting the culprits, have admonished the victims. The Mala Dalits were told that the Kammas had to resort to such an action because the Mala youth had misbehaved with the Kamma girls. The entire Mala hamlet was dumbstruck with this sudden unexpected, unconnected and fabricated allegation. What is worse, they even foisted false cases against some Mala youth and threatened the Mala hamlet of dire consequence if they do not come to a ‘settlement’ with the Kammas. The victims, despite threats from the higher officials, do not want to have any kind of settlement with their oppressors. They simply want justice in accordance with the due process of law.

The police even went to the extent of confining the victims in their locality by placing pickets around the Mala hamlet. Further, when civil rights organisations, associations of the marginalised sections and opposition parties, especially the Congress and the Left parties, tried to visit the victims, they were prevented from entering the village and were told that these organisations and associations do to have any ‘business’ in the village. Some of the leaders of these organisations were also arrested in the name of safeguarding the law and order situation. Clearly, these acts of the officials are not just preventing the victims from seeking justice but also leading to their further victimisation. What is more, the refusal to arrest the culprits so far, despite the clear evidence of violence, seems to show that the officials have some kind of clandestine understanding with the mobsters. Their acts are indirectly legitimising the violence against the Malas.

Despite all the suppression, civil society organisations are making every effort to secure justice for the Peda Gottipadu victims. Will they succeed in their efforts?

Sambaiah Gundimeda teaches at the School of Policy & Governance, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.

Violence Subsides in Coastal Andhra But the Caste Fire Still Simmers

The growing demand for including the prosperous Kapu community in the list of Other Backward Castes is a growing headache for state chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu

Agitators belonging to the Kapu caste set fire to the Ratnachal Express when it halted at Tuni railway station in East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. Credit: PTI

Coastal Andhra Pradesh was peaceful on Monday after the arson and violence the day before when former minister Mudragada Padmanabham revived his decades-old demand for inclusion of the Kapu community in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

He suspended the massive protests after the shock and widespread condemnation evoked by the torching of the Ratnachal Express train, besides 25 vehicles and a police station. However, the maverick leader, now camping in his Kirlampudi village, threatened to launch an indefinite fast that he would end only after the government issued orders giving reservations for the Kapus.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was busy campaigning for his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls when violence suddenly erupted in Tuni in the East Godavari district and spiralled out of control by evening, indicating woeful intelligence gathering by police.

It brought central coastal Andhra down on its knees by paralysing rail and road traffic on the crucial Kolkata-Chennai route. Terror-stricken passengers, particularly women, jumped out of Ratnachal Express to save their lives as protesters set bogie after bogie as well as the engine on fire.

A shaken Naidu rushed to Vijayawada to take stock of the situation and indirectly blamed YSR Congress president Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy for instigating the violence which was apparently pre-planned. “A criminal was behind this”, Naidu said and hinted that the Congress too had a hand in it. “They planted mischief mongers amidst the crowds (to burn public property),” he claimed.

TDP failure

But Naidu should also apportion the blame to his partymen for their abject failure in sensing the discontent brewing among the Kapus when Mudragada gave the call for ‘Kapu Aikya Garjana’ on January 31. They were perhaps lulled into complacence by the TDP’s good performance in the 2014 elections, when it bagged 28 out of 34 Assembly seats in Kapu-dominated East and Godavari districts. The party had belied forecasts that Kapus would plump for Jagan overwhelmingly.

Though a past-master in the game of mobilising for political rallies and launching fasts, Mudragada gave no advance notice of a rail or rasta roko agitation this time round. He simply gave a call to block the roads and railway lines after addressing a meeting. Giving it back to Naidu, Mudragada accused ‘bad elements’ enjoying TDP’s patronage for burning the train. “Never in the past have my agitations turned violent. My supporters won’t lift a finger without my orders”.

Mudragada may enjoy the unflinching loyalty of his supporters but his image as an upright and uncompromising Kapu leader has been dented over the years. In his four decade-long career, he has performed many political somersaults by swinging back and forth from the TDP to the Congress, depending on which way the wind was blowing.

Traditional Kapus-Kamma rift

Kapus and Kammas have not enjoyed a great political equation over the years and the former’s support to the TDP led by Naidu, a Kamma, in 2014 came as a surprise. Violent clashes between the two communities swept swathes of Andhra following the assassination of Vangaveeti Ranga, a Kapu leader in Vijayawada in December 1988. Both are influential land-owning communities, with Kapus, who can boast of stars like Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan, accounting for 28% of the state’s population.

Kapus are comparable to the Gujjars of Rajasthan and Patels of Gujarat not merely because of their common demand for reservations but also for being agrarian communities. The shrewd politician that he is, Naidu promised reservations for Kapus and a Rs.1,000 crore fund annually for their welfare to woo the community.

These promises were forgotten once Naidu became chief minister. He constituted a Kapu Welfare and Development Corporation with a Rs. 100 crore corpus – a far cry from the sum he had promised. Subsequently, under pressure, he instituted the Manjunath Commission to suggest guidelines for the inclusion of Kapus in the OBC category with the caveat that it should submit its report within nine months.

Reservations for Kapus is easier said than done because of the cap enforced by the Supreme Court. At the fag end of its term in 1994 after which it lost power to the TDP, the Congress government issued vague and imprecise orders for introducing reservations for Kapus.

“I can also issue such orders tomorrow. Will the Kapu leaders take the responsibility if these reservations are struck down by a court or if protests are raised by communities pre-existing in the OBC list? Moreover, how can the government allot Rs.1000 crore for Kapu welfare when it doesn’t have money to pay salaries to its staff”, Naidu said.

‘It’s all lies’

Mudragada retorted that all this was a fabric of lies since the government had spent a whopping Rs. 1400 crore on Pattiseema, a project for diversion of Godavari water into the Krishna basin, and when Naidu was travelling lavishly within India and abroad on chartered jets. “We don’t want to deprive BCs of their quota (29%). We demand reservations from the general category”, he said.

It won’t be long before the conflagration assumes political dimensions as parties begin jockeying to capture the Kapu vote bank. The BJP has kept a distance from the incendiary caste conflicts in coastal Andhra. Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the violence would only harm the Kapus’ cause.

Down and out since voters delivered it a knockout punch in 2014, the Congress will extend support to Mudragada in the hope of revival. It would be interesting to track Jaganmohan Reddy’s moves as he has the most to benefit from the fresh churning in the Kapu community. After Hyderabad, where parties exploited caste divisions to the hilt after Rohith Vemula’s suicide, it is Andhra’s turn now to become the battleground for caste politics.