Praja Sankalpa Yatra diary, Day 126: Poor Suffer Due To TDP’s Brazen Discrimination  

Sriramnagar, Guntur district: The TDP discriminates against those who are not a part of its voter base in a way that is beyond imagination. The atrocities inflicted on those whose party affiliations are different, are to be seen to be believed. I learnt this everywhere on my Padayatra and this truth was highlighted once again by the poor of Lam, a village in Tadikonda constituency. The lives of villagers here reflect the policy of discrimination adopted by the TDP government against this segment which depends solely on mining. For years now, these people have been carrying on quarrying strictly as per norms. However using some pretext or the other, TDP men have been trying to displace these poor villagers and deny them their sole means of livelihood. Elsewhere, all regulations are glossed over when it comes to people they want to favour and for the ruling party men to indulge in plunder. It is the hapless poor who are at the receiving end of their unlawful activities.

The Lam Labour Contract Cooperative Society was established 60 years ago. About 600 families belonging to SC, minority and BC communities depend on this for their livelihood. The only reason why these villagers have been targeted is because they are supporters of YSRC. The ruling party has spared no effort to discriminate against these poor families only on the grounds of party affiliation.

Read: YS Jagan Poses Six Questions To Chandrababu

The victims came to me and said, "Anna, the TDP leaders are sparing no effort to get our society scrapped. We had to seek legal help to prevent this from happening, as a result of which officials out of vindictiveness, are trying to get the quarries to close down. 600 families find themselves virtually on the streets and without any means of support. Many people have had to migrate to other places driven by this vengefulness of the TDP leaders. Meanwhile, followers of the MLA are carrying out mining without the requisite permissions. These people came to power only to torture us." Is this how a democracy should function is a question that comes uppermost to one's mind. Is it fair to torment the deprived on the basis of their party affiliation?

One can imagine the scale of illegal quarrying if one tries to put things in perspective. More quarrying has taken place in the last four years than over all the decades since Independence! The illegal quarrying and blasting taking place there have made the lives of the local residents miserable, apart from affecting their health. The TDP government, has however, remained completely indifferent to their plight. Though seven workers at the quarry lost their lives last year, the government has remained callous and unfazed. Blasting in residential areas is reflective of the kind of audacity that even daylight robbers do not have, as the local residents point out.

At a public meeting the other day, I remarked that the YSRCP had been waging a relentless struggle in the Parliament for Special Category Status to AP on an unprecedented scale. I spoke at length on the determination with which our MPs led the struggle in the National Capital. I sought support for the hunger strike our MPs would take up after their resignations and my call has received an overwhelming response.

I saw hundreds of students walking shoulder-to-shoulder with me, holding placards to express their solidarity with my struggle for SCS. I was even more convinced of the fact that people always lend their support and bless those who work with conviction and sincerity. It's shameful to see Chandrababu Naidu play martyr to the cause of SCS to AP, when he had all along worked to bury the issue completely and keep it out of public gaze.

I have a poser for the chief minister—Is it not true that you had ridiculed me in the Assembly when I had compared SCS to a lifeline? Did you not say "What did the Northeastern states gain from SCS? It is of no use." These were your words in the Assembly back then. Now, isn't it rank opportunism for you to claim that SCS is a lifeline for AP in the very same Assembly? Though you are fully aware of the fact that the entire country would sit up and take notice if all the MPs cutting across party lines resign, Isn't it lack of earnestness on your part not to broach the topic of resignations?