Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 50: Why Should People Vote For You, Mr Chandrababu?

Chintaparthi outskirts, Chittoor district: Today is the 50th day of my padayatra. Being with the people on an everyday basis, I did not realize how these 50 days passed. I took my first step from Idupulapaya after a silent prayer at the memorial of my late father on November 6 and then set out to experience on a first-hand basis, the suffering of the masses and to provide some help to them. This yatra has been e resounding success only because of their unflinching support. They have reposed great trust in me and share their problems with me. Despite their untold suffering, they continue to walk alongside me and are my principal source of inspiration.

Today, Papulamma met me at Pulavandlapalli. “I work in the local school as the Swachch Doot and keep the school premises and its washrooms clean. Earlier, I used to get Rs 2000 per month which was stopped a year ago. I lost both my sons and so I take care of their kids. My husband is not in a position to work. Life has become a daily ordeal,” she told me sobbing. This is the condition of a Swachch Doot who keeps the schools neat and clean. This also shows the government’s commitment or lack of it towards cleanliness of the school environs. Even the municipal workers who met me have the same story of neglect to narrate. They are not being paid their salaries for the past several months and even their strikes and protests have failed to move the government. How can common people survive if they are denied wages for months on end?

I also met a group of farmers at Vayalpadu. They told me how the Srikrishnadevaraya Oilseeds Factory was closed by Chandrababu. This unit ensured easy availability of groundnut and sunflower oil. The oilseed farmers in the four districts of Rayalaseema could get remunerative price for their produce. But the government forced the closure of the unit to benefit a handful of private millers and traders. It appears as though there is nothing like concern for farmers in Chandrababu’s lexicon.

In Vayalpadu, I then met Zarina, who brought along her seven-year-old son, a child with paralysed limbs due to a Japanese encephalitis attack. His brain too has been affected. To make matters worse, her husband is no more. She takes care of the boy by doing menial jobs. She was in tears when she told me that she needs at least Rs 1000 to buy medicines for her son. Whose responsibility is it to ensure that people from such a deprived background have access to quality healthcare? Who should ensure their wellbeing?

I had a hearty laugh reading today’s newspaper. I found Chandrababu Naidu’s assertion that people should feel ashamed if they did not vote for him in the next election laughable. The ground reality is that people are deeply ashamed of having voted for him. In fact, after all the betrayals, it is he who should be ashamed of seeking votes.

I have a question for the Chief Minister!! Why should the people vote for you? Is it for your failed promises? Is it because you have forgotten what a government in a welfare state ought to do and have reduced it to becoming a patron of middlemen and those who strip the state of its resources without any moral qualms? Is it to thank you for hiking the prices of everything from power tariff to bus fares? Is it to congratulate you for ensuring that our fuel prices are the highest? Is it for reducing the fair price shops to mere shadows of their former self doling out just rice and nothing else? Should you be elected for diluting Arogya Sri completely and watering down fee reimbursement? Should you be complimented for duping farmers, women and the unemployed? Should people commend you for creating a corrupt network of mafias that goes in the name of Janmabhoomi committee? Is it because of the widespread corruption in everything ranging from sand, soil, liquor, coal contracts, capital area lands to temple lands? Should you be eulogized for non-payment of the interest component of the farm and DWCRA loans? Should you be lauded for mortgaging the interests of the state to wriggle out of the Cash For Vote case?