Pesticide bottle in hand, Kapu leader launches fast against CM Naidu

Playing spoilsport with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s triumphant mood, popular Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham today launched his indefinite fast from home at his village Kirlampudi in the East Godavari district. 

Mudragada, a minister of NTR’s cabinet and a former TDP MP, who has been fighting for reservation for Kapus, a community whose demands are similar to those of the Jat community of North India, launched his fast along with his wife. He has shut himself in a room to prevent being forcibly arrest by the police. 

What prompted him to take the fast unto death was the arrest of many leaders, who, according to the police, were involved in the Ratnachal Express burning incident on January 31, 2016.

The fast has its desired effect in that CM Naidu, who was riding on the success of the Nava Nirmana Diksha week, was suitably upset by it.

Stating that the police were arresting innocent people and sending them to jail Mudragada launched his fast today at 9.30 am amid high drama.

Thousands of policemen were deployed in and around the village to prevent members of the Kapu community from reaching the village to express their solidarity with Mudragada.  After some time, the police even tried to arrest them but the hundreds who had gathered around the village asked for copies of an FIR.

Talking to media from his room that was locked up from the inside, Mudragada said if CM Naidu wanted his life for lifting the cases booked against his caste members, he was ready to die fasting. He urged the chief minister not to try to arrest him as he would continue his fast from jail as well.

“Let me die for the sake of the people of my caste who are languishing in poverty. It would be a pleasure for me to die in the fast,” he declared.

Stating that he won’t call off his fast till all the cases booked against Kapus were withdrawn, he displayed a bottle of pesticide and averred that he would consume the poison if police attempted to foil the indefinite fast.

Kapu is a highly visible community in all walks of life in Andhra Pradesh. The community, with its presence in all regions, albeit with different names, sees Kamma, the caste that CM Naidu belongs to, as its rival in politics. 

Let me die for the sake of the people of my caste who are languishing in poverty. It would be a pleasure for me to die in the fast

But, having failed at beating the Kammas in politics, the community leaders started demanding backward caste (BC) status, so that they can become a member of BCs which constitute near half of the state population. 

The dream of many a Kapu leader is to form a social coalition of castes with all other backward castes to come to power in AP.  Movie star Chiranjeevi’s Prajarajyam was the result of that dream. The experiment, however, failed to disengage the backward castes and Scheduled Castes from TDP and Congress.

As Kapu is a land-owning community like the Kamma and Reddy, their attempts to get BC status have not materialised. But the issue has become a powerful poll assurance for all political parties, including TDP.

Naidu’s TDP assured BC status to Kapus during 2014 elections. But there has been no progress after Naidu became chief minister. After Mudragada’s repeated threats in the past two years, Naidu appointed the Kapu commission to study the subject and gather public opinion.

The delay, however, forced Mudragada  to organise a massive Kapu Garjana (Roar of Kapus) on January 31,2016 which ended up in violence and burning of the Ratanchal Express and the local police station. The police now started arresting the Kapu youth who were reportedly involved in the mayhem.

Mudragada said the police had booked 69 cases against him. He says the arrests are only to intimidate the Kapu youth from rallying against the delay in according BC status to his community and that he wanted all cases against him withdrawn.