Mudragada Padmanabham, the Kapu leader on an indefinite fast to get backward caste (BC) reservation for the social group, has finally relented after 14 days. The impasse was broken when the Andhra Pradesh government decided to release the Kapu agitators accused of setting ablaze bogies of Ratnanchal Express earlier this year on bail.
Padmanabham said that his fight would continue till Chandrababu Naidu fulfilled his own assurance of according BC status to the Kapus.
“We are not demanding anything new. Chandrababu Naidu promised BC status and sought Kapu votes. We believed him and voted for him. So, it is his responsibility to see that Kapus are given BC status as per the timeline he himself announced,” he said after taking the juice. He added that from now onwards, the Kapu JAC (Joint Action Committee) will lead the movement.
Compared to the ordeal of 14-day fast and humiliation at the hands of police, what the Kapu leader achieved was too little. But, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP government’s attitude towards Mudragada and his family members spurred Kapu leaders, belonging to all parties, to unite against the government.
While breaking his fast, the teary-eyed Mudragada narrated how his family suffered humiliation at the hands of police on the day he went on fast. “The police smashed the doors of my house and dragged me to their vehicle to take me to the police station. The police employed filthy language to humiliate my son, daughter-in-law and brother in law. They were beaten by the police,” he said.
Mudragada was not allowed to meet any friend or relative. "I was not even allowed to make calls. Newspapers were disallowed," he said.
Though many Kapu leaders oppose his adventurist politics and eccentricity, Naidu’s rigid attitude to the demands of Kapus helped achieve some semblance of unity among the community leaders against Naidu.
Though the government agreed to seek bail for the Kapu leader, Naidu bluntly rejected Mudragada’s plea that the district collector should offer him lime juice so he could call off of the fast with triumph.
But Naidu is well aware that buckling under Kapu pressure would embolden other sections to demand the implementation of the poll-assurances he had promised them.
Naidu doesn’t want to give an impression to the people that government was browbeaten by Kapus.
“Naidu has given every section of society unattainable assurances during the 2004 election campaign, like the ‘one job or Rs 2000 per month unemployed allowance to every family’. If Kapu demands are conceded, every section might start mounting pressure on the government to meet their demands. This was the reason for the highhanded behaviour of police towards Mudragada family,” said C Ramachandraiah, noted Congress Kapu leader and leader of Opposition in State Legislative Council. Naidu’s move was wrong, he opined.
“The Chief Minister’s attitude was not a matter of state repression against a popular movement. There is something more to it. This is a casteist reaction. He sees the Kapus as a rising political force. So he used disproportionate police force to intimidate Mudragada’s family and the Kapus, even though sitting on fast was a Gandhian and innocuous form of agitation,” he said
Mudragada launched his fast from his Kirlampudi residence in East Godavari district on June 9, protesting the arrests and demanding the withdrawal of cases. But, in less than three hours, the police broke open the doors of his house in a bid to foil the fast and shifted him to a hospital in Rajahmundry.
Mudragada, who continued his fast from the Rajahmundry hospital ever since he was lifted out his residence on June 9, is said to have expressed his willingness to call off the fast following the release of all thirteen members arrested in connection with train burning incident that occurred on January 31, 2016.
As he refused to undergo even the routine medical test, the government started seeking bail for the Kapu leaders. The cases, however, have not yet been withdrawn.
Mudragada was discharged from the hospital this morning. Upon reaching his village, he called off the fast by accepting a glass of lemon juice from his followers.
