If Only Chandrababu Had Implemented Arogyasri In Its True Spirit...

Venkatramannagudem, West Godavari District: As I set out on my Padayatra this morning, I came across a child with sparkling eyes. Her name was Durga Devi and she came to me with her maternal uncle in the early hours, waiting just to see me. She suffered a grievous injury to her eye after being hurt by a sickle accidentally, while playing. Doctors had told them that an eye had to be removed and with a heavy heart and a faint ray of hope, they went to Hyderabad.

They were told that the surgery would cost Rs.5 lakhs. Overcome with gloom, they took the help of a local MLA and approached my father, the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy. They thought that he would help them to some extent, but to their surprise not only did my father help them with the total cost of surgery, but found out the details of the surgery through his Personal Assistant and kept track of the developments in her case in the way a father would.

Read: Chandrababu Betrayed Tribal Communities: YS Jagan

Durga’s father was a differently-abled person and a small farmer. Even as I was wondering how God had imposed so many difficulties on this child at such a young age, she said that her family would remain indebted to my father for the rest of their lives. Her face lit up with happiness, as she said this. “We came only to see the son of that great man who is like a God to us," they said.

Three year-old Rohan’s father brought him to me. Rohan, who was congenitally deaf and mute, had met me earlier in Nagari while my Padayatra was moving through Chittoor district. “Anna, we had given up all hope of treatment for our child. The help you extended to us is beyond description and the cochlear implant surgery proved to be successful. We are indebted to you for the rest of our lives," the child’s father said with gratitude. The happiness which I saw on the faces of those children made my day. My determination to strengthen Arogyasri and expand its scope, became even more resolute.

Today at an interactive session with tribal communities, I once again learnt about the various ways in which Chandrababu Naidu had deceived innocent tribals in the state. Their spontaneous outpouring of difficulties saddened me. They told me that my father took care of them as one of their own, while Chandrababu Naidu had nothing other than the sole objective of winning elections in mind. He promised them the moon only to cheat these gullible tribal citizens.

Further down near Prakasaraopalem, a mother took me to a child lying on a cot by the roadside. Lakshmi Padma, this tenth grader, suffered from total kidney failure six months ago. Her mother tried to prod her to look at me saying, “look at Anna, he is here," but the child looked emptily into space. She seemed to have no strength to move her limbs. It was a deeply disturbing sight. It was then that I learnt that due to uncontrolled, high blood pressure, the child had lost her vision. At one stroke, darkness covered the world of this bright child who was very good at her studies. Her tragedy was further compounded by the fact that she had lost her father at a very tender age. It was difficult to make a living out of their traditional occupation of pottery and work was hard to come by as a daily wage labourer for her mother. Moreover, she could not leave behind her child who suffered from kidney failure as well as loss of vision. Mere survival had become a huge challenge for the mother and child. I was shaken to the core at the thought of the burden that life had become for the child and her mother.

I have a question for the chief minister — is it just on your part not to fulfil even one of the 20 promises made to tribals at the time of elections? Is it fair to cheat these gullible tribal communities, just as you betrayed all other communities and groups?