People Here See Through The Selfish Intentions Of Chandrababu  

Ramannapalem, Visakhapatnam District: My day began with greetings on the occasion of ‘Raksha Bandhan’ from my sister Sharmila, who is in the United States Of America to get her son admitted into college.

I bowed my head in reverence to the memory of the selfless servant of humanity, Mother Theresa, on her birth anniversary. I recalled her immortal words that, “helping hands are much greater than lips that pray.“

As I set out on my Padayatra this morning, there were women party workers on the one hand, and on the other, unmindful of the rain, there were thousands of women lining the Padayatra route, waiting for me. Tying Rakhis and offering sweets, they made the festival of Raksha Bandhan even more special for me. Among them was Shravani, who was both physically and mentally challenged. She could walk with great difficulty and with the help of her mother, managed to tie a Rakhi around my wrist. It was indeed a memorable moment for me. For years they had been going round for pension without success, but as soon as my father came to power, it was sanctioned within a month of their applying. They were also allotted a ‘pukka’ house and all of them had tremendous gratitude for my father.

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The generosity of Vijayamma from Yelamanchili, touched me. She suffered from a difficult lung condition which made her dependent on oxygen support. Vijayamma sent me a cheque of Rs.40,000 for Kerala flood relief work. She wanted her donation to be routed through me to the victims of Kerala floods. I was deeply touched by her generous gesture.

A number of people from villages such as Chinakalavalapalli and Kothapeta, affected by SEZ and naval base met me today. They said that the naval base affected their agricultural activity, left no pastoral land for their cattle to graze and has impacted their dairy farming activities in the region. They said that justice would be rendered to them only if they were treated as displaced people. It is unfortunate that the Chandrababu Naidu government, has turned these villagers into a displaced lot even before it declared the first set of people who were evicted from their villages by acquiring land forcibly, as ‘displaced’.

The villagers of Gorapudi, Vijayaramapuram, and Agraharam Panchayati told me that they were being denied justice. Villagers of SEZ resettlement colony met me. Leaders of the Telugu Desam party were indulging in indiscriminate corruption in the name of resettlement of displaced people. This was the common view of all villagers here.  They pointed out that land was being allotted to ineligible people for construction of houses, while those who are genuinely displaced were ignored.:

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The problems of toddy tappers and workers, as also yadavas and cattle grazers, who lost their land due to land acquisition, were manifold. They had lost their means of livelihood and had no one to turn to, with the government taking over even hills in the region.

The problems faced by fishermen of Pudimadaka, was of another nature. On account of chemicals by factories in SEZ being released into the sea, their fishing activity was getting severely impacted. Their only means of livelihood was under threat because of this problem caused by the release of chemical effluents into the sea.  Their repeated appeals to officials and Telugu Desam party leaders, fell on deaf ears. I was shocked at the indifference of the government machinery.

Is any segment of society happy under Chandrababu Naidu‘s rule? My father had established SEZ here for the all-round development of the region. Though there are thousands of acres still available under it, acquiring land afresh without utilising what is there on hand, clearly shows the diabolical intentions of the Chandrababu government.

I have a question for the chief minister — you have been stalling delivering justice to villagers displaced by the naval base on the pretext that it is the Centre which has to step in. Is this just? In the four years which you spent as an ally of the BJP government, apart from your own selfish demands, did you ever take up the problems of the people of AP? Right from the construction of the capital city to the development of small industries, you have acquired land forcibly from poor villagers. You seem to be driven only by a desire to see that your proxies are benefited in the process by getting land at a throwaway price. Have you ever thought about the common people? How can you have the audacity to claim that 20 lakh rupees of investment has come to Andhra Pradesh? Similarly, how can you claim that 40 lakh jobs have been created in the state? Does it not appear unfair to you to make such claims? Does this not amount to deceiving the people of the state?