A cry from Karnataka’s poorest region: ‘No schools, no houses, but temples now much bigger’

With the hunger strike entering its second day and state elections barely a week away, several state officials are making a beeline to the protest site, in an effort to resolve the issues raised by Grakoos, which has the capacity to influence voters through its network.

A NOTA campaign by the union in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had seen NOTA finish third in Raichur, with over 14,000 votes. In the 2019 bypolls following the defection of 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs to the BJP, Grakoos had campaigned against the Congress turncoat standing on BJP ticket, Prathapgouda Patil, causing him to lose the Maski seat.

With NREGA being a key source of income, especially for women, in the dry, backward Raichur, from where hundreds of migrant workers travel to cities like Bengaluru and Mangaluru for construction work, the failure of the state government to provide work under the guaranteed job scheme in many villages has emerged as a big concern.

A common refrain heard across Karnataka’s two most backward districts — Raichur and Yadgir — covering 11 Assembly constituencies, is the large number of unemployed educated youths in the villages. “We worked hard to educate our children in the hope that they would not have to struggle like us. But they can’t find jobs, and are forced to take up construction work in the cities,” says Mokshamma, a worker with the union.

In Mamadapur village, barely 10 km from Raichur city, women still have to walk 4 km on an average to fetch a pot of drinking water. There is no high school in the village, nor any buses, resulting in a large number of drop-outs. However, across villages in this region, the state government or local MLAs, cutting across party affiliations, have given facelifts to temples.

“In every village you will find that temples have grown larger, while schools are neglected,” says Krishna Prasad, another Grakoos organiser. “But, in the last four years, not a single house has been built for the poor. Earlier, at least a few dozen houses would be built by the government,” says Mantkal, an agricultural worker in Mamadapur.

Incidentally, Raichur and Yadgir have been categorised one of 112 “aspirational” districts in the country by NITI Aayog, on account of their “lowest composite indicators in terms of health and nutrition, education, agriculture, water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure”.

In Raichur city itself, four people died last year after drinking contaminated piped water. A recent survey revealed that in Yadgir district, nearly 64% of the children below 3 years of age, and nearly 74% of girls and 72% of boys in the age group 3-5, are either stunted, wasted or underweight.

There is little traction for communal issues, though. The RSS has very little presence on ground and Congress, BJP and JD(S) candidates often jump from one party to another. “Communal politics does not work in this region. People see it as a diversion,” says Govind T, a Grakoos organiser.

Issues like changes in reservations for Dalits and ST groups are likely to have more influence on the polls, say locals. Five of the seven Assembly seats in Raichur are reserved — four for STs and one for SCs — while one of the four seats in Yadgir is reserved for SCs.

“The SC Madigas are happy with the internal reservation, while the STs are happy with the 4% hike in reservations for jobs and education legislated by the BJP. Up to 70% of voters from these communities will be influenced by these factors. Some are still sceptical about the reservations, as they haven’t come into force yet,” said Prasad of Grakoos.

In Raichur city, where Muslims are in a majority, former JD(S) MLA Shivaraj Patil won on a BJP ticket in 2018. Even Muslims speak well of Patil, who is again the BJP candidate. “He does not indulge in communal politics, and focuses on development,” says Inayath Hussain, a 75-year-old auto-rickshaw driver.

The Congress has again fielded a Muslim in Raichur city, but replaced former MLA Syed Yasin, who has health problems, with Mohammed Shalam, a little known local contractor and councillor. Locals said Syed Yasin had lost narrowly in both 2013 and 2018 because of the presence of multiple Muslim candidates.

“People are talking about price rise, essential commodities, fertilisers, of no houses being built for the poor in the villages in the last four years. They used to get 7 kg of rice from the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, which is now down to 4 kg,” says N Boseraju, a senior Congress leader.

However, there is concern in the Congress that a lot of Hanuman devotees among the youths may be swayed by BJP’s campaign blitz that has turned a Congress proposal to ban the right-wing Bajrang Dal into an insult to Lord Hanuman.

The BJP national president J P Nadda held a road show in the Lingsugur (SC reserved) segment of Raichur on Friday afternoon for the party’s candidate Manappa Vajjal, a two term former JD(S) MLA. The event featured chants of ‘Jai Bajrangbali’ as part of the new BJP strategy.

Earlier on Thursday, during campaign stops across Yadgir, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Kalyana Karnataka, told voters that the BJP is provoking people by raising religious issues. “When a PM is going from village to village for an MLA election, it shows the BJP is concerned about the outcome. Under the BJP, the poor are getting poorer and the rich, richer. The Congress is needed to bring about a balance. People should not be provoked, despite provocation,” he said in Shorapur constituency of Yadgir.

The Congress is promising to fill 50,000 state government job vacancies that are open to candidates from Kalyana Karnataka — where the Congress had won 21 of 40 seats in 2018.