What is your sense of the feeling on the ground? It looks like both the Congress and BRS are giving each other a tough fight on the ground and contesting against each other on the basis of welfare schemes as well.
It’s not a close fight by any description. It may seem like one visually, because of the amount of money that the BRS is pumping in like the merchandise on the ground. Maybe we are not doing it. We don’t have money for making caps or fancy posters which you see across Hyderabad costing crores of rupees. We have the heart of the people and the resources to help our cadre. What I would like to say is about the difference between the BRS and Congress’s welfare schemes. The BRS’s schemes are a rip-off of the Congress schemes and a copy of our six guarantees. When the Congress brought the six guarantees and Sonia ma announced them, the BRS was the first to criticise us, asking where we would get the money from. Then, within a week, they announced the same guarantees, and it was quite unscrupulous of them because it was in the name of the poor.
It’s quite interesting as when I spoke to the BRS, they called the Congress a ‘copycat’ for copying their welfare schemes to promote your party.
The BRS’s existence today is because of the people from the Congress. Everything that the Congress has announced has been implemented in states, schemes that have been running successfully in Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh as well. One must pick up the performance of the Congress in other states and see who is copying whom. BRS is out of ideas, and they are intellectually bankrupt and financially as well. They have a Rs 5 lakh crore debt, the kind of burden they have brought the state to and can’t even pay their own government employees today. They are talking about us; we have shown our performance. Congress has brought in great schemes that directly impact and help people, including the Mahalakshmi scheme. In this scheme, Rs 2,500 is being paid per woman so that they get the agency to make decisions on their own. We are giving women the financial independence they need. Financial independence and decision-making were important for a woman and that is what the Congress has to offer. In Telangana, we have an Indiramma Illu, which has been standing for years. BRS refurbishes these homes and shows them as its own.
How important is the element of catering to the female electorate?
It is critical, and I am glad it is very critical. Women are central to this election even in my constituency Sanathnagar. As you can see in this basti where we are, all those accompanying me are women. There are large numbers of women, and they have come out in large numbers as the woman candidate is from the Congress and they have confidence in us. This is the confidence they did not have till now and this is the thing that was not seen in Telangana. On the BRS side, there are no women; it is all about two or three people. They don’t have women or gender equality even in their schemes. There is no recognition of women as an independent person. That is very important to me as a political scientist…what importance you give to women and their financial stability. That is not so in BRS. If women vote in the BRS, they are voting invisibly. BRS schemes give them invisibility; they are not seen by the government, not thought of by the government, and not represented by the BRS government or the party.
What in your opinion are women asking from you as a candidate?
It is sad, but here they are asking for proper infrastructure. They are seeking respect and dignity. When we talk about drinking water, the way they have to struggle for basic drinking water even in the heart of Hyderabad is distressing. KT Rama Rao talks about hi-tech city, the BRS is obsessed with it, but the real Hyderabad lives in these gullies you are taking now. These homes are yet to see infrastructure and development. When women talk about issues, they speak about infrastructural issues. It is interesting as usually the issue of infrastructure is seen from a gender perspective as something concerning a man. Women have more opinions about this and they are more concerned as well. Secondly, the financial issue, then the bankruptcy of the BRS government is important. I would like the BRS to argue about this but they cannot. The financial bankruptcy of the state is reflected in every household budget of every citizen. When a woman is expected to balance her household budget, manage her home, and choose where to spend, she is having to bear the brunt of the wrong policies of the BRS government. The most important thing is that she knows it. Where the root of her financial situation comes from. Women understand their budgetary woes come directly from the BRS government’s wrong policies. Every research and study shows that the BRS benefits have gone to those close to the BRS heavyweights, not even to their cadre. This has caused a huge disenchantment.
How do you see the workability of the Karnataka model here in Telangana?
It has to. When we talk of women’s safety and schemes, we look at the welfare schemes with a huge hope not just for the Congress but also for the whole country and every woman in the country.
KTR spoke about a women-oriented manifesto; how do you see it?
Well, the BRS had nine years to do this. They could have brought this manifesto anytime. They should first begin with an explanation on a white paper as to why they failed in these nine years and then talk about a manifesto. The BRS is talking about a women’s manifesto now as it is only now that they are thinking about women who are being assertive in this election. A lot of women even in this constituency Sanathnagar, a lot of women who had not spoken out before are here. They are here campaigning in support of the Congress and against the BRS. So naturally KTR is worried and he thinks a manifesto for women will sort out the problem. First of all, they need to explain to a woman which is a tough thing and she has been affected for nine years. They need to bring out an apology letter, as to why they did not fulfill their schemes.
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