MADIGAS MOVEMENT
Adijambava Arundatiya South India Federation
was established in 1990, Bangalore as their head quarters to organize the
madigas of south India to fight for their rights. Sri Manjunath was elected as
president. Dr N Venkata Swamy IAS (Retd) and Dr Manda Jagannath of AP were
elected as president and General Secretary of AP branch.
Adijambava Arundatiya South India Federation
wing of AP organized three successful public meetings. The then Chief Minister
of AP, N Janardhan Reddy promised to do justice to Madigas. First notable
meeting was held on 12th June 1992 at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad.
A very significant meeting organized by
federation was held on 30th may 1994 at Nizam college grounds, Hyderabad
The chief guest was the then Chief Minister
of AP Sri Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and many ministers, MLA’s and leaders of
Madiga community were invited. Dr N Venkataswamy, Dr. Manda Jaganath and many
other prominent Madiga leaders have arranged this meeting,the leaders from
various districts have attended. This meeting was considered futile as the
leaders did not touch the categorisation of the SC reservations for which the
Madiga multitude aspired. The Madiga youth, who had attended the meeting got
disillusioned there, and their hopes scattered. Few days after this public
meeting was Koneru Rangarao, a Madiga MLA was made Dy.Chief minister by
congress party with the sole purpose of retaining the madigas with the congress
party. It bears clear testimony to the fact madiga leaders of the federation worked
as organisation of intellectuals entered into bargaining politics and were
successful in capturing some political space at various levels. The distrust of
Madigas has later a form of MRPS.
MRPS :
The MRPS was established on 7 June 1994 in a
village Eedumudi of Naguluppdu Mandal in Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh
with 13 members of Madiga youth. The founder of Madiga Reservation Porata
Samithi (MRPS) is Manda Krishna Madiga. The Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi
is a community organisation of Madigas, one of the biggest scheduled caste in Telangana
and Andhra Pradesh proclaiming for reservations. The Madiga Reservation Porata
Samithi (MRPS) was conceived with an ideology of liberation of Madigas, categorisation
of SC reservation in order to provide the fruits of reservations equally for
all those who are included in the list of scheduled castes.
The Activities of the MRPS:
MRPS activists proclaimed their efforts as
Dandora movement. The madiga’s Dandora movement has evoked tremendous response
from the madigas in a short span with their activities, as it has penetrated in
rural madigawadas and mobilized their support to various dandora rallies and
meetings.
The madiga movement entered its struggle
phase with Dandora. This phase was led by unemployed full time activists with
different out look on disabilities suffered by the madigas in the traditional
socio-economic and political structure. They resolved to adopt the philosophy
of Dr B.R.Ambedkar and Babu Jagajeevan Ram as the guiding spirit for madiga rights.
Opposing inequalities and fighting for equal
distribution of reservation benefits, the Dandora organised number of
programmes demanding categorization of SC reservations into ABCD groups, which
will benefit equally for all schedule castes.
The first meeting of the MRPS was conducted
on 31May 1995 in Ongole. Mrs TN Sadalakshmi former minister was the Chief
Guest; and about 70,000 people had attended.
Then the MRPS conduct regional public meeting
in Visakhapatnam on 28 September 1995 with 40,000 madigas. Madigas from
Srikakulam to West Godawari districts attended the meeting.
The public meeting conducted on 25 october
1995 in Nellore with 35,000 madigas showed the momentum for categorisation.
MRPS conducted rally and public meeting on 25
November 1995 in Vijayawada and 8 January 1996 in Kurnool with thousands of
Madiga people along with social movement MRPS developed its organisational
structure. After conducting regional meetings, it formed the wings like Madiga
Employees Federation (MEF), Madiga Students Federation (MSF), Madiga Yuva
Sena(MYS) and Madiga Mahila Samkya(MMS) and made itself as powerful
organisation.
Chalo Hyderabad-2 March 1996:
The first state level meeting was conducted
with about 5 lakhs of madigas by the
MRPS under the leadership of Manda Krishna Madiga on 2-3-1996, at Nizam
college grounds, Hyderabad. Before this
meeting the MRPS leaders conducted meetings through out the state. This public
meeting Dandora crystalised the public opinion in favour of categorization of
SCs into ABCD groups. In this meeting all the intellectual and political
leaders of Madiga community members of all political parties had participated.
T.N Sadalaxmi, Bangaru Laxman, Koneru Rangarao, Motkupalli Narsimhulu, Matangi
Narasayya, Nallagantla Swamy Das etc are few among them.
This meeting explained the problems of the
madigas to the society and demanded for solution. This meeting dominantly
exhibited the strength of the madigas, unity of the madigas and the feel and
need of the SC categorisation. The meeting was a grand success and became a
stepping stone to achieve the goal of ABCD through categorisation.
Madigala Atmagourava Pradarsana-25 March 1996 :
A public meeting was conducted at Babu
Jagjeevan Ram statue at Nizam college, Hyderabad with 80,000 Madigas. This
program was a rally, followed by a meeting. The then Chief Minister Nara
Chandra Babu Naidu and Madiga ministers attended the meeting and the CM
promised to categorise SC reservation to avoid injustice in implimentation of
SC reservations.
Chalo Assembly-2 September1996 :
On September 2, 1996, more than 2 lakhs
Madigas from various districts of Andhra Pradesh took part in a massive rally
from Indira Park to the Babu Jagjivan Ram statue in Basheerbagh area,
Hyderabad. Bearing the continuous rain, they stood firmly in front of the
statue and staged a Dharna. MRPS demanded that CM Chandrababu Naidu should come
to the stage and announce classification, and stood firmly until the evening.
Occasional rain tested the grit of the demonstrators. But nothing seemed to
deter the determination of the Madigas. They continued to stand there. At
around 6pm the government sent a delegation of Madiga legislators from the
ruling Telugu Desam Party, Manda Jagannatham, Rajaiah and Sudarshan, to assure
the people that the Government was committed to do justice for the Madigas.
They also mentioned the CM’s announcement in
the Legislative Assembly, early in the morning that day, about a commission set
up to inquire into their demand. The demonstrators were hardly convinced and
forced the delegates to leave the stage.
When his delegates failed to convince the
demonstrators it fell upon the CM’s own shoulders to take charge of the
situation directly. At about 10pm Madiga leaders received a call from the CM’s
residence that he wanted to see them. On reaching there, he assured them of a
commission of inquiry and categorisation within 45 days. Accordingly Govt of AP
formed a commission.
The Dandora movement was successful in
forcing the Government to appoint Justice P.Ramachandra Raju commission for
inquiry to look into the differential benefits of reservation by Mala and
Madiga subcastes and to recommend the need for categorization of SC’s into
groups for equal distribution of reservation benefits.
The wing of MRPS, Madiga Mahila Samakya
convened a meeting at Yadagirigutta on 8 October 1996, Madiga Employees
Federation held meeting at Hanmakonda on 12 January 1997, Madiga Students
Federation organised a meeting at Visakhapatnam on 2 March 1997 were to strengthen
the MRPS.
Madiga Maha Padayatra 14-4-1997-06-06-1997
(Naravaripalle- Hyderabad):
The Mahapadayatra (long march) was a novel
method adopted by Dandora to shape public opinion in support of
categorization.The movement spread to every nook and corner of the state. The
leader of Dandora movement Manda Krishna Madiga marched for 1052 kms starting
from naravaripalle, the native village of the then Chief Minister N Chandra
Babu Naidu, to his official residence in Hyderabad. This Maha Padayatra revealed
massive response of madiga community to the call given by their leader.
14 April 1997, on the birth anniversary of
Dr.Ambedkar, the Dandora leadership has reached Naravaripalle, the CM
Chandrababu Naidu’s village in Chittoor district. Before they embarked upon the
Yatra they submitted a memorandum to Smt N. Ammanamma, mother of the CM.
The network of Madiga Yuvasena is so
extensive that they work as the courier system conveying the information about
where the group would stop for lunch or halt for the night. The host Madiga
villagers organised lunch and dinner. About 500 people marched together. About
300 of them are people of one village, who escorted the group to the next
village, people of the next village has taken over the march from them.Their
legs have swollen and have blisters, yet they walked with determination, about
20 to 30 kilometres a day, in order to awaken the Madigas. Mr Manda Krishna,
who has taken the suffix ‘Madiga’, led this group.
Madiga Maha Pada Yatra was acclaimed as a
march not only for the rights of the Madigas but also for the rights of every
marginalised caste and community for their ‘due share’. In the meanwhile the
commission submitted its report to the Govt. on 28-5-1997. On the last day of
the Maha Padayatra June 6th 1997 Krishna Madiga reached Hyderabad along with
lakhs of madigas and proved Dandora to be a pioneering social movement in
contemporary India.
when the Mahapadayatra ended at Hyderabad on
6-6-1997, the dandora leaders threatened not to disperse from the capital until
the government concedes their demand. After having witnessed the popular
support to the madigas and on the report of the commission the TDP government
issued orders categorizing SC reservations into ABCD.
The Govt immediately respond to the
commission recommendations and released a GO classifying the reservations among
the SCs in education and employment sectors.
The Mala Mahanadu have filed writ petition
challenging the G.O. classifying SC reservations in the High Court. The court
has suspend the G.O. on technical reasons. To rectify the technical problems
the state govt contacted the National SC/ST Commission, New Delhi and submitted
all the information and received the opinion of the commission on 25-8-98. On
1-10-1998 the Govt. decided to give ordinance on categorisation. The cabinet
has agreed and it was sent to Governor of AP (Sri C.Rangarajan); The Governor
has sent that to President of India’s opinion (Sri K.R.Narayan). On 30-11-99
the President of India has agreed and given permission to issue ordinance to
categorisation. On 9-12-99 the Governor issued ordinance, on that basis
the state Govt issued G.O. on 1-4-2000. The Mala Mahanadu filed a writ petition
in Supreme Court against G.O. After completion of all the discussions, the
Supreme Court issued judgement and dismissed the categorisation G.O.on
5-11-2004, based on technical reasons like state has no power to do
categorisation and the Parliament is only capable to do so.
After Supreme Court judgement all national
and regional parties demanded for constitutional amendment immediately in the
parliament. The MRPS again announced different programmes as a part of
agitation.
Chaitanya Yatra 16-11-2004 to 13-12-2004:
Chaitanya Yatra started from Y.S.Rajasekar
Reddy birth place Balapanur at Kadapa district on 16-11-2004 and submitted a
memorandum to Y.S.Jayamma mother of Y.S.Rajasekar Reddy. Krishna Madiga
travelled entire state on jeep covering all districts and reached Hyderabad on
13-12-2004. The state Govt. made an unanimous resolution on SC categorisation
in assembly on 10-12- 2004. The Govt. of AP sent unanimous assembly resolution
for SC reservation categorisation to Govt. of India. MRPS conducted a meeting
at Indira Park, for which Nara Chandra Babu Naidu (TDP), Bandaru
Dathatreya(BJP), and many other leaders attended.
Madigala Dharma Yuddha Maha Padayatra (Bangalore
-Hyderabad) 18-4-2005 to 11-06-2005 :
MRPS planned another Long March, starting
from Bangalore to Nizam college, Hyderabad. It concluded after completion of 55
days of walk. The meeting marked the culmination of 1600 km, ‘Madigala Dharma
Yuddha Maha Padayatra’ undertaken by Manda Krishna Madiga from Bangalore. Lakhs
of madiga people gathered for the meeting not only from AP but also from
Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Maharastra.
The meeting flayed the State government for
ignoring the plea by Madigas to bring pressure on the Central Govt. to
introduce the bill for the sub-categorisation. Manda Krishna Madiga, served an
ultimatum allowing 12 hours for the government to announce the date on which an
all-party delegation would go to Delhi to persuade Central Govt. on the
scheduled caste sub-categorisation. He announced his decision to stay with his
followers at the Nizam college grounds, until government decision on the
delegation is declared. Responding to the call of Krishna Madiga, lakhs of MRPS
Activists refused to vacate the venue of the public meeting.
He accused the Chief Minister, Y. S.
Rajasekhara Reddy, and the veteran Congress leader, G. Venkatswamy, of
scuttling the efforts of MRPS to seek sub-categorisation. He questioned why Dr.
Reddy failed to persuade the Centre to introduce a bill in Parliament on
sub-categorisation. Only after acceptance from CM to send all-party delegation
to Delhi, this meeting was concluded.
Kurukhestra Mahasabha:
The State Govt. of AP planned to conduct AICC
pleenary meetings on 21-1-2006 at Hyderabad. Congress President Smt Sonia
Gandhi, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and other top Congress Party leaders
are attending pleenary. The MRPS announced meeting Kurukshetra Mahasabha at
Hyderabad for constitutional amendment in parliament on categorisation. The
Y.S.Rajasekar Reddy request to stop the Kurukshetra but Krishna Madiga did not
agree. After many discussions between Krishna Madiga and Y.S.Rajasekar Reddy,AP
State Congress Party incharge Digvijay Singh, AP congress Party President
Kesavarao the Kurusketra was stopped in high tension.
Madigala Tirugubatu Maha Padayatra 5-4-2006-14-5-2006:
Tirugubatu Mahapadayatra started from clock
town centre of Amalapuram on Jagajeevan Ram birth day with thousands of MRPS
volunteers and it reached after 40 days to Hyderabad. At Hyderabad the Madigas
were gathered to besiege CM’s house.
The police stopped the mob. The thousands of
Madigas gathered at Indira Park and given 24 hours deadline for constitutional
amendment on categorisation and started Dharna. On the same day the state Govt.
conducted Plenary and announced positively for SC categorisation.
MRPS leader met the CM and demand for
constitution amendment on categorisation. The then CM Y.S.Rajasekar Reddy
announced to send all party delegation to Delhi. After Tirugubatu Mahapada yatra of MRPS, the commission
was formed by the Govt.of India on 7-9-2006 for SC categorisation in AP. The
chairman of the commission was the Justice Dorai Swamy, after some time he
rejected the offer.
Viswarupa Maha Sabha (Vijayawada) 17-04-2007:
The Viswarupa Mahasabha conducted at Singh
Nagar stadium Vijayawada with 15 lakhs of madiga people gathered from all
corners of the state. YS Rajasekar Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra
Pradesh was the chief guest of the meeting. The meeting was conducted with a
target to avoid delay in appointing the Chairman of the commission for SC
Reservation categorisation by the Central Government.
Lakhs of madiga people gathered in Vijayawada
city and singh nagar was packed with madigas. In April it was very hot. The
severity of sun was unbearable, but the lakhs of madigas gathered for their
objective of SC categorisation, to made it grand success and showed their
strength to the Govt. in that meeting.
Fast On To Death 17-5-2007:
The Govt. of India announced the commission
and appointed Justice Dorai Swamy, Justice Madan Mohan Poonch, Justice
Kurdhukar one after another as Chairman, but they have not taken charge. The
Central Govt. had not appointed any body, thereafter. In order to avoid the
delay in appointing the commission chaiman, Manda Krishna Madiga declared
besiege CM’s residence on 17-5-2007. With a large gathering he started a rally
towards CM’s house from MRPS office. The police arrested Krishna Madiga and the
MRPS activists and sent Krishna Madiga to Gandhi Hospital. In the evening the
hospital doctors sent Krishna Madiga to home. There he started ‘fast on to
death’ on 17-5-2007 at seetafal mandi, Secunderabad.
The state was on fire with the activities of
MRPS. All the parties supported Krishna Madiga. Day after day the health of
Krishna Madiga was health condition was deteriorating.
The MRPS activities are increasing with serious actions like setting fire to
the buses, offices etc. The delegation from Govt was made but Krishna Madiga
refused to end the fast and demanded for appointment of commission chairman.
The then CM Y.S.Rajasekar Reddy contacted Central Govt. and mobalised them to
appoint chairman immediately. On 21-5-2007 the Central Govt. appointed Justice
Usha Mehra as chairman and she took charge at the same day. The fast on to
death was ended successfully. She toured
the entire AP like a whirlwind and enquired.
Jaitra Yatra:
This Jaitra Yatra started from Anantapur on
11-6- 2007 on bycycle. After covering nearly 1950 km in the state, the Yatra
reached Hyderabad on 25-7-2007. Madigas gathered at Indira park and planned for
besiege of the assembly. The police stopped them at Indira Park. The MRPS
leaders continued the Dharna till the evening at Indira Park. They have been
called for discussions from CM’s office. After favourable discussions they
concluded dharna on 26-6-2007.
Fast On To Death 25-4-2008:
Justice Usha Mehra Commission was appointed
on 21-5-2007. She toured entire AP, visited the scheduled caste villages
physically and prepared report but submission of the report was delayed.
Krishna Madiga announced fast on to death along with other sub-caste leaders
demanding the submission of commission report on 25-4-2008 at Picket, Secundrabad.
Doctors who examined Mr. Krishna and other fasting leaders said their health
was deteriorating with low sugar levels and blood pressure causing alarm. When
contacted, Mr. Krishna said he would call off his fast only when the Government
had introduced a Bill on SC classification in Parliament. Justice Usha Mehra
submitted her report on 1-5-2008. On seventh day the MRPS leaders have
stopped the fast on to death.
Fast on to Death 14-12-2008:
Mr Krishna Madiga announced fast on to death
on 14-12-2008 at Indira Nagar community hall Musheerabad, Secunderabad. Krishna
madiga said he would call off his fast only when the Government introduced a
Bill on SC classification in Parliament. It was ended after 8 days by police
attack and arrest of Krishna Madiga.
Viswarupa Maha Sabha (Rajamundry) 16-02-2009:
Justice Usha Mehra commission report which
was submitted positively for categorisation, but no further step has been taken
so. Viswarupa Mahasabha was conducted at Rajamundry with lakhs of Madiga people
coming from all over the state. The meeting was conducted with target of to
avoid delay in introducing categorisation bill in the Parliament by the Govt.of
India.
The meeting projected the strength of madigas
and their commitment for the struggle showed their physical strength in number
to the Govt before national elections 2009.
Besiege of Assembly 4-2-2009:
Hundreds of MRPS activists & Madiga
Students Federation members were participated in this activity. All the members
entered in to assembly and climbed the roof of the assembly and warned the
Govt.of AP, that they are ready to commit suicide for the sake of
categorisation. Hundreds of cases were filed against them. Finally with request
and promise of Govt. of AP on SC reservation categorisation this programme came
to an end.
Besiege of Gandhi Bhavan 2-3-2009:
As a part of MRPS movement a total of 23
members died in accidents. Particularly in the besiege of Gandhi Bhavan four
leaders of MRPS were severly injured in fire accident and of them three were
dead. It was a black day for Madiga community. The negligency and delay of
state Govt of AP in categorisation of SC reservations was the reason for this
mishap. All parties condemned the negligence of APGovt. and blamed
Y.S.Rajasekar Reddy the then CM.
Yuddabheri 4-12-2010:
Yuddaberi conducted at Nijam college
Hyderabad lakhs of madiga people attended from all over the state. The meeting
was conducted with target for amendment bill to be introduced in the parliament
by the central Govt. Krishna Madiga demanded for assurence from Govt. at the
night 10 pm, he started rally towards CM’s house. Police attacked on MRPS
leaders and arested. At 2am they were released. Then at MRPS office Krishna
Madiga started Fast on to death demanding an assurance on constitutional amendment on categorisation.
After receiving assurance from CM Kiran Kumar Reddy, the fast on to death was
closed.
The remaining activities information conducted by
MRPS will be added here shortly.
MADIGAS PLEAD FOR JUSTICE
Mala Intellectuals & Political Leaders’ Supported
Categorisation:
There were 20 to 24 Mala MLAs in combined
state of A.P. including Ministers who joined hands with Assembly in unanimous
resolutions for categorization on three different occasions, i.e. for
supporting the categorization, another for passing the bill on categorisation
and again for recommending to Central government for taking necessary measures
for categorization. In all these occasions, all the Mala MLA’s or Minister’s
expressed their consent in the Assembly. The top Dalit leaders and officers
from Mala community Sri Gaddar, Sri Kathi Padma Rao, Sri KG Satyamurthy and Sri
Kaki Madhava Rao IAS (Retd) etc., were supported directly.
Severity of MRPS Movement
The MRPS movement is from 1994 to till date
is for categorisation of SC reservation. Being involved in MRPS movement, 23
MRPS activists died and 23,560 police cases were filed and they are still in
court. The classification is implemented by Govt. of AP between 2000 -2004.
After Supreme Court judgement, the Madigas lost all the opportunities. The MRPS
has not demanded any further enhancement in the quota of SC reservations nor
did asked for any separate quota for Madigas. They have demanded their just
share in the present quota of SC reservations according to their population.
Urgency for Constitutional Amendment:
From the date of cancellation of G.O, i.e., during
the last seven years and delay in making constitutional amendment to Article
341, Madigas including many other most backward SC castes have lost thousands
of employment benefits, promotional benefits and lakhs of educational admission
benefits in AP. This necessitated the amendment for the Article341 and SC
reservations categorisation must be reinstated with immediate effect and ensure
that reservation benifits for all the 59 castes of SCs will be equally
distributed.
Justice delayed is justice denied
The national and state level ruling and the
opposition parties are supporting the categorization of SC reservation. The
issue of sub categorization of SC reservation has been unanimously passed three
times in the AP assembly. It is not a big issue for the Government of India.
Madigas and other sub castes of SC have been eagerly waiting for that the
Government of India will introduce the bill for the sub categorization of SC
reservation and get it passed in the parliament. Justice is delayed for seven
years and Madigas and other sub castes are suffering by the injustice caused by
the delay. All the national and state level political parties gave their
consent and wrote letter to Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh asking him for
constitutional amendment in parliament. Which provides categorisation of SC
reservations in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Some of the photos are enclosed
and in the following pages. Finally, Madigas plead justice through the
constitutional amendment in parliament for categorisation of SC reservations in
A.P.
This
page highlights about overall information of Madiga employees Federation i.e.,
aims and objectives, major activities conducted its structure and its
committees.
MEF is a charitable organization in Telugu states works for the
development of madiga community and it lead by employees. It was founded in 1995
to enlist the aid of the educated employees among the madiga community in
combined Andhra Pradesh besides some support to MRPS. It has no political
agenda, nor does it promote agitation to achieve its goals.
The origin of MEF lie in an organisation for employees of Madiga community
that was established in 1993 and registered in 2011. The ideology of MEF is to
fight the entrenched system of inequality in Scheduled castes and to fight for
development of Madiga and allied community.
The motto of this organisation was 'Payback to society', to inspire
the Madiga bureaucrats to do their bit for the madiga masses as BAMSEF. In this
way, a continuous supply of intellectual property, money and talent was ensured
to MRPS which was fighting for the constitutional rights of all scheduled
castes. The MEF wants to become an organisation of educated Madiga employees:
"the think tank, talent bank and financial bank of the Madiga Community.
MEF raised funds to promote their agenda and has state-level,
District level and constituency level committees to act for the organisation
objectives.
MEF
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
1. To work for the welfare and development of the
madiga employees and efforts to reduce problems and grievances.
2. To work for getting schemes / house sites for
sc/st employees sanctioned by state government.
3. To support and encourage madiga movement (MRPS)
for overall madiga community development.
4. To establish (Madiga Bhavans) institutions of
education, art and cultural activities for the madiga people and their
children.
5. To encourage and help poor, merited and other
deserving members of madiga community for higher studies and employment.
6. To organize and maintain a charity fund to be
used for the benefit of the madiga community in particular in accordance with
the bye-laws.
7. To promote opportunities for the educational
activities, to create awareness about social welfare schemes, to create oneness and co-operation by
arranging seminars, study circles, discussions and melas or milaps in each
district for every year.
8. To conduct medical camps, eye camps,
immunization camps, in urban areas, provide preventive medicines to madiga
people in slum areas and conduct Adult Educational centres, Night Schools to eradicate the illiteracy among
madiga community.
9. To promote agricultural, educational,
economic, scientific, social cultural and spiritual activities in madiga
community.
10.To work for
the socio-economic and educational development of madiga community.
MEF
organised national, state and district level conventions with large number of
madiga employees gathering with former CM as guest, central and state level
ministers as guests.
The MEF
organised Programmes and other information will be add here shortly
