People accuse govt of being biased towards Adivasis, unique festival

Warangal: It sounds weird. But it's apparent that the State government which has been going hammer and tongs at the Centre for not granting national status to the Sammakka Saralamma jatara, touted as the Asia's largest tribal fair, appears to have forgotten its own promise of developing Medaram.

The moot point here is that why the State government had not shown that much interest on naming Mulugu district after Sammakka and Saralamma that it had shown in case of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Rajanna Sircilla and Jogulamba Gadwal districts.

The government which gave prominence to the historical shrines, christened Bhuvanagiri, Kothagudem, Sircilla and Gadwal districts prefixing them with Yadadri, Bhadradri, Rajanna and Jogulamba respectively, thus reflecting the local importance. But it didn't happen in case of Mulugu district, this despite the popular demand from the tribes to name the district after their deities Sammakka and Saralamma.

The government also came under severe criticism for not declaring State holiday for the jatara. So far, the district administrations in the erstwhile Warangal have declared local holiday for the jatara. It may be noted here that the government had recognised the jatara as the State festival in 1996.

"Every now and then the TRS leaders resort criticise the Centre for not according national status to the Medaram jatara. But what the State hovernment had done for promoting the jatara," Mulugu MLA Danasari Anasuya aka Seethakka questioned, accusing Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of disregarding the sentiments of aboriginals.

"KCR who turned to Medaram jatara in 2018 made tall promises to develop amenities and permanent infrastructure in Medaram. KCR promised to roll out a comprehensive plan that included acquiring 200 acres for the development of Medaram with an outlay of Rs 200 crore. Further, KCR said that he would be back to Medaram in a fortnight to put the action plan in motion, but it never happened," Seethakka said.

It's been one year since a new district was carved from Jayashankar Bhupalpally district with Mulugu as its headquarters, however, the CM is yet to heed to the demand of renaming it as Sammakka-Saralamma Mulugu district, she said.

MRPS Founder President Manda Krishna Madiga said: "What the State government had allocated for Medaram's Adivasi jatara which attracts more than one crore devotees from across the country is just a pittance, compared to the Rs 1,000 crore given for the development of Yadadri temple. It's nothing but discrimination of Adivasis and their unique festival." It has become a practice for the successive governments to organise the Sammakka Saralamma jatara with temporary arrangements, he said.