In ‘Sugar Land’ Mandya, The Atmosphere Is Both Sweet And Sour

Behind all the razzmatazz of mainstream media coverage, there is always an authentic version of a story that needs to be told that often goes unnoticed. Perhaps, it is this “other side” of the story that actually gives one a real peek into any issue that is currently being debated.

The much-debated Mandya Lok Sabha fight is no exception. The battle has assumed the usual cliched, negative political discourse characteristic of people desperate for positions of power. The optics is no different, with each side doing whatever it can to indulge in one-upmanship to those who matter once in five years – the voter. Such an overdose has simply obfuscated a clear vision of the ground realities and what the people themselves feel about the elections. Clearly, things are not so sweet at the moment in “Sakkare Naadu” as Mandya is called.

Primarily an agrarian region, Mandya, like any other, has its fair share of issues and challenges that are rarely brought to the fore despite the halo that surrounds it around every election - Assembly or Parliamentary.

As Swarajya crisscrossed various elementary sections that make up the society in the district - from the busy lanes of the Mandya town market to the laid-back countryscapes of the villages - we obtained a first-hand account of how aware the people are – politically and situationally.

From a young man in the market in his early 20s sarcastically asking if the so- called “Raitha Nayakas” (politicians who call themselves farmers) even know what the rate of a quintal of cattle feed is, to a seasoned man in his 60s - a retired union leader of a sugar factory - vehemently opposing the alleged attempts of the Deve Gowda family to make Mandya a “family bastion”, the Mandya voter is both aware and discerning about the political goings-on in the state and the nation.

From our taxi driver promptly figuring out the cusp that Sumalatha - wife of late Kannada actor Ambareesh and the independent candidate pitted against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil - is on as of now (he says her sudden foray into politics in the immediate aftermath of her husband’s death is startling), to her alleged lack of cohesion with the people of the district in earlier days, the voter seems observant, yet discerning about his/her candidates.

Sumalatha also has her fair share of admirers due to her dignified approach, unlike the Deve Gowda clan, which has been taking potshots at her, possibly fearing a defeat at the hustings. A studied dignity, in the hope that her opponents - who seem desperate to steal the show - will dig their own grave, has been the hallmark of her campaign thus far, boosted by the support from popular film fraternity well-wishers such as Yash and Darshan. Her greatest tool, used effectively till now, is silence and the ability to resist vicious repartee, even as Team Kumaraswamy uses all the ammunition and heft at its command to decimate her prospects.

Mandya has a history of defying national trends, firmly standing behind those who give the local voice primacy over those controlled by a distant headquarter. An outstanding illustration of this is when the people of the district chose K V Shankare Gowda of the erstwhile undivided Janata Party in 1984, while the whole nation, swept by a sympathetic wave after the demise of Indira Gandhi, stood behind the Congress party, giving it a whopping 414 seats in Parliament. With the advent of alternatives to the ever-dominant Indian National Congress, Mandya has sided with a non-Congress candidate in six out of 11 previous general elections.

Caste, like any other election factor across the country, plays a huge role in the victories and defeats of candidates. In Mandya, it is the dominant Vokkaliga community which generally has a strong say in the outcome of any election. With as many as 7.5 lakh out of the 16.5 lakh voters coming from the Vokkaliga community, their soft corner towards the Deve Gowda family is quite likely to play a decisive role in the poll outcome. However, non-Vokkaliga voters also seem to have consolidated themselves against the family politics of the Janata Dal (Secular) and are expected to exercise their political heft.

When Swarajya was meandering through the Mandya market trying to ascertain its pulse, a young voter chose to remind us journalists of some basic reporting fundamentals. Taking a jibe at all the poll-related media hullabaloo, he asked us why the media seldom bothered to do ground reports on issues plaguing the people and instead, paratroop into the district for “opinions” only around poll time. Amused by our desire to ascertain his concerns, he said regular interface with the people and making politicians accountable for their promises in real-time was what was needed, not sudden love affairs for the district and its concerns during poll times!

During our interactions with the common folk of Mandya, we realised that caste is not the only deciding factor though. The people are quite upset with the Chief Minister, his son and the JD(S) patriarch for vitiating the atmosphere, especially when a woman candidate is in the fray. Derogatory remarks on Sumalatha are being frowned upon and viewed as an insult to the dignity of a woman, and to her late husband, who was the darling of the district. What is noteworthy in this regard is that many ground-level cadres of the Congress-JD(S) combine have openly declared their support to Sumalatha.

Statements by JD(S) leaders, particularly Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and his elder brother HD Revanna, the Public Works Minister, on the political aspirations of Sumalatha, have not gone down well with the voters and neutral observers alike. Sumalatha, on the other hand, is maintaining a composed demeanour and is weighing each and every word before giving out any statement, thereby winning the verbal dual effectively.

Many voters also feel that Sumalatha must be given a chance to prove herself, and that an understanding with the BJP, in case it assumes office again at the Centre, could benefit Mandya.

Nationalistic Fervor of Mandya Voters

Swarajya also found that the Mandya voter today is certainly no frog in the well. The psyche of the common people, particularly the youth, is slowly turning nationalist, and this is an invitation to leaders who believe in the welfare of India as a whole and its people, to come and invest political capital in the district.

Pulwama martyr Guru, a proud son of the soil, has become a new sensation all around. Posters and cut-outs paying homage to Guru are ubiquitous in the industrial and educational hub of K M Doddi and do not escape the eye. Perhaps, it is such support by the masses for the martyr’s family that compelled Sumalatha to donate half an acre of land to the family, and CM Kumaraswamy to promise Guru’s wife a job.

Upon our visit to Guru’s home, we came to know that Guru’s wife has indeed been provided employment and is working in a private cooperative bank in Bengaluru. The folk of this region also celebrated India’s Balakot operations against Pakistan with gusto, showing that Mandya’s eyes are not just on Bengaluru but on New Delhi as well. Nationalistic emotions are for sure getting ignited of late, now more than ever.

In this context, it is no wonder that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is well recognised for his support to the surgical strikes and his tough stance towards the enemies of the nation. Certain ambitious projects of the BJP-led Central government such as Ayushman Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana, GST, Swachch Bharat and Demonetisation are quite the talking points at various places ranging from tea stalls and countryside homes to the sophisticated clubs in town.

A young voter in the market felt that entitlement-based politics is slowly losing its appeal. The common man is beginning to understand the value of a results-based leadership and is keen on growth and development models based on delivery and not on social and familial position. When asked whether employment was an issue in Mandya, the young voter said most youth have migrated to Bengaluru owing to lack of capital investment and job opportunities in the district.

All this was evident during an interaction with a political activist who had been with the Deve Gowda faction of the Janata Dal for over 25 years, starting as a student activist. He says he had also taken part in organising the party in the district, from scratch. When quizzed about his political preferences at this juncture, he went on to say, “If Modi can address the woes of farmers, particularly sugarcane-related distress in Mandya, he will surely be the undisputed choice for national leadership among the district’s voters. All his policies, except the ones concerning rural distress, have been well-received, but work needs to be done in the farming sector.”

The ex-JD(S) activist also said that though Deve Gowda called himself a “voice of the farmers”, he hardly did anything for the community other than make hollow promises. He compared the leadership styles of Deve Gowda and that of J Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu to indicate the absolute lack of political courage in Karnataka to arrive at a favourable solution for the Cauvery water crisis. He concluded by asserting that if Modi lives true to his words on doubling farm incomes by 2022, he will undoubtedly win the hearts of the people in Mandya.

However, not all is clear and honest with politics and the people. Old, slimy political practices still have their advocates around poll time, and there’s no guarantee that work and sincerity of intention will alone take you to the Parliament.

The voter turnout in Mandya is expected to be around 80 per cent, believe some observers. There is a significant chunk of “innocent and ignorant” common folk among those who actually come out and vote, and thus the chances of this segment getting influenced by all the optics is very much possible, as money, muscle and liquor power still holds sway among them.

The unfortunate part is that there is an educated, aware, yet politically-neutral segment, which may be pegged at around 20 per cent, who choose not to take part in the democratic process, thus lending weight to the votes cast by those who are uninformed and easy to manipulate.

A significant number of Swarajya’s interactions with small-scale vendors struggling to meet their daily needs, particularly the older ones, showed us how a large portion of votes are cast without any application of the mind. An elderly lady who sells fruits in the Mandya market, when asked about whom she was rooting for this time, promptly said, “No matter who wins, our lives won’t change. We will vote for whomever ‘they’ ask us to. We don’t know much about all these matters”.

Intended to confuse such people, three more ‘Sumalathas’ have entered the political fray out of the blue, only to be found nowhere except on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The motto of Sumalatha’s adversaries, it appears, is: if you can’t convince, confound!

Similar tones could also be heard in the market, paddy fields and elsewhere. These sections are heavily vulnerable to emotional manipulations by vested political interests and such votes can bring in a fatal twist to the electoral karma of candidates.

Many people as such appear insulated from the grim realities affecting the society and the nation at large. Owing to everyday hardships, they seldom have the energy and time to contemplate on current affairs. The need of the hour is the active ‘politicisation of the mind’, if decision-making is to be all-inclusive and embracing.

As a well-to-do chemist and druggist in the shanty town of Malavalli says, “Schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, Jan Aushadhi, Jan Dhan, Atal Pension Yojna and Ujjwala of the Central government are indeed ambitious and aimed at honestly lifting the common folk out of poverty, but at the grassroots, implementation needs to improve. More awareness must be spread among the masses about initiatives taken by the government, if real benefits are to be realised. Ambitious programmes like Financial Inclusion and Direct Benefit Transfer must trickle down to the last man standing.”

The chemist, however, expressed satisfaction with the rollout of GST and also demonetisation saying, “Such corrective and reformative measures were the need of the hour. In fact, such steps should have been taken a lot earlier. Being a vendor myself, having to visit the bank every day to deposit daily earnings and to file quarterly GST returns have not been easy. However, the media coverage on the inconvenience faced by people seems to have been blown out of proportion. Short-term pains are mandatory in the pursuit of long-term gains,” he concluded.

Prospects for BJP in Mandya District

A significant number of voters Swarajya spoke to at Karighatta and elsewhere in the district felt that the BJP has mistakenly given up on Mandya owing to its Congress-JD(S) preferences thus far. The truth is that, given its nationalist brand of leadership under Narendra Modi, there is a large constituency of voters that is willing to support the party if it invests in building a strong district leadership.

It may be recalled that the BJP candidate for the recent by-poll to the Mandya Parliamentary seat, Siddaramaiah (not the Congress ex-CM), secured 2.5 lakh votes all thanks to the Modi factor. And with BJP supporting Sumalatha, there is a strong likelihood of these votes going in her favour.

Further boosting the party’s prospects in the district is the presence of former Chief Minister and Vokkaliga strongman, S M Krishna, which will surely help the party understand the political semantics of Mandya better.

Also Read: Mandya In Pictures: A Treasure Trove Of Antiquity Of Bygone Epochs

This report is part of Swarajya's 50 Ground Stories Project - an attempt to throw light on issues and constituencies the old media largely refuses to engage. You can support this initiative by sponsoring as little as Rs 2,999. Click here for more details.