ANANTAPUR: Famous for its weaver’s skills of making a saree, that can be packed in a matchbox, Dharmavaram Assembly Constituency in Sri Satya Sai district, today looks for the policy maker’s attention to help the handloom weavers, who are being taken advantage of. Nimmalakunta village, which falls under Dharmavaram constituency limits and known for leather puppetry worldwide, is also seeking the leader’s attention to conserve the ancient craft.
Formed in 1951, the Dharmavaram Assembly constituency in the Hindupur Parliamentary segment went for the elections for the first time in 1952. To date, the constituency has gone for elections 15 times. While Congress won six times, TDP emerged victorious six times and the YSRC party, Independent, and Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party won one time each.
In none of these elections, weavers, who are the deciding factor for the victory in the election, were made contesting candidates by any political party. However, irrespective of whether it is a seasoned politician or a newcomer, they were equally supported by the weavers community. Unfortunately, their problems remained unresolved for decades.
While the YSRC has fielded incumbent Kethireddy Venkatarami Reddy to retain the seat, the BJP has fielded its national secretary Y Satya Kumar, who belongs to the Yadav community. The constituency has TDP split into two factions and Satya Kumar’s election result will depend on to what extent these factions will help him in the elections.
Dharmavaram is synonymous with handloom silk sarees. The skills of the weavers here are such that a weaver from the city presented a silk saree weaved with motifs of the important episodes of the epic Ramayana and presented the same to Goddess Sita, wife of Lord Rama, during the Ayodhya temple consecration ceremony. Some of the well-acclaimed sarees of Dharmavaram include Sampani, Mayura, and Padaravindam.
However, weavers opine that sticking to the traditional ways of weaving to conserve the skills passed down from generation to generation might have become a curse to the handloom.
“Irrespective of who is getting elected, the problems of handloom weavers remain the same. We face a threat of power looms. This has not only affected the traditional craft but also rendered weavers as mere workers. There is no respect for the skilled handloom weaver in the power loom industry. All we urge policymakers is to come out with measures to safeguard the hoary tradition of handloom weaving in Dharmavaram,” said Venkatesh, who runs a handloom showroom.
Besides weaving, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy in the Assembly constituency, but the needs of the farmers in the constituency are ignored. Not just irrigation water, but even drinking water has become a big problem for the mandals in the constituency.
Rage Yellappa, a resident of Kunukuntla village in Tadimarri mandal, lamented that people have to travel long distances to borewells for irrigation and drinking water needs. “This is not limited to my village, but all villages in the constituency. With a lack of work, people are migrating to other places,” he said and added that there is a strong incumbency factor in the constituency. The incumbent MLA is accused of encroaching on lands belonging to people.
The constituency is spread across 1,33,361 hectares and has a 3,04,706 population. It was represented by Srinivasalu Kasetty of the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) as its first MLA. In subsequent elections held in 1955, Congress bagged the seat and held sway over the constituency till 1983, when TDP emerged on the political scene of the State. In between, an independent, represented the constituency in the Assembly once.
In 1983, political equations changed and TDP represented the constituency till 2004. G Nagireddy was the first TDP MLA from the constituency and he won thrice consecutively. He was also a minister in the TDP government. In 2009, there was a break to the dominance of TDP, with Kethireddy Venkatarami Reddy winning the election from Dhamavaram on the Congress ticket. In the 2014 elections, he unsuccessfully contested on the YSRC ticket. However, he was elected again in 2019.