Hyderabad: On a fiercely wet day in April 1996, 25-year-old Seethakka ran as quick as she might to flee police gunfire at Warangal’s Nallabelly mandal. Along with her toes blistered and bleeding, she was shedding hope, however she was a Naxalite commander and she or he needed to lead her dalam (workforce) of 10 to security. In some way, she managed to go away the police behind, but it surely was the start of the tip.
Twenty-six years on, on an overcast October day, 4 smiling policemen flanked 51-year-old Dr Danasari Anasuya, aka Seethakka, a two-time MLA. They had been posing for an image along with her in entrance of Hyderabad’s Osmania College campus, the place she had simply earned a PhD from the political science division.
It was a proud second for the previous Naxalite who left the rebel group in 1997, skilled in regulation, went on to affix politics, and is presently a Congress chief and the sitting MLA from Telangana’s Mulug constituency, a reserved Scheduled Tribe seat.
“I needed to pursue a PhD diploma since 2012, and I even sat an examination after I was already an MLA, however I needed to prioritise my work duties first,” Seethakka instructed ThePrint.
Her thesis is on a topic she is obsessed with: the social exclusion and deprivation of the Gotti Koya tribe — to which she belongs — particularly in Warangal and Khammam districts.
“I significantly selected the Gotti Koyas as a result of I’ve been working with them for over a decade. They’re displaced and unrecognised by the state authorities, don’t entry any authorities advantages, and barely have any life safety. I plan to organize a e-book with my very own analysis and current it to the state authorities and even the President, if attainable,” she stated.
Over time, Seethakka’s work along with her constituency’s marginalised tribal communities has ranged from giving them authorized help to trekking over tough terrain to supply provides throughout Covid. And it has constructed her a sizeable following.
For the Congress, which is struggling in Telangana, Seethakka is a uncommon supply of confidence. Given her reputation, hopes are excessive that she is going to retain the seat when Telangana goes to the polls subsequent yr.
However Congress sources say her potential has nonetheless not been leveraged totally, despite the fact that she has gained extra visibility inside the occasion and is a part of Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“Seethakka is presently restricted to her constituency, however her rising fame needs to be utilised extra by the state unit,” a state Congress chief stated on situation of anonymity.
As her life’s trajectory exhibits, Seethakka actually doesn’t lack for drive or ambition, however among the many many avatars that she has assumed over time, her function as a former Naxalite is etched in her reminiscence and continues to considerably form her current.
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From lawbreaker to lawmaker
Quickly after she was awarded her doctorate, Seethakka took to Twitter and summed up her journey — from Naxalite to lawyer to MLA to incomes a PhD in political science — in 60-odd phrases.
In my childhood I by no means thought i’d be a Naxalite, when I’m Naxalite I by no means thought I might be a lawyer, when I’m lawyer I by no means thought I might be MLA, when I’m MLA I by no means thought I’ll pursue my PhD.
🔥Now you may name me Dr Anusuya Seethakka PhD in political science. pic.twitter.com/v8a6qPERDC— Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) (@seethakkaMLA) October 11, 2022
Born to a tribal household in Jaggannapet village, Mulugu district, the younger Anasuya was drawn to Naxalite ideology when she was nonetheless at school.
“The place the place I hailed from was all about Naxalite ideology, and faculties and schools at all times had discussions on this. So, that’s how I bought interested in it,” she stated.
Because the Sixties, financial exploitation, poverty, social marginalisation, and a combat for land rights, particularly amongst tribal communities, had fed the flames of Naxalite insurgency in undivided Andhra Pradesh. The violence simmered down by 2010-2011, however not earlier than many encounters and deaths came about.
By the point she was at school 10, Anasuya had joined the ranks of a Naxalite group and assumed the alias Seetha, which expanded to Seethakka (akka means elder sister in Telugu). She would sit her class 10 examination in jail, after being arrested for the primary time within the late Nineteen Eighties. She was pregnant on the time.
For greater than a decade, Seethakka remained concerned within the motion however she slowly grew disillusioned. Incidents such because the police chase described earlier strengthened her resolve to alter course.
In 1997, she surrendered to the police underneath a state amnesty program. She was the mom of a nine-year-old at the moment and her husband was nonetheless a Naxalite (he later died in an encounter), however regardless of the chances stacked in opposition to her, she determined to pursue regulation, with the purpose of utilizing her coaching to assist tribal communities.
“At the same time as a lawyer, I might take up circumstances associated to tribals whereas working with an NGO. My focus was the identical,” she stated. However she needed to do extra.
“My fellow advocates inspired me to get into politics. With higher funds and energy, I might do higher service — that’s what they believed and that’s how I bought into politics,” she added.
Seethakka began her political profession with the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Get together (TDP) in 2004, unsuccessfully contesting the Mulug seat within the meeting election that yr. In 2009, the TDP once more gave her a ticket to contest the identical seat, and this time, she emerged victorious.
Nevertheless, she completed third within the 2014 election, and jumped ship to the Congress in 2017. Seethakka was once more elected as MLA for Mulug in 2018 on a Congress ticket, regardless of an enormous wave in favour of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS, now renamed Bharat Rashtra Samithi), which is presently in energy within the state.
Covid ‘fame’
When the Covid pandemic struck in 2020, the pan-India lockdown led to main provide disruptions, leaving tribal communities excessive and dry within the distant reaches of Mulugu district.
Seethakka’s service to those weak communities introduced her nationwide consideration as pictures and movies emerged of her trekking throughout hilly terrain and crossing streams to ship every day necessities.
With a shawl tied to her head and saree tucked to her waist, Seethakka would set off every single day to distant villages that had restricted street entry and transport. She would usually stroll for a number of kilometres with heavy luggage on her shoulders, or experience on a bullock cart to succeed in tribal villages.
In considered one of her Twitter updates from the time, she wrote of how individuals in tribal villages would supply her meals when she was a part of the Naxalite motion, and now it was her flip to “pay them again”.
In one other tweet, she said that her perambulations reminded her of the “previous days”, besides that she was now armed with rice and greens relatively than weapons.
Veteran Congress chief and Rajya Sabha MLA Digvijaya Singh retweeted a video that includes Seethakka, calling her a “phenomenon”.
She is a Phenomenon. Salute her. https://t.co/R4loYyOOJ2
— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) May 4, 2020
When requested about her Covid work, Seethakka stated she had at all times had a hands-on strategy to serving tribal communities.
“Folks knew my work throughout lockdown after I began posting snippets of it, however I’ve been doing this all my life and can proceed to take action,” she stated.
“Even the Congress excessive command appreciated me at the moment and Rahul Gandhi, when he met me later, additionally stated I used to be doing good work. In fact, that made me comfortable,” she stated.
Whereas her Covid work meant placing her tutorial plans on maintain, Seethakka has no regrets.
“I prolonged my PhD programme for 2 years throughout the lockdown. Initially, I believed that I might full it whereas at house however I then realised that folks within the villages didn’t even have sufficient meals to eat. I realised the necessity of the hour was me being on the bottom and serving to my individuals and never locking myself up with books,” she stated.
When components of Telangana had been flooded in July, Seethakka as soon as once more did aid work herself.
Even right this moment, she added, her schedule entails assembly locals and listening to their grievances at her residence within the morning, then spending a number of hours on the occasion workplace in her constituency, and usually touring villages.
A silver lining for Telangana Congress?
The Congress, which was as soon as the principal opposition occasion in Telangana, has been struggling to take care of a foothold within the state. Presently, it has solely 5 MLAs within the 119-member meeting, down from 21 in 2014.
The occasion’s fortunes took a major flip for the more severe in 2019, when a dozen Congress MLAs out of 18 defected to the TRS, and one other jumped ship to the BJP in 2021. In the meantime, the BJP has been gathering energy in Telangana, and now has three MLAs after defeating the ruling TRS— which had bagged 88 seats within the 2018 polls— in two essential bypolls over the previous couple of years.
The BJP additionally carried out nicely within the Better Hyderabad Municipal polls, coming an in depth second to the TRS, whereas the Congress lagged means behind.
On this backdrop, Congress sources stated well-liked leaders like Seethakka supply some glimmer of hope to the occasion.
They added that highlighting her achievements and “giving her an even bigger function” within the state unit may assist bolster the occasion’s picture.
For now, Seethakka has performed a reasonably outstanding function in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra because it began in Kanyakumari, and has to date walked for 2 or three days in each lined state besides Andhra Pradesh.
Whereas she is presently deployed on obligation for Telangana’s Munugode bypoll, Seethakka plans to rejoin the yatra full time after the election on 3 November.
“My precedence is at all times my occasion and my obligation. However, for some motive if individuals don’t wish to elect me once more, that doesn’t imply I’ll cease my service. I’ll maintain doing it so long as I can,” she stated.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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