Andhra Pradesh: Dharmavaram weavers continue to be ignored by authorities

Dharmavaram Assembly Constituency in Sri Satya Sai district, which is well-known for its weavers’ ability to create sarees small enough to fit in a matchbox, is now pleading with policymakers to assist the handloom weavers who are being exploited. In addition, Nimmalakunta village, which is located inside the boundaries of the Dharmavaram constituency and is well-known globally for its leather puppetry, is pleading with the leader to help preserve this age-old art.

 

The Hindupur Parliamentary segment’s Dharmavaram Assembly seat was established in 1951 and had its first elections in 1952. The constituency has had fifteen elections so far. The TDP won six times, the YSRC party, Independent, and Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party won one apiece, and Congress won six occasions.

Weavers, who determine the outcome of an election, were not fielded as candidates by any political party in any of these elections. But regardless of how experienced or inexperienced the politician was, the weavers’ community stood by them both. Regretfully, their issues went unsolved for many years.

The BJP has put up Y Satya Kumar, a member of the Yadav clan, as national secretary, while the YSRC has nominated incumbent Kethireddy Venkatarami Reddy to retain the seat. The TDP is divided into two groups in this seat, and Satya Kumar’s election outcome will rely on how much support these factions provide him.

Handloom silk sarees are associated with Dharmavaram. The city’s weavers are so skilled that, during the consecration ceremony of the Ayodhya temple, one of them gave Goddess Sita, the wife of Lord Rama, a silk saree woven with designs from significant scenes in the epic Ramayana. Sampani, Mayura, and Padaravindam are a few of Dharmavaram’s highly regarded sarees.

Weavers contend, however, that continuing to weave according to custom in order to preserve the skills handed down through the generations may have become a curse for the handloom.

The issues facing handloom weavers don’t change, regardless of who wins an election. Power looms pose a menace to us. In addition to having an impact on the traditional craft, this has reduced weavers to ordinary laborers. In the power loom sector, there is little regard for the expert handloom weaver. The only thing we want of legislators is that they implement policies to protect the ancient custom of handloom weaving in Dharmavaram, according to Venkatesh, the owner of a handloom store.

The Assembly constituency’s economy is based mostly on agriculture, except from weaving, although the needs of the local farmers are disregarded. For the mandals in the constituency, drinking water has also grown to be a major issue in addition to agricultural water.

Residents of Kunukuntla hamlet in Tadimarri mandal, Rage Yellappa, bemoaned having to travel great distances to get drinking water and irrigation from borewells. This affects every community in the constituency, not just my own. People are leaving the area in search of job, he said, noting that the seat has a high incumbency factor. The sitting MLA is charged with intruding on private property.

There are 3,04,706 people living in the 1,33,361-hectare constituency. Srinivasalu Kasetty, the first MLA of the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP), represented it. Congress won the seat in the ensuing 1955 elections and continued to rule the constituency until 1983, when the TDP entered the State’s political landscape. In the interim, the seat was formerly represented in the Assembly by an independent.

Political dynamics shifted in 1983, and the TDP continued to represent the constituency until 2004. The constituency’s first TDP MLA, G Nagireddy, was elected three times in a row. In the TDP administration, he served as a minister as well. The TDP’s hegemony was disrupted in 2009 when Kethireddy Venkatarami Reddy, running on the Congress platform, won the Dhamavaram seat. He ran an unsuccessful campaign on the YSRC ticket in the 2014 elections. But in 2019, he was chosen once again.