Bharat Jodo Yatra: Tribal communities pour their woes out to Rahul Gandhi

TUMAKURU/CHITRADURGA: Neither rain nor a minor injury to Rahul Gandhi stopped Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra on Monday — Day 33 of the march — which exited Tumakuru in the afternoon and entered Chitradurga district.
The padayatra resumed from Pochkatte in Tumakuru at 6. 30am and Rahul was given a warm welcome from Lambani women dressed in traditional costumes, when he and the others entered Hiriyur town. The women performed a traditional dance and offered ‘aarthi’. Rahul interacted with them for a while.
While there, he left the yatra route for a bit and walked around the bank of Huliyar Lake, sending his security personnel into a tizzy. The padayatracovered Hiriyur, Challakere, and Molakalmuru towns in Chitradurga. Though it was raining when the march reached Hiriyur, neither Rahul nor the others bothered. They marched on without umbrellas too.
Earlier, Rahul suffered a slight injury to his left leg after he stumbled while running near the Mutt in Pura, Tumakuru. He limped for a bit although he assured party functionaries that he was fine. He continued his interactions with people along the yatra route and met with people from the Banjara, Dakkaliga, Sudugadu Siddha, Dombaru, Dhombi Dasa, Korama, and Handijogis communities.
Incidentally, in 1871, the British enacted the Criminal Tribes Act which criminalised the mere existence of these tribes. The inhumane law was repealed by the Congress government in 1952, a decision that is celebrated as ‘Vimukthi Divas’ on August 31 every year
Mallamma, a Banjara woman, spoke to Rahul on the issues her community is facing in accessing education and healthcare. Sannalakshmamma, from the Korama community, said she makes a living selling combs and hair pins and struggles to earn Rs 100-200 every day.
She said people in her community do not own any land. They live on a dried-up lake bed in Huliyuru and have been protesting for a month in front of ‘Nada Kacheri’ (revenue office) demanding land allocation granted by the previous Congress government.
Rahul consoled them and assured them that all their demands would find a voice through his yatra.