More than Andhra Pradesh celebrating Valmiki Jayanthi as a state festival, the Boyas want the state to include them in the ST category.
Published Oct 16, 2024 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 16, 2024 | 11:00 AM
Boya leaders felt getting the ST status for the community was more important than celebrating Valmiki Jayanthi. (Subhash Valmiki/X)
The Telugu Desam Party-led NDA in Andhra Pradesh is set to celebrate Valmiki Jayanthi on Thursday, 17 October, as a state festival but Boyas, who consider themselves to be the descendants of Valmiki, are not enthused.
The Backward Classes Welfare Department has issued a government order recently, making Valmiki Jayanthi a state festival. The main celebration will be held in Anantapuramu, a district with a high concentration of Boyas, a disparate community spread over Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Announcing the decision to observe the state festival, the TDP claimed that it was one of the promises party general secretary and IT Minister Nara Lokesh had made during his Yuvagalam Padayatra. The party built up hype that it was one of the ways to demonstrate the TDP’s respect towards the sensibilities of the Boyas, who are grouped under the BC (A) category in Andhra Pradesh.
However, the announcement did not resonate much with the Boyas of Rayalaseema and other erstwhile districts in the state. Boyas want them to be included among the ST communities.
“Celebration of Valmiki birth anniversary as a state festival is nothing new. Ever since the then chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy announced in 2010 that Valmiki birth anniversary would be a state festival, the celebrations have been taking place every year,” Subhash Chandra Bose, founder-president of Valmiki Reservation Porata Samithi, said.
“What we Boyas in the state want is ST status. Let Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu work towards this end,” he added.
Boyas are numerically strong in the Kurnool and Anantapuramu districts though they are a good presence in the remaining two districts in Rayalaseema, Kadapa and Chittoor.
Their population is small in other districts including Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore. The Boyas in these districts are BCs while those in East, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam are already STs.
The Valmiki associations claim that their population in the state is about 40 lakh but the officials put it at about 14 lakh. They have been seeking ST status in Karnataka and central and north Andhra.
However, the issue has been hanging fire for a long time. Boyas consider Valmiki as their guru since he hailed from their caste.
According to political observers, the TDP is playing the Valmiki Jayanthi card to woo the BCs.
“It wants to be seen as a party respecting the Boya sentiments. Boyas were among those who helped the TDP win the recent Assembly elections. The elusive 10 percent votes that helped the TDP-led NDA grab power, probably has Boyas votes too,” an independent analyst said.
He added that the announcement of observing Valmiki Jayanthi as an official programme is to get closer to Boyas, who happens to be one of the castes of the BCs. The BCs have been an important constituency for the TDP ever since its formation in March 1982.
Now, Naidu is trying to woo Boyas in the plains by announcing that Valmiki’s birth anniversary would be an official event.
“More than that he cannot do anything as the inclusion of the Boyas in the ST category is not in his hands. The Centre has to do it,” he said.
Like others, the Boyas, too, had favoured the YSRCP in 2019 but pledged support to the TDP in 2024. The Boya leaders said it is payback time for the TDP to deliver on its promise of ensuring their inclusion among the STs.
It was a promise the TDP had made when it came to power in 2014. The TDP had then passed a resolution in the Assembly for the inclusion of Boyas in the STs and sent it to the Centre. However, the move did not progress further.
After YS Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in 2019, he also championed the cause of the Boyas.
He had a resolution passed in the Assembly and forwarded to the Centre, demanding the inclusion of Boyas in the four Rayalaseema districts in the ST category. But nothing happened. The issue has been hanging fire since then.
“When Chandrababu Naidu came to power in 2014, he was in the NDA. He could have prevailed upon the Centre to ensure the inclusion of Boyas in the STs. But he did not do it and let the issue simmer,” Boya leader and Kurnool Mayor from the YSRCP Boya Ella Ramaiah said.
“After Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power, he had the issue cleared in the cabinet and sent a resolution to the Centre. However, the BJP did not show interest in the resolution. As the Centre was unhelpful, he could not do anything about it,” he said, adding that now Naidu is in a position to help the Boyas.
“It is the time for him to show his commitment to the Boya cause. We have been demanding it for the last 60 years,” he said, recalling how his father and grandfather had fought for it.
However, the TDP is aware that it cannot rush the issue as it might ruffle the feathers of Adivasis. When Jagan sent the resolution to the Centre, Adivasis in the agency areas of central and north Andhra Pradesh had opposed it. They feared that the inclusion of Boyas in STs would affect their education and employment opportunities.
The Adivasis further maintained that since the Boyas were well off both socially and economically, they needed no further handholding.
But the Boyas discounted this theory. They said that this theory is being put forth by Adivasi leaders who think that their reservations would be slashed.
“But they are mistaken. It would not happen that way. If the number of STs increases, the reservation to them too would increase. The Adivasi Valmikis who inhabit the hill slopes in the agency areas need not worry. Their interests would remain intact,” Ramaiah said.
Meanwhile, Bose urged the TDP leadership to follow up on the resolution they had sent to the Centre earlier.
“Organising Valmiki Jayanthi would not be of any use. The Boyas are not ready to be carried away with inane symbolism like observing Valmiki Jayanthi officially. What does official Jayanthi mean anyway? A function at the district headquarters where a few leaders would speak and then disperse. How is it going to help the Valmiki cause,” he asked.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
