For the Bathukamma festival last year, KCR came out with a plan to woo the women voters. Inspired by Jayalalitha’s ‘Amma Sarees’ in Tamil Nadu, he embarked on a free saree drive for women from the poorer sections of society.
The exercise turned into a complete farce. At short notice, almost half the sarees were sourced from Surat in Gujarat and only half from the power looms of Telangana.
As TRS leaders started distributing the sarees, trouble erupted in some areas. At an event in Hyderabad's Saidabad, women waiting in a long queue were seen pummeling each other and pulling at each other's hair and policewomen were seen breaking up the fights.
Elsewhere, groups of women were seen burning the sarees, alleging that they were of poor quality and far from the promised handloom.
Videos were circulated of women dancing around a bonfire to songs mocking Chief Minister KCR.
“Will his daughter Kavitha dance Bathukamma wearing such a saree?” questioned one irate woman. More than 1 crore sarees were ordered at a cost of Rs 222 crore.
This year, all the sarees are being made in Telangana. But the TRS government is jittery because the stock is supposed to be delivered by the end of September for delivery during Bathukamma in October.
Against the target of 1 crore sarees, only 25 lakh have been made ready. Another 75 lakh needs to be ready in the next three months.
All the sarees are being made in Sircilla where there is acute shortage of weavers. If the government doesn’t get its act right, the saree could easily spark massive unrest among womenfolk and provide ample fodder to the Opposition with elections round the corner. This is one important Bathukamma for TRS!
Can they deliver on quantity and quality as well? Will the women be pleased and tell KCR, ‘Bathukayya’? We shall know soon.
