Whether one agrees or not, the Telangana folk festival Bathukamma, celebrated during the Dasara Navaratri festivities, has attained national and international attention only because of Telangana Jagruthi, the cultural wing of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
Though the Bathukamma festival has been celebrated for centuries in the rural areas, it was Telangana Jagruthi founder and Nizamabad MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha who popularised it across the world. In fact, Kavitha has now become a synonym for Bathukamma in the last five years.
This year, however, Kavitha is staying away from the festivities.
“This year, Telangana Jagruthi will not take part in the Bathukamma festival and I personally do not want to be part of it, as there is every possibility that it will get a political colour in the wake of ensuing assembly elections. But I sincerely wish all the womenfolk of Telangana happily celebrate the festival with pomp and gaiety,” she said.
Kavitha, daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, expressed view that she did not want any criticism from the opposition parties that she was trying to gain political mileage from the Bathukamma festival.
“I was very much pained with the criticism levelled by the political rivals in the last four years. I do not want it to happen during the election year,” she said.
The Telangana Jagruthi founder denied the allegations that the Telangana Jagruthi was given money for the festival.
“We never took any grants from the government in the past nor do we do it in future,” she asserted.
