Manda Krishna: Rebel with a cause Premium

The Hindu profiles on Manda Krishna 'Madiga' leads historic movement for sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes, gaining Supreme Court approval after decades of struggle.

What started as a small movement for the sub-categorisation of the Scheduled Castes in united Andhra Pradesh three decades ago in a small village of Eedumudi in Prakasam district has come to centre stage after the Supreme Court earlier this month gave a historic verdict that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes can be divided into sub-groups for the purpose of reservations and employment.

The man credited with this achievement is 59-year-old Manda Eliah, more popularly known as Manda Krishna ‘Madiga’, founder of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS), the movement that rocked A.P. for years causing tension to the Governments headed by Chief Ministers of those times, be it Nedurumilli Janardhan Reddy, Kotla Vijayabhasakara Reddy, N. Chandrababu Naidu and Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy.

Born to Manda Kommuraiah and Manda Kommuramma on July 7, 1965 in Shayampet near Hanamkonda of Warangal district in Telangana, Mr. Krishna was a rebel fighting for the cause of the downtrodden, particularly the Madigas among the SCs. His grouse was always against the dominant Malas among the SCs, who he claimed had cornered Government jobs and dominated the educational field by enjoying the quota for Dalits.

In his early 20s, Mr. Krishna was attracted to the outlawed People’s War Group (PWG) and briefly worked for the underground party. He followed another PWG leader K.G. Satyamurthy, who was expelled from the party. Mr. Krishna went to Prakasam district where Satyamurthy ran the Marxist Leninist Centre and started working there. During this time, he broached the idea of the injustice to Madigas and wanted the ML Centre to take up the cause.

Failing to get a positive response from the leadership, Mr. Krishna distanced himself from the activities of the group. He and his comrades founded the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) in 1994.

The MRPS, which began on a humble note, was popularly known as Madiga ‘Dandora’ – means announcements made by a Dalit by beating a drum in villages. The MRPS faced a stiff challenge from the rival ‘Mala Mahanadu’ movement, which was against categorisation of SCs. Malas are numerically strong in Andhra Pradesh, while Madigas are the leading numbers among the SCs in Telangana.

Mr. Manda Krishna proved his leadership qualities by organising the first meeting of the MRPS in Hyderabad with lakhs of people at Nizam College grounds in 1996. The meeting turned out to be watershed moment as the MRPS realised that categorisation of the SCs into ‘ABCD’ alone would solve their woes. He never looked back and organised a series of meetings and took out rallies. One such ‘Chalo Assembly’ call given in September 1996 almost brought the then TDP government led by Chandrababu Naidu to its knees as Mr. Krishna refused to leave the Basheerbagh area near the Babu Jagjivan Ram statue till the CM made a categorical announcement on sub-categorisation.