Bullet to ballot: Telangana MLA Dhansari Anasuya's unusual life journey

Dhansari Anasuya is a newsmaker of a different kind. The story of this ballsy Telangana Congress MLA with a bloodied Naxal past, who shed her battle fatigues in 1997 to serve the marginalised, has gripped the imagination of social media users.

From the bullet to the ballot – from a Naxal commander to MLA – Anasuya, also known as Sithakka, has indeed traversed a long journey. Though she may have renounced the  armed rebellion that she had taken up in 1988 to pursue mainstream politics, she continued to stay committed to her goal of serving the marginalised.

Today, this simple and self-effacing daughter of the soil has changed the very public perception of lawmakers.

For, this 51-year old Congress lawmaker and ex-militia member of a banned left wing extremist group is always embarking on grueling and risky journeys into the most forsaken and forgotten places in the state. The pictures and videos of her carrying food sacks over her head, trekking hilltops through deep jungles, gorges and streams, commuting in tractors, bullock carts, two-wheelers and travelling in boats, often go viral on social media platforms.

Ballot prevails over bullet

Responding to an amnesty programme offered by the Chandrababu Naidu government in undivided Andhra Pradesh, Sithakka chose to renounce her association with the Naxal movement and surrendered to the police.

Also read: KCR attacks PM Modi, says India under ‘undeclared Emergency’

In 2004, Anasuya joined the TDP after her surrender, even though she was not in sync with the party’s “ideology”. The TDP leader, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, had in 2003 survived an attempt on his life by the People’s War Group, as a retaliation for his government’s encounter killings of several top extremist leaders.

“I differed with him only on one issue – encounter killings,” said  Anasuya in an interview with The Federal. Between 1995 and 2004, the TDP’s rule in Andhra Pradesh was marked by a spate of encounter killings of several Naxal leaders. Anasuya’s brother, and her husband Kunja Ramu, were killed in encounters with the police.

Sithakka had secured a TDP ticket to unsuccessfully contest from Mulug (ST reserved) constituency in the 2004 elections. But, in 2009, she won the seat as a TDP candidate. After the state’s bifurcation, Sithakka left the TDP for the Congress. She followed her mentor A Revanth Reddy, who is now heading the Telangana Congress. In 2018, she became a lawmaker for the second time from Mulug in 2018 on a Congress ticket.

The way she manages to strike a chord with the people at the grassroots level has raised her profile in the party. Sithakka rose to become general secretary of the All India Mahila Congress and is in-charge of Chhattisgarh. She even stole the show at a recent rally held by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Warangal.

Twitterati, inspired by her service-oriented activities, have been pitching for her to be named as the Congress’ Chief Ministerial candidate of Telangana on social media platforms.

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From riffle to Twitter

Born in a Koya (Adivasi) family at Jaggannapet in Mulug assembly segment, which she is currently represents, Sithakka had donned battle fatigues soon after she cleared her school final exam in 1988. She spent her life underground for 11 years, facing half a dozen criminal cases. Yet, her rustic life failed to be a stumbling block for Sithakka, when she has to use Facebook and Twitter as a powerful weapon in pursuit of her public service.

Helping gives you a new sense of happiness, from morning to evening been to many villages to distribute groceries to the flood victims. #rains #TelanganaFloods @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @manickamtagore @revanth_anumula @INCTelangana pic.twitter.com/j93P6s07cX

— Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) (@seethakkaMLA) July 16, 2022

Sithakka is quite active on Twitter with a network of 86,000 followers. Another 2.92 lakh people follow her on her Facebook page through which she mobilises ration, blankets, clothes, vegetables and edible oil, as part of her online campaign with a trending hashtag #GoHungerGo.

Her Mulug assembly segment, which is made up of 76 per cent forest area, has the Godavari flowing across it and makes it an area vulnerable to floods. This time, a number of tribal habitations were flooded and houses and crops were badly damaged. When the flood-hit Adivasi victims were struggling, Sithakka reached out to more than two dozen remote habitations and extended food material to over 3,500 families within a week.

Since the imposition of the lockdown on March 25, 2020, the 15,000 Gutti Koyas of Mulug, who migrated from Chhattisgarh and Odisha, were completely dependent on this MLA’s rations, as they are not eligible for succor from the Telangana state. During the pandemic, she spent more than 100 days going round Adivasi habitations in deep forests and hilltops providing them with ration and masks.

“All this forest area, streams and hilltops are quite familiar to me for a long time. Once I moved around this area with firearms. Now, I am moving around with ration to keep my people away from hunger. It’s a thrilling experience”, Sithakka told The Federal, becoming emotional as she recounted her story.

“It’s a different kind of service I did when I was part of the Naxal movement. Back then, I usurped lands from rich landlords and gave them to the poor, punishing the women harassers at gun point,” Sithakka recalls.

Doesn’t the video look like that of a migrant worker waking to her village? But it isn’t! This is an MLA carrying essentials in the hot sun and rocky path to far flung tribal villages. Seethakka has been doing this for about 39days now. Spellbound by her dedication @seethakkaMLA pic.twitter.com/PPWfgccL6K

— Revathi (@revathitweets) May 3, 2020

After she gave up her underground life and joined the mainstream under the amnesty programme, this former dhalam leader continued her twin pursuits— as a political leader on one hand and an academic pursuing her bachelor’s in law and a PhD from Osmania University.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi calls KCR a ‘raja’ who betrayed Telangana

Flaying KCR’s Dharani

After the TRS headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao came to power, she alleged, her efforts to give lands to the landless came to nothing, as Dharani or integrated land records management system initiated by the KCR government transferred those lands back to landlords with legal rights.

Her husband Kunja Ramu and brother Sambhaiah, both were part of the same CPI-ML (CP faction) with which Sithakka was associated. They were, however, killed in police encounters.

Sithakka’s son Surya, an engineering graduate, said  his mother is a source of inspiration to him. “I don’t know parental love. My father was killed soon after my birth and I was brought up by my grandparents when my mother was underground. Still, I look up to my mother now and prefer to tread the path she treads,” asserted Surya.