Aspiration vs welfare: How caste politics is playing out in T'gana

Clumps of darkness obscure the faint stream of yellow light illuminating the concrete path that leads to the last house in the lane. It's past 8pm when B Sangappa emerges from the whitewashed two-storey structure, his carefully trimmed handlebar moustache, gold-rimmed glasses and starched, two-pleat Telugu dhoti a familiar, comforting sight.

- Dhrubo Jyoti

His stride is now tempered with age, his trembling fingers struggle to hold aloft the edges of his dhoti. But the 86-year-old Telangana movement veteran's memory is clear. "Us backwards gave everything to see this state get created. Does anyone remember?"

The first signs of chill hang in the November air; Sangappa coughs it's not usual for him to be out so late. But today is important. He has to go to a village on the outskirts of Zaheerabad town to help his community decide their stance for the assembly elections just days away. A group of young men heave him up into the kind of refashioned open jeeps that simultaneously straddle community pride and masculine virility in small-town India - adorned with decorative chutes and motifs of swords, skulls, moustaches, and a small bevy of headlights that more than make up for the dark highway ahead.

The meeting is noisy, drowning the lilt of old Telugu hits wafting from households nearby. The men are confused-their local constituency is held by the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) but they've heard the Congress is rising and don't want to miss the bus. In this village of rmers and fishermen, the former have got payments under the Rythu Bandhu scheme but the latter rue the lack of adequate support. Yet, the overwhelming feeling is one of resentment. Hanumanthu talks about how the two factories that drive the local economy now don't hire as many local boys as they used to. B Shankar grumbles about how even Dalits are getting ahead of them. And Vamsi Krishna angrily recalls how he once got 95% in an examination, but couldn't secure a seat. "In the end, the problem is the same. That we are far more in number but our position in colleges and government offices is weak. And there is no way to improve without strengthening ourselves in polls," said Sangappa.