The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Sluggish industrial growth leads to large-scale migration

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 02, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Sluggish industrial growth leads to large-scale migration

By V.S. Palaniappan

The Krishnagiri parliamentary constituency, known as the bastion of national parties, is all set to witness a keen contest between the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

The Congress, the Swatanthra Party and the Janata Dal held sway in the past in this constituency, which has semi-urban and industrial pockets. Since 1957, the contest was by and large between a regional party and a national party (mostly the Congress). Only in 1977 and 1999, did the constituency witness a straight fight between the DMK and the AIADMK. The Congress won the seat six times (1957, 1971, 1980, 1984, 1989 and 1991). The DMK nominees were returned in 1962 and 1967, while the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) won in 1996. In a number of elections, the BJP, the Janata Dal and the Swatanthra party nominees were runners-up.

The AIADMK won in 1977 and 1998. The DMK's Vetrichelvan emerged victorious in 1999. Despite its having returned Union Ministers such as the late Vazhapadi Ramamurthi of the Congress consecutively for four times and M. Thambi Durai of the AIADMK once, the infrastructure and industrial growth in the constituency remain in bad shape. The slump in industrial growth, successive monsoon failure and the resultant drought have led to large-scale migration of workers to Andhra Pradesh (for quarry, granite and marble industries in the Kuppam area) and Karnataka (for construction work).

While the neighbouring Dharmapuri is sore that many industries have gone to the newly-carved Krishnagiri district, Krishnagiri has its own cup of woe. Inadequate sops and revival packages to arrest the decline in industrial growth have only added to the woes. Water scarcity, sluggish industrial growth and unemployment are the issues the candidates will have to encounter. The resurfacing of the naxalite movement in November 2002 after nearly two decades, which was curbed with tough police action, is a pointer to the continuing backwardness of this region.

The AIADMK has fielded a lawyer, K. Nanje Gowdu, a first-timer, while the DMK has nominated E.G. Sugavanam of Bargur. The AIADMK nominee is from the Gowdu community while Mr. Sugavanam is a Telugu Chettiar.

The candidates grabbed the headlines in 1996 for two different reasons. The AIADMK nominee was mistaken as the one-eyed Sivarasan, one of the key accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Mr. Sugavanam defeated the AIADMK general secretary and Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, in the Bargur Assembly constituency in the 1996 elections. The BJP has managed to grow in a short span in the Hosur and Thali segments. The AIADMK won four out of the six Assembly segments — Krishnagiri, Bargur, Kaveripattinam and Palacode (Dharmapuri district) falling under this Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress represents the Hosur segment and BJP, Thali. The AIADMK nominee says the bifurcation is to facilitate greater administrative attention to problems that have dogged the district for long.

The four-lane road between Chennai and Bangalore via Vellore — Krishnagiri and Hosur and a number of flyovers constructed as part of the Prime Minister's Golden Quadrilateral Project are some of the aspects being highlighted by the AIADMK-BJP alliance. A revival package for industries and promotion of agro-based units are some of the common promises made by the main rivals. The AIADMK candidate is banking heavily on the "Amma factor."

The DMK nominee is pinning his hopes on the anti-incumbency factor against the AIADMK. "Repressive measures against all sections, anti-people policies, strained inter-State relations, flawed economic policies and inability to mitigate the sufferings of people would definitely make people vote against the BJP-AIADMK alliance," says Mr. Sugavanam.

The constituency, with a total electorate of 10,39,521 (5,15,439 men and 5,21,239 women, besides the Services), has 30 per cent Vanniyars, who are scattered across all six Assembly segments, and an SC/ST electorate of about 18 per cent. Christians and Muslims constitute around 12 per cent. Telugu Chettiars, Reddiars, Mudaliars, Naidus and Gowdus constitute 30 per cent.

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