The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : All for an identity

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

All for an identity

Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM: The AP Turupu Kapu Welfare Association has decided to retain the identity of the community and appealed to its members not to be misled and attend the meetings convened by other organisations.

``Turupu Kapus mainly hail from the north coastal districts, belong to poorer sections and have a distinct identity,'' the association's State general secretary, K.S. Murthy, said here on Tuesday.

Because of the attempts to enlist the support of Turupu Kapus by such organisations, the community was facing an identity crisis, he felt.

Mr. Murthy announced that to clear the confusion, a mahasabha of Turupu Kapus would be held in the last week of July or early August.

Addressing a press conference along with the association's district unit secretary, P. Markandeyulu, its treasurer, G. Madhava Rao, and V. Rajagopal Das, Mr. Murthy said that Kapu, Telaga and Balija belonged to forward castes while the Turupu Kapus came under Backward Class "D'' category.

Because of the poor social status of the community, its members had been demanding since 1995 that it be included in BC "A''. If the demand of Kapus to include them in BC "D'' was conceded, it should not be at the cost of the Turupu Kapus in the category, he said.

`No political motive'

"The association has no political motive,'' Mr. Murthy stated disassociating it from political demands with an eye on the ensuing local body elections.

Some self-styled organisations were trying to create confusion and lure Turupu Kapus because of their large number to attend their meetings and other social gatherings, he alleged.

Members of the community were given the BC ''D'' status all over the State and there was a Central Government order to bestow it in other States, too, he averred.

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