Seethakka: A leader who walks with her tribe.
Seethakka, was a gun-wielding Maoist in late 1980s and early 1990s. Those days, she used to have a gun on her shoulders but today she carries essentials for the poor tribals on her shoulders.
She came out of the Naxal movement and joined the mainstream in 1997 and became active in politics. She won on behalf of Congress in 2018 from Mulugu Assembly constituency. When all the legal proceedings were over, she studied to become a lawyer in Hyderabad. It was during this period she got interested in public policy and governance.
She has emerged as real role model and proved that she is no ordinary leader. After joining politics and getting elected as member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly first in 2009 and then again in 2018 (Telangana), she never distanced herself from her constituents.
She proved to be a real Akka for the poor tribals. She was always available for all the people in her constituency. She was among the first to reach out to the tribals soon after the lockdown was announced saying, "Serving the people is what gives me happiness. They elected me with a lot of expectations and I just try to live up to those expectations."
Rising early at dawn, every day, she and her team cover nearly seven villages. Nearly 72 of the 650-odd villages that make up the constituency have no road connectivity. Having served as a former comrade in the Naxal movement for years, however, Seethakka knows her way. Walking is her passion and she extended hand holding to tribals with rice bags, vegetables and other essentials.
At some places she loads her goods on a tractor. Where tractors cannot go, she rides a bike and where even that is not possible, she travels by bullock cart and when even that is not possible, she goes on foot deep into tribal hamlets. She feels pained as the government treats tribes and people of plain areas alike and so carries out relief works.
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