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KODAGU (COORG) MP YADUVEER WINS HEARTS BY WALKING BAREFOOT TO TALACAUVERY

By P. T. Bopanna

The Kodagu Lok Sabha member Yaduveer Wadiyar won the hearts of people of Kodagu by walking in barefoot during the recently concluded annual Theerthodbhava at Talacauvery, the birthplace of river Cauvery in Kodagu district in Karnataka.

Wearing traditional dress, including Mysuru peta, the scion of the royal family walked around 8 km in barefoot, accompanied by the local BJP leaders, from Bhagamandala to Talacauvery.

At one point in the march, he walked side by side with Virajpet MLA, A.S. Ponnanna, of the Congress. Though Yaduveer belongs to the BJP, he showed civility to Ponnanna by walking alongside.  

Yaduveer has proved that rival political parties and ideologies could co-exist and be respectful towards their political adversaries.

This was in sharp contrast to the previous Lok Sabha member Pratap Simha who practiced divisive politics.

It may be recalled this reporter had welcomed the decision of the BJP high command to give the party ticket to Yaduveer.

Though people of Kodagu district are highly cultured and peace-loving by nature, it has not been represented by able leaders in Lok Sabbha. While Simha practiced divisive politics, his predecessors Adagur H. Vishwanath and C.H. Vijayashankar, hardly took any interest in the development of Kodagu.

Earlier this year, Yaduveer led a students’ march to Kushalanagar to urge the government against the closure of the nascent Kodagu University.  

He had blamed the Congress government in the state for the mess in the education department. He said: “The state government has totally mismanaged the finances and as a result, the universities are being closed. Government universities are the rays of hope for students from middle and lower middle class families who want to pursue postgraduate studies.”

Yaduveer successfully championed the cause of black pepper growers of Kodagu and prevailed upon Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to exempt the crop from GST.

The only point where this reporter had faulted Yaduveer is on the question of bringing railways to Kodagu. Since he is aware of the fragile environmental situation in Kodagu, the MP will drop the proposed railway projects.

This reporter has been covering Kodagu district in the past several decades. For the first time, Kodagu is fortunate to have able MLAs and Lok Sabha member.