The Gangireddu communities, who visit houses during Sankranti festivities with their festooned bull, and seek alms, and make the festival complete with their music and dance, are leading a miserable life.
A nomadic tribe, they live in abject poverty and blindly believe in sorcery. That belief in sorcery claimed five members of a family, including three girls, as they were scared of being ostracised by their community in Kandugula village of Huzurabad mandal.
“The illiteracy and blind belief about sorcery claimed five members of an innocent family”, said Yellaiah, a relative of the deceased family. Because of sorcery charges, the victims were worried about the fate of their daughters. They felt that if they were accused of practising black magic, their daughters would not get married, he said.
Telangana Rashtra Gangireddula Sankshema Sangham State president Jiddi Kanakaiah said that though there were several such incidents among their community, only the Kandugula episode got exposed as the couple had committed suicide after killing their children.
“We beg for alms from all communities and still we are included in BC A category. We urge the government to include us in ST category and provide financial assistance,” he said, and stressed on the need to launch an awareness campaign to discourage the practice of sorcery and child marriages and other evils practised among their community.
Campaign soon
Expressing concern and grief over the incident, Karimnagar MP B. Vinod Kumar said: It is an unfortunate incident. Meanwhile, Minister Etala Rajender termed the incident as most heinous. Stating that the Gangireddu community people practice the tradition of putting hand in boiling oil to prove their sincerity and integrity, he said that the voluntary organisations should launch a rigorous campaign against sorcery and other social evils.
He also said that the government will launch awareness programmes against sorcery, and appealed to people not to believe in such practices.
