Channe Gowda, 80, popularly known as Gaddappa (man with a beard) following his role in award-winning Kannada movie Thithi , sounds as wise and enigmatic as the role he played in the trend-setting film as he talks about polls and politics.
Sitting in front of his thatched hut at Node Koppalu village in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district in his trademark shorts, the octogenarian is highly guarded when it comes to discussing political issues. “What do I know about politics or administration? I’m an illiterate and an ordinary villager,” he says.
But drag him into a conversation and ask him what he expects from parties as a villager and farmer, he says: “There is a lot to be done for farmers and villages. But election time may not be the appropriate time for people to decide the agenda. Because, whatever you ask for during elections, politicians will agree without even blinking an eye. Later, all of us know that they would not even meet us.”
Gaddappa is deeply concerned about the drinking water shortage and the ordeal of women folk of his village, who have to fetch water from a public tap that is a kilometre away. He says politicians have to do something to ensure there is drinking water for people and cattle in villages. He is upset that politicians have not done anything to better the lives of poor people. He says he could not even get loan for repairing his thatched hut.
Gaddappa does not trust any politician. But that does not mean he is cynical. He says he has voted in every election. “I have never missed voting in any election. I know you may not get suitable candidates or parties. But whomever your conscience says is better than the rest, choose him/her. Because, vote is such a thing that it will lose its value if you do not exercise it on the polling day,” he says.
He has an appeal to politicians and parties. “Please do not flood villages with liquor at the time of polls. Every election, liquor menace has become a major problem in villages,” he says.
