Nayana Motamma, a first-time Congress MLA from Mudigere, is among the four women legislators from the party to have been elected to the Karnataka assembly this time. Just days before voting on May 10, social media trolls, allegedly from rival parties, targeted her sense of dressing and lifestyle. They began a slander campaign against her and even circulated a video of her wearing non-traditional clothing, in a swim in the pool, and dancing with her daughter, to try and cause her electoral defeat.
Nayana bares her heart out on the slander campaign and other women-related issues in this interview with News18. Edited excerpts:
The Shakti scheme just launched by the Congress government, the different freebies that have been promised especially for women…do they help empower women?
Don’t you think so? Look at the number of women on the bus today. There are more women than men aboard the bus. I was just reading in the paper today and it spoke of how a lady who was taking her daughter to the hospital and they travelled by the bus free of charge. The money that they were able to save from the bus charge, they were able to use to buy medicines. Isn’t that a great thing?
Even the constituency that I come from, Mudigere, is a rural area and places are far. To travel even to a public health centre, people have to take a bus from a common point and travel to the location. It is the same if they want to go to school or buy daily essentials and they needn’t depend on anyone. Isn’t that another form of empowerment?
There was a very telling photograph of an elderly lady touching her forehead to the steps of a bus and later saying from now on she does not have to ask her children for money to travel to her hometown.
Exactly. That is what we are trying to achieve. I wish you would not call it a freebie but a way to empower women. I think that the focus of our Congress government has been also other schemes including Griha Lakshmi, Griha Jyothi, etc. Also while I was campaigning, and if you sensed during the elections, women wanted the BJP out of power as they felt the pinch of price rise a lot and the rising LPG prices affected them daily. Be it gas or daily essentials, the money they save by travelling for free, they use those savings for their homes. It makes a lot of difference to women, especially in rural areas where my constituency is also situated.
How is Congress planning to provide for the freebies? Can you afford it? Is there enough money to support these freebies? Isn’t Congress overreaching with its promises and free schemes?
The Congress gets criticised for having ruled for over 60 years, and given the six decades of experience that we have, we do know how to run the administration. For that criticism, I would also like to say, giving myself a pat on the back as I come from the Congress party, that we do have a lot of experience on how to manage our finances. I think we were very certain when we announced these schemes as to how we are going to manage the money. Secondly, our chief minister Mr Siddaramaiah has presented close to 15 budgets. A lot of things come out of experience and there will be adjustments made. For example, for the funds allocated to an MLA, there may be a bit of adjustment or cutdown, so you can provide these schemes which are for the larger good.
The five schemes or freebies that have been announced, after they were announced, the Congress government put riders on who can avail of them. Why not announce it explaining the riders, or was it to first attract the voters and later explain who can qualify for it?
Not at all. When we spoke about the Griha Laxmi scheme, we had mentioned only the senior woman of the house will get it, or be it the Griha Jyothi scheme, where we are giving 200 units of power free. We are very clear when we convey who can avail or qualify for it. Even the 10 kg rice that we provide is for BPL card owners who need it the most. I would also like to highlight another thing: before your marriage, your name is on the ration card of your family, but it does not get transferred to the family you are married into. That transfer needs to happen, and such anomalies need to be addressed and moved. I am sure we will resolve all this. Within one month of coming into power we have launched most of our promised schemes, but look at the BJP, they don’t even have an opposition leader till today.
You were trolled on social media for how you dressed, and dancing with your daughter, and attempts were made to slander you. How do you respond to those trolls and their attempts to hurt your image especially when you were fighting for elections?
This question has been overplayed a lot, but I will answer it. I anticipated that it was coming as it is the easiest thing for them to do, right? They had a video or a picture of me in a saree and then they shifted to pictures of me wearing modern dresses, saying, ‘Oh, look at her’. I had anticipated it, but let me tell you, I have kept this open and it is something that I would not want to hide. I understand what public life is, my mom has been in politics for over 40 years, and I am aware of what extent they (opposition) would go. I was never worried about it or broke a sweat. I heard they circulated this video two days before the elections and took it all over my constituencies and tried to influence people. However, they did not succeed. My constituents were not affected by it. I did not retort to them, as most people would do.
After I won the election when it was circulated again, I decided it was more appropriate for me to answer. I had made it clear I am as normal as anybody can get, but sometimes I wear pants like others as well, depending on the occasion…if you are going to a temple, you will wear an attire, or to work a particular attire; similarly, that is the way I am. It is important to show people that for somebody who is in public life, it is absolutely normal to be modern or dressed well.
Did it affect your election campaign or the margin by which you were voted in?
A few days ago when I was in my constituency, I was telling them how large-hearted they were. They accepted me with wide arms, as I am. I am in a rural constituency, and for them to accept somebody like me who is modern in my perspective, it is very big-hearted of them to vote me to victory. Out of 224 constituencies in the state, my constituency is special because they accepted me as I am. I don’t think it affected my votes at all.
Another question is about the revival of the Indira canteen. Will that be brought back?
I am sure that will happen. We have a large migrant population and food was being served at Rs 5 and Rs 10, and wholesome clean food at that rate was a boon for them. Many canteens had begun in districts as well towards the fag end of our government in 2018. It helps people and helps them save, and that money is very important for the common man. Our government and party have been very people-centric, and during price rise, such things help people. A government should be empathetic. Empathy is a huge factor that a party or government should have for its people. This was missing with the BJP. People found it with Congress and that is why they voted us back to power.
A lady had written to the President about how she was forced to defecate in the open as she could not find a washroom on the way to a temple in Chikkamagaluru. Mudigere falls in the same region. Will you take up such issues as well?
I may fall in trouble for saying this, but I had been fighting for a separate washroom for women in the Congress office itself. I had been asking for it since the time I was the general secretary of the Mahila Congress. Yes, it is important to address such issues. I have also conducted random checks of washrooms in hospitals and it is important to have such facilities. Sometimes the government and politicians need to work hand in hand to bring change. I understand women’s problems and we will highlight them. As a woman, I would like to espouse such issues.
What is your assessment of your Congress government which was voted to power exactly a month ago?
It’s been fantastic and the entire Congress party including CM Siddaramaiah, KPCC chief and deputy CM DK Shivakumar, the karyakartas, and all of us worked very hard over the years, including during Covid, to help the people of the state. People realised that it is the Congress party that stands by them and so they voted us to power.