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Hello and welcome to this weekend special interview on the think tanks Forecast. This is Karan Dave bringing you the leading voices in politics in India. I'm delighted to be joined by Sumalata Amrish today, who is a real life icon. She has captured the public imagination for decades on end initially as a veteran actor and has starred in over 220 films in five languages. To be more specific, the languages are Kanada, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam
@ThinkTank · 0:14
So Malataji, I suppose the first and most important question is given your illustrious career, how has the transition been for you personally, from being an actor to now being a fulltime politician
@ThinkTank · 0:26
You have a very distinct position in Parliament, especially given that you're an independent MP and not a part of any of the main political parties in India. And most recently you've been vocal about your concerns with regard to illegal mining of forest land in your constituency. Similar is being an independent MP an advantage or disadvantage in terms of getting your voice out there in the framing of policies
@ThinkTank · 0:16
A significant portion of your constituency. Mandar comprises members of the farming community. Would have been some of the reactions of these people on the ground with regard to the farm laws which were recently be passed in Parliament
@ThinkTank · 0:17
Sumilataji as we are all well aware the BJP is currently in power in the center as well as in the state of Karnataka. I was wondering how this has translated into economic development in the state. What is your reading of of the performance of the Garden State government
@ThinkTank · 0:23
And finally, I want to wrap this up by asking you, what are some of your goals in terms of development, which you hope to achieve for your constituency? And with that, I'm very excited to listen to your thoughts on all of these these crucial issues. I will conclude this conversation at the end, but I'm looking forward to listening to your replies to each of these maladaji. Thank you so much for your time
Well, I think I would not use the word enjoy, as in the you know, the circumstances. I entered politics, though I hate the connection of the word politics or a politician. Even now, I don't think I look at myself as what is broadly considered a politician. I think it was a force of circumstances in which I found myself in at that particular time when I was going through a lot, I had just lost my husband and I don't know
I don't have people in every talucas who works solely for me, carry out my work, look into local work, so it becomes a huge task. So I have to employ a number of people to meet these challenges who can be available to people 24 bar seven, even when I'm not able to or when I'm in Delhi for the sessions. I always have people in my office attending to people, listening to their concerns and putting them across to me
But I think this issue, this is my opinion, and mine alone has been also politicized, and farmers have been misled to a certain extent. Of course, there's always room for improvising. There's always room for correction
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
And there seem to be certain issues and certain points in this particular law, which may be of, you know, concern to the farmers regarding the future. But I would say most of them do fight feel that it kind of opens up the markets for them, and they are okay with that. They're treating it cautiously, but they're not opposing it either. As far as my knowledge goes
The kind of problems that, you know, we seem to be seeing in the media, on the TV channels or whatever I would say they're approaching it cautiously. They have taken it in good faith as far as I can see. And in Karnataka, we have problems. The farmers have been facing different kinds of problems over the years. We eat water, irrigation prices for their fair prices, pricing for their crops and produce. And in my district of my dad, Sugar came
And I don't think it's really a fair time to evaluate because right from the time this government has come into power, literally four months into that we've had Corona and it's the same with me. Also in this June, I finish my second year as a member of Parliament, but one year and four months out of that have only gone in Corona
And Mandya is basically a farming district, so you cannot expect the kind of development that you would expect in any other district like Bangalore or Mesa, for that matter. It's 90% 99% rural area. So what one would want is, I think or I would say it is
But I do hope that I can contribute my bit to something good in Mandia for the benefit of people. I've been trying to reopen the different sugar factories and we managed to do that in Panda Pura. And I've been fighting to get that done. From the time I assumed office. I'm fighting to get my sugar factory in Mandia open, which has been closed down from ages. So that's a fight which I'm doing now
@ThinkTank · 0:52
And despite the unfortunate circumstances with which you entered the political system, I think the great legacy of your husband Amritji, lives on in the hearts of the people of Mandya and Karnataka, and it's remarkable how you're implementing his vision in your constituency. Additionally, also, given all the constraints you faced, you've managed to stand by your people. And I want to thank you again for all that you're doing and also coming on to swell
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