Know who Pittala Dora is?

Meet Pittala Dora, the famed conjurer of Andhra Pradesh. He can create the make believe and conjure up a world of promises, while fulfilling none.

To understand the delusionary world of this Pittala Dora, let’s go to Gunduvaripallela village in Amadagudu mandal of Anantapur district. Farmer Sivanna has 5 acre land. He sowed groundnut spending Rs 90000. With Chandrababu becoming the CM, rain gods refused to oblige. It was then that the Pittala Dora came. He told Sivanna to believe him, not the rain god. He also told him that he has an experience of nine long years. So, Sivanna believed him.

The Pittala Dora brought a contraption called rain gun. A pit was dug and water was filled. The water in the pit  was sprinkled on his crop. There were the usual photo ops. The Pittala Dora then left the place. By the time Sivanna came back to his fields after lunch, the tarpaulins were folded up, the pit was filled, the officials vanished and the rain gun disappeared. The crop weathered away and Sivanna got just five bags of groundnut as against at least 100 bags. Today, the conjurer is weaiving magic somewhere, while Sivanna is forced to sell snacks to repay the loan.

This is the story that YS Jagan is narrating during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra to drive home the point that Chandrababu had duped the Anantapur farmers. He showed photographs to reinforce the effect and finally asks the people who the Pittala Dora is. The crowd roars and says Chandrababu. Having driven home his point, YS Jagan moves on.

This new technique of political communication through story telling and visual examples is proving to be a huge hit.