But once their community attained 'upward mobility' in land-ownership and economic wealth, they found it to be against their material interests to continue the left politics.
[7] A wealthy Kamma landlord of the village, Daggubati Chenchu Ramaiah, who also happens to be one of the main accused in the Karamchedu massacre,[8] had strong connections with the TDP's founder N. T. Rama Rao (NTR).
Scholar Dag-Erik Berg states that the rise of TDP and the connections the local Kamma landlords had with the political leadership "emboldened" them to intensify their caste-oppression against Dalits.
Kammas saw this resistance of Dalits, particularly Madigas, voting against the TDP as a sign of revolt, since their "economic bondage" did not translate into "political loyalty".
Scholar K Srinivasulu writes that it caused "sufficient injury" to the collective pride of the dominant Kamma caste, "which only waited for a pretext for retaliation".
And on the morning of 17 July, hundreds of Kammas armed with axes, spears and clubs launched an unanticipated attack on the residents of Madiga wada (settlement), damaging the entire colony, not even sparing pregnant women and mothers with small children.
Later the local Dalit activists and leaders accompanied the victims who sought shelter in a church in the town, and organised a refugee camp to help them.
[4][18] Katti Padma Rao lived in Chirala at the time when Karamchedu victims came to the town and he witnessed the situation in the refugee camp and the local hospital.
[10][21] Avenging the Karamchedu massacre, the People's War Group murdered Chenchu Ramaiah who was a key accused in the violence, though the Dalit Mahasabha opposed such violent moves.
Dag-Erik Berg writes that it depicted the intensification of caste in the modern agrarian economy, emphasizing the role of "status" and "honor" in the system of stratification, the significance of economic and political power, and the deep rooted notions of untouchability that could lead to brutality in the Indian society.
After a significant shift in landownership in the post colonial era from Brahmin to non-Brahmin castes (like Reddys, Kammas and Kapus), Kammas, who already constituted an affluent and politically powerful group before the twentieth century and were classified as "Shudras" in the traditional Varna system, gained increased social dominance through their economic and political power.
Berg says that their claim to caste superiority was dependent on relation to Dalits who were 'excluded' in the traditional ritual classification in which they are treated as "untouchables".
Accordingly, in this case, the local Kamma historians engaged in providing 'evidence' to claim their Kshatriya status, which coincided with the early 1900s colonial census that categorized people.
[27][29] Karamchedu incident also posed an intellectual challenge to the classic Marxist perspective which saw caste-oppression as a mere consequence of class struggle between the capitalist farmers and agricultural workers.
Although the class dimension is closely related to the caste-oppression, the Dalit movement in the state post-Karamchedu emphasized the need to address the issue of caste in its specificity since it plays a predominant role in the underlying social conflict.
Following his ideas of Annihilation of Caste, Dalit leaders and activists fought against untouchability and exclusion, and strove for self-assertion, dignity and legal protection from the state.