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     Vjavasi Side Hero Username: Vjavasi Post Number: 8540 Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 117.195.202.90 Rating: N/A |
Andhra recently started on the path Bihar refused to move any longer with the last year elections, each passing day politics in andhra is increasingly becoming corrupt, casteist & criminalised. no body is exception to it, both CBN & YSR destroyed andhra in the last 16 years, of course under YSR five year rule plundering of andhra pradesh happened in an unprecedented way beyond comparison with any other CM not only in andhra but India. It was an open loot and YSR supported it to such an extent that govt servants and sections of society at large started feeling corruption as an legitimate right, YSR single handedly destroyed institutions and whatever ethical feelings left in a normally corrupt bureaucracy, power elite and even sections of population, his regime was a psychological game changer for legitimizing corruption. let me place things in context with the dynamics of politics in andhra, i would explain politics of andhra with reference to three regimes that changed the course of andhra pradesh starting with legendary movie actor NTR's historic win in 1983 1)NTR Regime 1983-89 2) CBN 1995-2004 3) YSR 2004 - 2009 Andhra political background Since independence and even before that andhra's political landscape was dominated primarily by two feudal castes 1) Reddys and 2) Kammas, both these groups were active in congress and communist partys. congress was dominated by reddys led by sanjeev reddy after successfully undermining his rival N.G. Ranga from kamma caste who then joined swatantra party and returned back to congress later. communist party was mostly dominated by leadership from kamma caste though there is significant reddy leadership notably P. Sundarayya who later became popular general secretary of CPI (M). This was the scenario of political andhra before telangana merger. telangana merger happened in 1956 when communist party had fair chances of capturing power in coastal andhra, if not for telangana merger communist party had fair chances of capturing power in coastal andhra, in one stroke merger of telangana steadily diminished communist party and that was set back to kammas also who had little or insignificant presence in telangana. reddy presence is significant in telangana, rayalaseema and pockets of costal andhra. with their numerical spread across A.P, reddys were able to occupy CM post and other significant ministries for most part of the period prior to arrival of NTR on andhra political scene with around 80/290 mlas on an average and kammas with 40/290 mla’s confined to coastal andhra. Arrival of NTR and his regime After telangana merger opposition parties failed to evolve leadership that can lead across the three regions of andhra 1) Coastal andhra 2) Telangana 3) Rayalaseema, it was advantage to congress all the way with it's strong central leadership, all major political factions in the state used to fight within congress and the control of congress over the state was complete. The high command used to change CM's at it's will without a whimper of protest. Though some of them seperated from indira congress and formed reddy congress under brahmananda reddy they couldn't succeed and eventually returned back to congress. It so happened in the years between 1977-82 it changed four CM's and one of them Tanguturi Anjaiah a dalit was slapped by rajiv gandhi in hyderabad airport. In this scenario there is resentment against congress but andhra was badly in need of a leader who can lead all the regions, this was the background of NTR's entry, a hugely popular cinema idol in all genres of cinema especially venerated for his mythological roles of Krishna,Rama,Ravana and Duryodhana entered the scene. he floated his party Telugu Desham invoking telugu pride and a call to fight against dictatorial centre headed by Indira. NTR introduced many novel ideas of campaign, he was the first indian politician to use rath yatras for mass contact with his chaitanya ratham, a chevrolet van modified to suit political campaign. In nine months he travelled 30,000 kms to every nook & corner of andhra pradesh even abstaining from family functions. such was the determination of the man that he upstaged a well rooted party lead by Indira gandhi with two-thirds majority and within a span of nine months after entering politics, an achievement unparalleled in history. Behind NTR's spectacular achievement and emotive appeal there lies a meticulous strategy. Apart from using his popularity across all sections he gave importance to educated professionals and OBC's that were neglected in previous regimes. He was supported by Ramoji Rao's popular daily Eenadu with extensive coverage of NTR's tours. Ramoji Rao, a successful first generation entrepreneur, upstaged traditional media elite with his popular presentation of news and innovative media strategies, he opposed indira politically during emergency and with his communist roots had strong anti-congress opinions. Both NTR & Ramoji belong to kamma caste and kammas with their financial & political clout supported NTR to the hilt. After long time beside his charisma they saw a leader in NTR who can change the political scenario in the state to their favour. NTR became first CM from kamma caste after independence NTR regime apart from his popular welfare schemes implemented many radical and progressive measures, he abolished patel-patwari system which was based on inheritance that dominated telangana, gave property rights to women, streamlined education system and introduced merit based entrance exams at college level, started new universities, improved infrastructure in Hyderabad and other cities & developed temple town Tirupathi. he did splendid job in maintaining law and order in riots ridden communally sensitive Hyderabad. Overall his regime was the period of highest economic growth in the history of andhra till date driven by rural productivity and urban infrastructural changes Congress after stumped by NTR’s popularity followed a strategy of divide and rule, right from the begining it branded TDP as “Kamma Desham Party” to highlight NTR’s caste and drive a wedge between castes. It openly practiced caste politics inciting non-kamma castes. However it couldn’t succeed in the beginning but was successful towards the end of NTR’s second innings helped by some unfortunate incidents. In the coastal city of Vijayawada considered heart of coastal Andhra two local rival rowdy ••• student gangs were fighting for dominance. One gang leader Devineni Nehru, a kamma got elected to assembly on TDP ticket, the other gang leader V.Mohana Ranga, a kapu,got elected on congress ticket. In 1988 V. Mohana Ranga’s gang murdered Devineni Murali, an aggressive rowdy sheeter and brother of rival Devineni Nehru. Expecting retaliation from rival gang with direct or indirect support of NTR regime V.Mohanana Ranga with the help of congress state leaders and it’s machinery aggressively started caste mobilization across the state in the name of “Kapunadu”, he projected himself as leader of kapus in the state and was hugely successful in mobilizing kapus with covert congress support. In Dcember 1988 he was murdered while fasting for security to his life. Unprecedented riots followed his murder particularly in Vijayawada and pockets of coastal Andhra. V.Mohana Ranga instantly became martyr for kapus, Vijayawada was reduced to ashes with heavy loss of life and property, kammas suffered the brunt of rioting mobs that included congress goons. Rajiv Gandhi refused additional forces to NTR for a week, the city was under curfew for six months. In the subsequent elections in 1989 congress used this caste polarization in coastal Andhra to the hilt and was finally successful in dislodging NTR which it failed using all kinds of tricks before. It tried favourite trick of using governor’s office but andhrites stood by NTR, they voted NTR even after Indira’s assassination. TDP had rare distinction of a regional party given national opposition status during rajiv’s govt. NTR played pivotal role in bringing non-congress parties like Bjp and communist parties together as National Front chairman. Thus ended seven-half years of NTR’s first innings in power. However the distrust between kammas and kapus is a factor in Andhra politics till date at least in couple of districts surrounding Vijayawada, the polarization was extended to other fields like Tollywood with chiranjeevi and NTR’s son balakrishna becoming top stars. This polarization is advantage to congress in elections till date. Chandra Babu Naidu Regime (1995-2004) Born in a middle class farmer family the political journey of CBN started with getting elected on congress ticket in 1978, he served as a cinematography minister in cong govt. during this period he came close to NTR and married his daughter. CBN refused to join and even ridiculed NTR’s new party initially but joined it later after NTR captured power. Political opportunism marked his brand of politics right from the beginning, lack of charisma and communication skills prompted him to rely more on back room michiavilian skills and political management. He was a kingpin to all corrupt elements in relatively corruption-free NTR administration at highest level. He was plotting and patiently waiting to succeed NTR at an opportune moment. The opportunity came when NTR married Lakshmi parvathi . After NTR won historic mandate in 1994 securing close to 260 seats along with left parties, CBN with the help of Ramoji Rao’s eenadu was successful in creating an impression that LP will take over TDP like Jayalalitha in tamilnadu. In a successful coup helped by then Governor Krishna kanth and possibly indirect support from PVNR he dislodge NTR from his own party and Government. CBN lacked charisma like NTR and going by parliamentary elections in 1996 & 1998 voters at large didn’t accept him. Realizing his lack of mass leadership ability he started an high-tech image makeover exercise aided by friendly media. He followed a model of highly centralized leadership on the lines of communist party , many times he publicly said Jyothy Basu was his role model and following his Stalinist footsteps dreamt of ruling Andhra till the end of his life. He introduced massive changes in administration and with the help of computerization made govt more responsive to citizens, devised programmes like “Janma bhoomi” , “Sramadhanam” to win over citizens in the name of public participation . He relied more on propaganda than conviction in implementing these initiatives. Despite all these In 1998 parliament elections for the first time in Andhra Bjp secured 20 percent of votes and won four seats on it’s own, it’s performance was impressive particular in telangana . Sensing ground slipping beneath his feet he supported 13 month Vajpayee govt and went for an alliance with Bjp in 1999 assembly and parliament elections which returned him to power again. This is not to say that because of bjp he won but bjp did played a crucial role in his victory. Coming to his policies he focused heavily on Hyderabad and IT neglecting rest of the state and other areas of development. In his 9-year rule he failed to add any substantial irrigation infrastructure in a state largely dependent on agriculture. He got some 20,000crs loans from world bank but squandered them on non productive programs and infrastructure. While rural Andhra was reeling under successive droughts he was out of touch with the reality and relied on propaganda targeting upper middle class which did got benefitted from his IT centric policies. He himself was involved in scientific corruption at high level but came down heavily on employees. He tried to influence public opinion in his favor by publicly humiliating employees and making a show out of it. All these costed him heavily in 2004 elections despite his plans to invoke sympathy following assassination attempt on him by naxals. Towards the end of his innings his track record and style of functioning gave an impression to large sections of population that he is opportunistic and highly self centered individual who can’t trust anyone. YSR has highlighted this aspect of CBN and using other weaknesses of his regime successfully dislodged CBN from power and from his self assumed high CEO pedestal in 2004. Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy regime Born in a family with factionist background and mining interests in kadapa.YSR completed medicine, he practiced for a short period before he plunged into politics winning his first election from pulivendula on brahmananda reddy’s congress(R) ticket in 1978. He served as minister in that term but never became minister again till he became CM in 2004. He was a disgruntled guy although his within state congress politics until raise of Sonia in congress. He actively encouraged factional politics against successive incumbent congress CM’s between 1989-94 with someone like chenna reddy even accusing him of engineering communal riots that rocked Hyderabad between 1990-93. He owes his political muscle in kadapa to his father Raja reddy who was a dreaded factionist in the region. But, the real game changer in his career came when he convinced Rajiv Gandhi to appoint him as PCC chief at the age of 32 after NTR’s stellar performance in Andhra. It gave him an opportunity to extend his political influence beyond kadapa and he brilliantly succeeded in doing that. From that time he maintained his loyal faction within congress across the state. With kamma-kapu divide in delta districts of Andhra with less reddy presence he consciously wooed sections of kapu leadership and with his religious background he could associate closely with converted Christian groups in coastal Andhra. In rayalaseema and telangana he became rallying point for reddy politics once he took over as PCC chief for the second time in 1999. All this effort spanning 30 years paid him rich dividends in defeating CBN and in consolidating power thereafter. YSR was a natural politician who rose from the ranks within congress, however because of his faction background people were always skeptical about him and TDP used to highlight this at every available occasion. Nobody was serious about his CM candidature until he did a master stroke by undertaking 1400kms walk under blazing sun from one end of Andhra to other, this was a turning point in his political career which brought him close to masses and also real issues. This penance turned him into a mass leader and in a sense changed perpetually disgruntled leader into a matured politician. After assuming power master politician in YSR started his work. With his padayatra experience he acquired firsthand knowledge on real issues, he focused on enhancing irrigation infrastructure in a state with two major rivers. He has right ideas on policy but used them to promote corruption and nepotism. He tried to factionalize entire state with his carrot and stick policy typical to his background. He identified TDP support base of OBC’s and aggressively wooed them while isolated kammas wherever possible. He took care of his own constituency comprising of upper castes minus kammas , Christians,muslims and dalits. With a booming economy during his time he doled out welfare schemes in someway or other reached lower middle class and weaker sections. On the other hand he allowed rampant corruption at all levels. He even auctioned govt land to fund these schemes that were started in the final year of tenure. His 108 emergency service and arogyasri were novel ideas and very popular. He branded sections of press writing against his corruption as casteist and attempted to cower them but failed. The two news papers Eenadu and Andhra jyothy faced the challenge with courage, they assumed the role of opposition when CBN utterly failed as opposition leader. Ramoji didn’t budge even at the prospect of his business empire ruination he meticulously built over the years, he deserves kudos for that. YSR tried to muzzle all kinds of opposition, he clandestinely encouraged conversions with a long term goal of demographic changes, his son-in-law brother Anil Kumar was leading that front eliminating rival evangelical groups lead by people like K.A.Paul. Paul became bitter critic of YSR. While he increased salaries for pujaris he auctioned temple lands to fill his exchequer. Established Christian economic commission and funded Bethlehem yatras with public money. Started reservations for muslims and his antics on tirumala temple were well documented. In five years of his term he attempted far reaching changes in Andhra polity and society. However, inspite of all these he could win only 35% percent of popular vote and thread bare majority in assembly 156/290, while congress won 33/42 MP seats even after massive voter turnout. The corruption exposes by media did struck chord with a section of population and the Mahakutami formed with TDP-TRS did damage YSR at assembly level while PRP floated by chranjeevi helped YSR in some regions and damaged him in other regions. After assuming office for the second time YSR did realized that his adventures were not received well by sections of population and attempted a moderate approach before he met with accident that took his life. There are questions raised about this accident and some of them are valid given his aggressive nature and his attempt to establish himself as leader of his own right. To summarize Andhra Pradesh is at cross roads after last sixteen years of rule by CBN and YSR, apart from some development in IT there is no development in other areas like manufacturing despite immense potential and an entrepreneurial class. Rural economy is crumbling with unprofitable agriculture and farmers in delta districts of Godavari decided to go on a crop holiday. Hyderabad lost it’s sheen because of telangana agitation, there is no development in coastal Andhra cities like Vijayawada. A strong decisive leadership is the need of hour, but no options available at this confusing period of Andhra history. If not handled properly, In the coming days Andhra could move completely towards caste politics with bitter fight between different groups for political domination akin to bihar of yesteryears |
