When legislators unite

I saw a few articles in the online edition of the Times of India and NDTV which prompted this post. There are rare occasions when our legislators display unity cutting across party lines. This is especially true on two occasions - when they face some common threat to their facilities or authority, and when the issue is vote bank politics, namely reservation.

We have a range of reservation quotas in our country, SC/ST, OBC and god knows what all. The Supreme Court had said some time back said that quotas for promotion should be backed up by solid figures to show actual backwardness of the categories. Does this make sense? Well, to our legislators it appeared to be a golden opportunity to amend the Constitution and introduce reservation quotas for the SC/STs. Another occasion when our legislators were united was during the recent agitation against corruption when cutting across party lines they remembered to mention that parliamentary processes enshrined in the Constitution have to be respected.

Another thought-provoking incident is the recent rallying around of ministers in the Andhra Pradesh government. There are a few accused of colluding with the late YSR Reddy and his son Jagan in quid pro quo cases with corporates. Dharmana Prasada Rao has recently been chargesheeted by the CBI. He is the second minister after Mopidevi Venkataramana to be investigated by the CBI in a case related to a company called Vanpic. A number of ministers have unitedly asked the Chief Minister not to give permission for his prosecution. There is a saying in Telugu which says that the guilty person is the one who makes the maximum protestations of innocence. These ministers bring to mind this saying. I do not recall the exact time but another time ministers are united is when they give raises to themselves in terms of salaries and facilities.

In these times of government austerity a large panel will be going abroad, flying business class and also going sight seeing. If the government was serious about austerity it should have curtailed at least the sight seeing trips, for it is the tax payer that is financing these jaunts. However in this age of lip service can we expect anything more? Politicians rally around Baba Ramdev when he talks about the need to bring back black money from abroad. How many of them are willing to publicly list all properties owned by them, their ministers and civil servants? On the other hand we have an opposition which is hell bent on disrupting proceedings of Parliament.

The BJP must be smoking something if they seriously believe that either the PM or his government will resign because of their protests over the coalgate (I am sick of this "gate" syndrome) issue. Why do they insist on disrupting the house? The UPA might have the moral authority to rule or govern. If in the next elections the NDA comes to power it will be more because of a lack of alternatives than anything solid or constructive that they have done while in opposition. These are the times when one years for the no-choice option on a ballot paper or an EVM.

Will our politicians ever unite like this for a Lokpal or something which is actually useful for the nation?

Jagan-naut or Jagan-nought?

This is my first post from the land of Lord Jagannatha. Juggernaut is a term I find cute. Now coming to the topic, I will first of all confess that I have greatly lost touch with the general events in my home state of Andhra Pradesh. It is due to the obsession, for lack of a better word, with Jaganmohan Reddy (Jagan), the late YSR's son that I have started taking interest again. My wife and I both have been victims of this media saturation. Thus when she suggested a post on this, I though, why not?

For the uninitiated, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, an extremely charismatic leader was a former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Ever since he died his son Jagan had been nurtuting chief ministerial ambitions. When "Madam" Sonia Gandhi did not show any interest he broke away from the Congress and formed the YSR Congress Party. He seems to be quite popular, at least as per the response to his public rallies and the margin of his victory in his Lok Sabha contest. He has been accused of illegally profiting during the rule of his father. It is said that there have been quid pro quo investments in his companies. His rise has been spectacular. Now we have to see whether his downfall, if it happens will be as spectacular.

Today Jagan is a strange factor in Andhra politics. There has been strong clamour for Telangana to be carved out of AP. The Congress is a fence-sitter while the TDP has turned pro-Telangana. To my knowledge Jagan is yet to make his stand clear. This political ambiguity, while having its critics can actually help him as people will not have a clear reason to not vote for him. His entry into politics has queered the pitch for the TDP and Congress. There are leaders from both parties who can very well switch to YSRCP. This can directly lead to the present Congress govt. falling. Thus it is in the Congress' interests to ensure that Jagan is sidelined. Further YSR effectively ensured that there was no other leader of his standing or popularity in the state unit of the Congress. As per a news item I read (probably in the NDTV website) he ensured that all leaders above Zilla Parishad posts were his relations - family or business wise. Thus the Congress finds itself in disarray today. In spite of all its protestations of not having used the CBI as a weapon against Jagan the timing of his recent arrest and the duration raises key questions. His present custody will extend till just one day before the scheduled by-elections in Andhra Pradesh. His mother and YSR's widow has actively jumped into the fray. She is sure to use Jagan's arrest as a point to garner sympathy of the voters. Thus it is quite possible that these elections will see a very strong performance by YSRCP. 

The outcome of these elections can decide the future of the political scenario in the state. If YSRCP performs strongly and Jagan is able to at least temporarily escape the CBI's custody it is very possible he will emerge as a very very strong political candidate, possibly even the next CM. However if he is found guilty and sentenced he might end up as a damp squib. In the latter scenario the Congress and the TDP both will find it easy to keep their flock together. 

Jagan belongs to the politically influential Reddy community. He has Sakshi TV and Sakshi newspaper through which he can influence public opinion, at least to some extent. His father was immensely popular. He is seen as the successor to his father and he does not seem to have any problems money wise. These are the things going in his favour today. A probable lack of equivalent leaders in at least the Congress can probably be added as a point in his favour.

Thus we will soon see whether Jagan will be a juggernaut, crushing his opposition and cruising to victory, or whether he will be incarcerated and be reduced to nothing. Given the nature of Indian politics even if he is found guilty he might return one day and play the role of the innocent victim in front of the voters. The Indian public can probably forgive everything and anything. So will this be Jagan's year? Wait and watch!

Is Andhra Burning?

"Is Paris burning?" was a question Hitler had put to his chief of staff Alfred Jodl. He wanted Paris to be destroyed before it fell into the hands of the Allied Forces. Today the title of the post can be a question put to each other by anxious Telugus all over the world.

I am an Andhraite and I am fiercely proud of it. One very if not the most irritating questions that can be put to me is whether or not I am a Tamilian when I say I am a south Indian. And when I say Andhra I do not mean the coastal part that is referred to by that name by some people of Telangana and Rayalaseema. Instead I refer to a united Andhra Pradesh. I am from the city of Visakhapatnam. But I have also stayed in Hyderabad and to me, the city and region of Telangana is as much a part of the state of Andhra Pradesh as any other part of it.

Potti Sriramulu was a freedom fighter and Gandhian who gave up his life so that Andhra Pradesh could be formed. He went on a fast for the formation of a state for the Telugus, separate from the Madras Presidency that was in existence at the time of independence.

Nehru felt that the consolidation of an independent India was more important and he refused to accept the initial requests for the formation of a separate state. Even as Sriramulu's health was deteriorating he steadfastly refused to accept the demand for a new state. Finally after a long fast Sriramulu passed away and then all hell broke loose. A lot of public property was destroyed and quite a few people were killed in police firing. This was the background against which the state of Andhra was formed in 1953 much like India which had its independence marred by communal bloodshed. Later on Hyderabad was liberated from the Nizam's rule and thus in 1956 the present day Andhra Pradesh was formed.

Andhra Pradesh is divided into three broad regions - Telangana (north), Rayalaseema(south) and Kosta (coastal part). There has been some anger in the Telangana region that the region has been unfairly exploited and that people from otside the region have been coming in and taking away the jobs of the locals.

Now we come to the person at the centre of the whole issue, K Chandrasekhara Rao or KCR. He was part of the Telugu Desam Party or TDP, which was founded by N T Rama Rao. NTR is credited with giving the Andhraites a separate identity away from the Madrasi tag that is attached to all south Indians. KCR was part of the first government set up by Chandrababu Naidu. He was not given a ministerial berth in the second government, which was formed in 1999, but was made the Deputy Speaker. In 2001 he quit the party and set up the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). So I now ask the question, where was Telangana when KCR was part of
the government?

There seemed to have been a broad consensus during the recent Andhra assembly and parliamentary elections about the formation of Telangana. The TRS performed quite badly and the Congress won pretty impressively. The late Chief Minister YSR was against the formation of a separate state. He in fact made a statement that was widely condemned saying that if the TDP-TRS combine came to power people from one part of the state would need a visa to visit another. Yet he was a person that was against the bifurcation of the state for whatever reasons he had. Today had he been present the situation might have been different.

So in my personal opinion the real reason behind the demand for a separate state is suspect. I have heard that if Telangana is formed it will not be KCR but his nephew or someone who will stand for the Chief Minister's post. But then, have we not heard about the concept of the power behind the throne? Also, how many times have puppet CMs not been put in place? The argument is that the region cannot develop as long as it is 'under' Andhra Pradesh and that it is being exploited. I am surprised by the student agitation to be honest. But is bifurcation the answer to all ills? Are there no other means to develop the region? Politicians generally go for solutions that pay immediate political dividends and may genuine interests be damned. Stoking student passions and demanding a separate state is an easy answer. Today there have been protests in Maharashtra about 'outsiders' encroaching on the jobs of the 'locals'. In AP these so-called outsiders are not even from outside the state. If the Maharashtra argument is stupid, the AP argument is beyond stupidity.

The Congress does not want to be seen as a party opposed to the formation of Telangana. In addition to this, fearing a law and order situtation the government has given in to KCR's demand, at least to an extent. If I remember right the Supreme Court had commented on a particular state government's inability to maintain law and order, saying that it was its responsibility and if it could not do so, it could very well resign. But the fact of the matter, do we have leaders who have such spunk in them today?

As I write this, 136 MLAs have resigned from the state legislature and protests have been going on in Rayalaseema and Kosta against the division of the state. The city of Hyderabad is another bone of contention. The argument to make it a UT or a joint capital does not exactly make sense as it is not practical to govern a state from a capital that is quite a distance from the state's border (which is what will happen if AP is bifurcated). The pro-Telangana camp is adamant that Hyderabad has to be part of Telangana. The brand equity of Hyderabad as a safe investment destination might actually come under a cloud now.Now the Congress is caught on two fronts. It cannot reject the demand outright. On the other hand its own MLAs are resigning in protest of the decision.

I personally do not want the division of a state that was meant to provide a separate identity for the Telugus for purely political reasons. The government can declare a special package for the region if it is indeed true that the region has been neglected. What is needed right now is effective leadership and a genuine concern to address the issues facing the region if not the state.
There was an article I once read which mentioned how the Andhraites were experts at dividing themselves into groups. In the US there two separate Telugu associations were formed - Telugu Association of North America (TANA) and American Telugu Association (ATA). The Telugus went all that distance away from their homeland and still found ways to divide themselves. I can but pray the state stays united peacefully and that better sense prevails among all sections of the society.