Telangana stalls Modi wave

In 1971 Telangana Praja Samithi won 11 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats. It stalled the tsunami of Indira Gandhi after Bangladesh was created winning war with Pakistan. None could imagine the strength of Telangana voter deciding so differently. Nation was surprised at that stunning defeat of Congress here, while it won all over India. History repeated in 2014 as Telangana voters elected 11 MPs out of 17. If TPS stalled Indira storm in 1971, TRS stopped Modi wave now. The just born State is now in the company of Kerala, Tamilnadu, Odisha and West Bengal in doing so.

The division of Andhra Pradesh has changed the democratic premise of Telugu battle for ballot. It has ‘empowered the people’ of Telangana in political sense for the first time. Had there been united Andhra Pradesh, even with 63 legislators Telangana Rashtra Samithi would have been a minority. Even if it wins 100 out of 119, situation would not have changed. The people, who suffered, suppressed and sabotaged for centuries by various rulers are now going to rule themselves. It is not only historic but also justified to have Telangana party, not Telangana unit of Andhra party, to rule Telangana.

The Congress party’s President, unlike earlier presidents, and leaders of other parties did not take U turn but went ahead with forming Telangana state. But its second rung leaders did not allow TRS to take credit for the same, by ignoring, insulting and rejecting TRS leaders. The party which was ready to merge was refused to have even alliance with. Those middle leaders took a suicidal step of pitting Congress against TRS and got reduced to 20 in Assembly.

“Entrust development of Telangana to Telangana party, not to those parties which are led by Seemandhras” - this was the message that reached masses in Telangana. When K Chandrasekhar Rao said the PCC president of Telangana got that chair because of blessings of K V P Ramachandra Rao, it was difficult for the Telanganites to disbelieve it. At the same time he pointed out how Seemandhra leaders were influencing BJP’s Narendra Modi to go with TDP along with tongue-lashing Pavan Kalyan, an anti-Telangana Cinema Hero. Telangana voter found corroboration when he saw Pavan Kalyan, Chandrababu Naidu and Venkaiah Naidu along with Prime Ministerial candidate appearing together. Interestingly, all of them heaped abuses against KCR.

BJP’s senior leader in Rajya Sabha proposed umpteen amendments to AP Reorganisation Bill which would disable the separation of Telangana. KCR has effectively explained how these leaders championed the cause of welfare of Seemandhra at the cost of Telangana. Thus KCR campaign in Telangana helped Seemandhra voters to believe that their champion was Chandrababu. In reciprocation Chandrababu’s campaign and Pavan Kalyan’s abuses against KCR helped consolidation of confidence for TRS.

The TRS generated a wave of its own. It had no cadre. It was never in power to have units at villages. Its strength was that it spearheaded agitation to fulfil strong desire for separate state. With the promise of development, the TRS succeeded in halting the wave of BJP while the YSRCP failed. K Chandrasekhar Rao addressed 107 meetings in 10 days with constructive manifesto and strategic communication. Even as Congress suffered because of its recklessness in forging an alliance with TRS, the later got immensely benefitted from fighting alone. Its claim for credit for Telangana state was accepted. It could also convince the voter that TRS alone could develop the new state.

While Chandrasekhar Rao and Chandrababu provided state level strategic leadership and coordinated campaign being at the forefront in battle field, a state-level strategist was totally absent for the Congress party. If any Congress leader could win it was only after defecting to either TDP, or YSRCP. Though the Congress gave Telangana, its ruthless attitude for future of Telangana made it to ruin itself. More than Modi wave or TRS wave, it was anti-Congress wave that drowned the party in Seemandhra and reduced it to two in Parliament from Telangana.

Chandrababu played his cards very cleverly by bringing Chiranjeevi’s star-brother Pawan Kalyan to divert Kapu votes from YSRCP. Though huge crowds responded public meetings and road shows by Jagan, his mother and sister, they failed to convert people’s sympathy into vote, mainly because of lack of cadre and impact of multiple CBI cases of 420 against Jagan. It was anti-Congress and pro-Modi vote that worked in association with promises like loan waivers that reduced YSRCP into strong opposition. Frustrated with loss of Hyderabad city and separation, the middleclass urban Andhra voter and unemployed youth preferred Chandrababu to Jagan, as they thought TDP would build a new capital and help development. The paradox is that every party waging a pitch battle in both the states distributed big money. Even when a voter did not want to sell vote, agents threw money into their houses. In spite of all these, the voter has decided to defeat Congress at national level, empower TRS in Telangana and elect TDP in Seemandhra. Kudos to the common sense!

(The writer can be reached madabhushi.sridhar@gmail.com )