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Labour Party’s rout has lessons for Jagan
Labour Party’s rout has lessons for Jagan. Though people cannot be faulted to vote for a particular political party, it is important to notice how voters react and exercise their franchise in favour of an established political group, though it could make their lives miserable.
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Like Ed Miliband, whose Labour Party is drubbed in recent UK elections, YSRCP chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy seems to be still struggling to send a right message to people. Even now, YSRCP appears to be still wavering in coming out in support of farmers and fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Left parties on the Land Acquisition Bill and pro-corporate policies pursued by the Modi government and the State governments in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
Dr Giles Fraser, the former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, commenting on the post-UK election that saw David Cameroon return to power, wrote that he had felt ashamed to be English: “Ashamed to belong to a country that has clearly identified itself as insular, self-absorbed and apparently caring so little for the most vulnerable people among us. Did we just vote for our own narrow concerns and sod the rest?”
Though people cannot be faulted to vote for a particular political party, it is important to notice how voters react and exercise their franchise in favour of an established political group, though it could make their lives miserable. This reaction of voters under certain circumstances could be because of failure on the part of those professing socialism to convince the people of their sincerity. Several parallels can be drawn between the respective poor showing faced by the Labour Party and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) nearer home.
Like Ed Miliband, YSRCP chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy too seems to be still struggling to send a right message to people. When a million people are known to be visiting food banks in UK daily to stave off hunger, Miliband spoke of cutting the deficit instead of assuring the poor of economic support, if his party came to power. Jagan too, while promising to emulate policies pursued by his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, did not utter a word against the BJP-led by Narendra Modi nor was effective on the pro-corporate policies pursued by the Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government.
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Even now, the YSRCP appears to be still wavering in coming out in support of farmers and fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Left parties on the Land Acquisition Bill and pro-corporate policies pursued by the Modi government and the State Governments in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “To take away 30,000 acres of land from the Thullur, Tadepalli and Mangalagiri mandals that are double-crop and triple-crop yielding areas and will result in the dispossession of local farmers for temporary financial gains is a mere short-sighted policy,” opines K C Sivaramkrishnan, who headed the committee that went into the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh.
He says the State Government’s proposal is a retrograde step. Unfortunately, the YSRC leadership has so far not even made a bid to take advantage of the stinging criticism by Sivaramkrishnan, who is hailed as an expert in urban planning. Andhra Pradesh was known a rice bowl of India, which it became after the drought crisis in 1960s when there were heavy rice and wheat imports from the United States. During a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in November 1964, the Union government and the Chief Ministers of various States decided to import five lakh tonnes of rice to overcome imminent food crisis. The then Andhra Pradesh government made a goodwill gesture by contributing eight lakh tonnes from its surplus production.
It demonstrated the vibrancy of agrarian economy in the State. YSR, when he spoke at a seminar in the US, recalled how Andhra Pradesh went to the rescue of the people by contributing such large quantities of rice to the national pool. Once more the Telugu-speaking states are rocked by suicides by farmers who are in debt-trap. While farmer suicides in the Telangana State are highlighted, similar chilling incidents from Andhra Pradesh have yet to hit the headlines.It could be due to the failure of the main opposition party in bringing the deaths to light. Will Jaganmohan Reddy learn from past experiences and start speaking in a language that will bolster the confidence of the distraught famers’ families that a leader is there to raise their concerns?
By K Sriramulu
