Right after the unfortunate helicopter accidental death of YSR, most of the MLAs, numbering close to 150 in the AP State Assembly, with an overall strength of 294, had supported the candidature of YS Jagan for the Chief Minister post, without his attempts to secure the position and while he was completely in tatters and facing the greatest tragedy of his life. That was simply ignored by the Congress High Command.
The High Command could wean away most of his supporting MLAs but YS Jagan's support at the grassroots level and with party cadres is a different thing altogether and that cannot be taken away from him. And he is proving it on a daily basis on his Odarpu Yatra. Some, including the High Command suggested that he could go and console the victims families at the district headquarters and don't need to do any rallies.
Yes, YS Jagan will console the victims of the bereaved families only but who will console the injured? The psychologically injured. Lot of people were hurt mentally when they heard of YSR death. They needed to be consoled by the presence of YS Jagan and in return they want to console the son of their God, and get and give mental and moral strength.
YS Jagan, after losing his father, needed to touch the people who touched his father. He needed to be amongst the masses that treat him and his father as family members. Did this so called High Command think of this angle at all? Do they have the bandwidth to even contemplate?
Looking at YS Jagan on his Odarpu Yaatra, if one is a human cannot think it as a drama. Dramas are designed and gets executed by people apt to acting, eg. Mallela Babji's fake stabbing of NTR. Here the blood is pure, genes are pure, the leadership is natural. From YSR to YS Jagan. Who will provide all this consolation to the masses? Rosayya, VH, KK, Jaipal, Purandhiswari, RC, and other cheats? If the people don't want to get consoled, then they wouldn't show any interest in attending his Odarpu Yaatra. As simple as that!
Let us analyse the decisions of the High Command one by one:
Installation of K Rosayya as CM of AP
In a democratic process, it is the people who should decide their leader and not any party high command. Instead of following people's wish, Sonia has imposed a leader on people of AP much against the wishes of the common people. Following are the problems with this arrangement:
She had sent a wrong signal to the people of AP that she has no respect for their verdict and is trying to exert her authority over people, which is completely unacceptable in a democratic system.
She had sent a wrong signal to the party cadre giving them an impression that in order to become something in the party, it is more important to be in the good books of High Command rather than sincerely work for the people. Consequently, most of the leaders had started an ugly game of wooing the High Command and following her decisions blindly, right or mostly wrong. For example, participation of the party cadre in Jagan's Odarpu Yatra would have strengthened the party but rather many of the leader backed out from the yatra for the fear of the High Command and for their immediate political benefits.
Any Chief Minister, who has not been through the electoral process is insensitive to the voters expectations and problems.
As far as political history of the state is concerned, for over five years, AP was under the strong leadership of YSR, who had led as one and from the front rather than a conventional politician. This style of functioning has been widely appreciated and accepted by the people of the state. Rosaiah is just a routine politician, not able to match even the minimum expectations of the masses. Unfortunately, instead of understanding the common man's choice, most of the politicians including party High Command are busy painting YS Jagan as an over ambitious leader, who wants to become Chief Minister, against the wishes of Sonia system.
Whereas, the fact is, common voters are not ready to accept any leader chosen by party High Command. Instead, they want the leader of their choice i.e. Jagan to be installed as CM replacing Rosaiah immediately.
Hence, Jagan's ambition to become CM is not self driven but driven by the masses that yearn strong leadership.
Odarpu Yatra as Political Yatra
The death of YSR is not just a personal loss to few people but also a huge leadership loss to the entire state. So, at this point of time the state not only requires personal consolation but most importantly requires a strong leader and hence the odarpu yatra of Jagan with political agenda is very much justified.
Expectations of the masses from the High Command is not to see how best they can weaken or isolate YS Jagan and his supporters but to see how best they can strengthen the leader of people's choice, YS Jagan and proves that they respect democratic system.
As far as inexperience of Jagan is concerned, it can be easily solved by putting proper advisers in place. Nobody can gain experience without an opportunity. Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are the best examples who had entered into politics without much experience.
Some FAQs
How could Congress party retain power in spite of nominating PM and why can’t this practice be extended to the States?
As such Centre has no independent existence. Centre is nothing but collection of all the states in the country. The responsibility of delivering MPs or MLAs lies with the individual states and not with the Centre. Therefore, it is very important to have strong leaders at the state level.
The Prime Minister should not be nominated to Rajyasabha but must be elected to Loksabha in the true spirit of democracy.
Does High Command yielding to YS Jagan encourages future cases?
The answer is high command is not yielding to any leader or person. It would be actually respecting the people's decision because YS Jagan should not be treated as an individual but as a representative of people's aspirations. As long as any party abides by the democratic principles and respects people's aspirations, there won't be any new YS Jagans popping up.
Should there be an individual above party?
True there cannot be an individual above party but even more important is, in a democratic system there cannot be a party above the people. In a democratic system, political parties may give tickets to individuals but it is the people verdict that is final..
Is Jagan banking on just sympathy for claiming Chief Minister post?
Anybody with common sense can say sympathy is not a qualification for claiming any post. As far as Jagan is concerned, it is not only the sympathy factor that is driving people close to him but most importantly it is his leadership skills, chemistry and bonding with common people that has given confidence to the masses that he is the right person to lead the state.
During the course of Odarpu Yatra, Jagan had ventured into Telangana but his Yatra was stalled by violent protests. Has he failed in Telangana?
Accepting the representation of some of the Telangana MPs to stall Odarpu Yatra of Jagan was simply silly and much against the spirit of democracy and it has only given a message to the people of AP that Congress Government cannot even protect the fundamental rights of their own leaders, thereby Sonia has damaged her own credibility.
What's wrong with extending friendly hand to PRP?
Chiranjeevi could neither prove his credibility nor leadership and thereby lost voter confidence. With a strong leader like Jagan in the party, there is actually no need to have any alliance with any other party. But by extending friendly hand to PRP, Congress High Command has only proved that the party cannot respect strong leaders like Jagan and wants to have only loyal (weak) leaders like Chiranjeevi and Rosaiah. Loyalty is important to any party but leadership skills should not be compromised for loyalty. For any party member to be loyal it is important to identify the true potential of the leaders and reward them appropriately.
What wrong in AICC announcing packages for shock victims of YSR death?
This announcement should have been made immediately after the death of YSR. Announcing too late and that too after creating so many hurdles to Odarpu Yatra, is being seen as an attempt to counter Jagan's image. People don't see the AICC's true respect for YSR as well as genuine help to the victims. People want the entire Congress cadre to support Jagan and do the Odarpu Yatra under his leadership and not by isolating him. Also, it had sent a wrong message to Telangana people that AICC is helping only the victims of YSR death but has completely ignored martyrs who had died for Telangana cause.
What has Jagan done for the party?
People vote for the leaders depending on their contribution to the people and not depending on their contribution to the party. Any leader needs a proper platform to prove his/her talent. Without providing any opportunity to Jagan in the state, it would be foolish to expect any contribution from the young leader.
How should Center handle Telangana issue?
Center should have a national policy with proper parameters and guidelines for division of the states and dividing states based on emotions or to derive political advantage would only be against the national interests.
Conclusions:
Masses want YS Jagan to be installed as their Chief Minister and people are ready to support him even if he leaves the Congress party and floats a new outfit of his own. Any attempt to weaken him or isolate him would only prove counter productive to Congress party.
By targeting Jagan and his supporters, Congress High Command is trying to show it's power to the people in the name of party discipline, instead of identifying the real problems and mending it's own ways. In the mean time, Jagan by defying High Command is seeing people as power.
True democracy lies in seeing people as power and not in showing power to the people.
Gurava Reddy/Gopinath Reddy/Meenakshi for CelebrateYSR.org ([email protected])
The views expressed in the article are the author's and not of greatandhra.com.
