The Nizams who built the city and named it no longer talk about their role. Ex chief minister of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh Marri Chenna Reddy who was instrumental in bringing the film industry to Hyderabad never spoke about it.
Later, when NTR came to power, he gave permissions for the construction of Gandhi, Jubilee Bus Station, Harihara Kala Bhavan and changed the face of Tank Bund by getting the monolithic Buddha installed in Hussain Sagar, never talked of developing Hyderabad.
Also, one cannot forget the unique contributions of various ethnic and religious minorities like the Iranians, Persians, Gujaratis, Rajasthanis and Marwadis who strived to retain the unique culture of Hyderabad.
Ironically, the Telangana separatist agitators who managed to get a separate Telangana have also calmed down after their state was formed. But one man who does not get tired of speaking about his 'unrivalled' contribution to the city of Hyderabad is Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu.
In fact, it has become a joke of sorts that if Babu is asked in his sleep, even then he would say the same without thinking for a second. So, what exactly did Chandra Babu develop in Hyderabad? Hi-Tech city, Convention Centre and Balayogi stadium were his contribution to the city. And if one were to ask Secunderabad people as to what Babu did for them, then will be no reply as he did nothing.
Now, Babu says he will not develop the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh in forest lands. Fine, but when Hi-Tech city was developed, it was kilometers away from the main city and was a rocky terrain.
At the time, all big businessmen and politicians who were close to Babu acquired large tracts of land all over the place and built huge offices, malls and IT zones. Well, isn’t all that more than just plain coincidence?
As for the national highways, financial reforms, nationalization of banks, etc, they were taken up by the Centre. So where does Babu figure in all this?
Another major point that Babu does not stop harping about is development of the IT sector in Hyderabad. Well, that too has a catch. If one looks at the progress made by Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai, then Hyderabad lags far behind. Still, no other chief minister makes as many claims as Babu does.
In fact, all leaders, local and national do their bit to the people who vote them to power right from Indira Gandhi to present Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While they do talk about it, none of them keep repeating the talk over and over again.
Meanwhile, Chandra Babu has to remember that people continue to respect him for whatever contribution he had made in the past. Just imagine if they decide to turn around and question Babu as to why he did not have the vision to develop all of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh instead of focusing solely on Hyderabad.
Having realized this, late YS Rajasekhar Reddy decided to do amend to the situation and he facilitated the development of the IT corridor in Vizag. Similarly, he also tried to set the stage in Kakinada while building Hi-Tech towers in Gannavaram.
It is the responsibility of a public representative to have the right vision for people and help them realize their dreams and aspirations. Instead, if they concentrate on identifying vacant lands and plot to usurp them in the name of development, then it is nothing but sham.
Wonder how long the people of Andhra Pradesh will have to put up with Babu’s claims?!
