Something significant has happened for the good of not just one state but the entire country of India- and that is the defeat of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, and for a valid reason.
Had he been reelected, there might have been a widespread belief that offering excessively overwhelming freebies would guarantee electoral success.
Jagan Mohan Reddy provided unprecedented freebies in Indian democracy, covering education, health, and every sector. Yet, the people still defeated him, limiting his party to just 11 seats out of 175.
This outcome proves that freebies are not a guaranteed path to electoral victory.
Therefore, this is the right time for Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh and Revanth Reddy in Telangana to break the cycle of excessive freebies.
Only the needy and poor should receive essential support, rather than distributing wealth from the treasury to all voters.
Freebies should not be used for vote-bank politics but should be part of a sustainable governance system. No politician can buy votes with freebies, as demonstrated by the cases of Jagan Mohan Reddy and KCR.
Even at the central level, Narendra Modi is not known for providing overwhelming freebies, yet he was reelected for a third term. Offering assurances, demonstrating development, and projecting a positive vision seem to resonate with voters across all classes in India.
All extreme schemes like 'Thalliki Vandanam' should be discontinued permanently. This would not significantly impact the public's perception in the long run, as people are likely to forget about unfulfilled promises of freebies once they see development and bustling business activity around them.
As the first day of every month approaches, Chandrababu Naidu faces the challenge of finding funds for freebies and welfare schemes. This burden should be removed permanently for any future Chief Minister.
He should focus on promoting business activity in all districts of the state. By doing so, they can sidestep all the manifesto promises that are detrimental to the state's treasury and not effective in securing a vote bank for the ruling party.
Usha Chowdhary
