"POSTMAN" CM

MBS: Jagan, NTR’s Inheritor..?

At the hour of writing (9 am on 28th May) Jagan is heading towards Mehabubabad, undaunted by the threats of TRS and other T-fighters,  undeterred by dictat of high command and unmoved by tears of his mother.

It remains to be seen whether he would be allowed to meet common public of Warangal district. If he accomplishes his task successfully, he is going to prove a point or two, that State is not yet divided and leaders can go to any place of their choice, if they are determined enough.

- Of all the state leaders currently available, Jagan is the only one who does not hesitate to swim against tide; who is confident of goodwill he enjoys among electorate; and who has muscle as well as money power to arrange his own entourage against all odds.

At this juncture, let me clarify that I am no great fan of Jagan. I consider him an eager young man in haste. I preferred Rosaiah over him as CM and even now believe that he should strive and prove himself as a mass leader and a good politician before aspiring to lead the state. I do not like over-projection of YSR and himself in Sakshi TV and newspaper.

Yet, …yet I am admiring him at this hour. He might be arrested today or he might be allowed to go on. Whatever happens, he proved himself a fighter. A challenger to Delhi. This is what most appealing to me.

AP’s self-respect was being trampled under the feet Delhi bosses till 1983. It was NTR who dared to challenge the practice of importing CMs from Delhi. Some nincompoop used to come as ‘Observer from Delhi’ and all the state leaders used to prostrate in front of him. The Delhites used to impose whomever they like and go away. But the appointees used to last very little. The moment Delhi is displeased with them, they were thrown into dustbin without a second look.

After TDP came to rule the state, situation has changed. We were taking independent decisions. Even when Congress came to power in 2004, YSR maintained a perfect, honorable equation with Delhi bosses. He was obedient but at the same time he was not subservient to them. He took self-governing decisions and exuded self-confidence. Delhi bosses left things to him and intervened in state affairs only on rare occasions.

After YSR’s death, state became fiefdom of Delhi again. Rosaiah, the septuagenarian is too timid to take independent decisions and acts as a mere postman. He faithfully reports to Delhi and receives their dictates with folded hands. He does not speak his mind anytime about a particular subject in his personal capacity. He can be described as the best “His Master’s Voice”. He is a mere passer-by and he is asked to hold this chair temporarily, this is what he thinks of himself and asks us not expect anything more from him.

In this kind of scenario, Jagan is emerging as a state leader who is refusing to blindly obey Delhi’s commands. He is showing that he has a mind of his own. In his open letter, he clearly said that - this was not a political tour - in Khammam tour he did not talk politics and there was no adverse reaction from general public he was not the competent person to talk of Separate Telengana and he would not say a word about it.

This being the situation, why High command asked him not to go without citing any reason? Is it because they are scared of the threats by TRS and others? If the government is afraid of law and order situation going out of hands, it is not worth staying there.

If someone has to be arrested, it is the leader who asked Congress MLAs to stop Jagan’s car, or the leader who asked agitators from all over the state to come to Warangal and create trouble and to cause hurdles. Doesn’t the government know it is a criminal offence to incite violence? If the government can not do anything about them, let them not do anything with Jagan either.

Today is the birthday of NTR, the great - the icon of Telugu pride who has shown to the nation that he was “RaaRaaju” but not the “Samantha Raju”. And as the things stand, I feel the mantle of upholding Telugu pride fell on the shoulders of Jagan. Let us see how long he is going to hold it.

- MBS PRASAD
mbsprasad@gmail.com