Three days ago, it was 117th birth anniversary of Potti Sreeramulu. My fellow north Indian friends might ask, “Yeh kaun hai (Who is he)?” They might as well be surprised when I quote Mahatma Gandhi saying, “If only I have eleven more followers like Sreeramulu, I will win freedom from British rule in a year.”
I don’t really blame them for their ignorance, This is the result of politicians and the media not giving south India the prominence it deserves. Being a south Indian, more often than not, I try to enlighten my friends about our culture, leaders, and the issues we face. So let me tell you about Andhra Pradesh’s founding leader.
Born on March 16, 1901, Potti Sreeramulu was a devout follower of Gandhi. He joined Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram to serve the struggle for Indian Independence by taking part in major agitations like the ‘Salt Satyagraha‘ and the ‘Quit India Movement‘. After his dream of Indian independence was fulfilled, he dedicated his life to the well-being of Telugu people in the erstwhile Madras state. To preserve the culture of Andhra people, he led the fight for separation of Andhra Pradesh from the Madras State based on linguistic lines.
He died on December 15, 1952 after a 58-days hunger strike for the formation of Andhra Pradesh. He is befittingly revered as Amarajeevi (immortal being) in the Andhra region for his self-sacrifice for a noble cause. It is said that his last words to the people of Andhra were, “Do not try to destroy my holy mission!”
But now, during the time of his birth anniversary, the political situation in Andhra Pradesh is quite sad. It is the result of the general neglectfulness shown towards south India by the Central government. The Central government, whether it is the BJP or the Congress, has never shown prompt attentiveness towards south India. They will show interest if and only if there is any electoral gain to be made. Especially in the case of Andhra Pradesh, this behavior has been very clear in the last few years. We were equally cheated by the Congress and the BJP who made false promises about granting special status during the bifurcation in 2014.
And now after four years of waiting, the NDA government is just passing the blame onto the 14th Finance Commission, saying that their recommendation is the reason why special status for Andhra is not feasible. But in reality, there seems to be no such restriction in that report. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sufficient time for attending BJP campaign rallies, but no time to talk about this issue at all. This clearly shows the double standards the Central government has towards Andhra Pradesh.
Nonetheless, the issue has received greater visibility due to the TDP’s exit from NDA. The reason for this was the prolonged delay in awarding special status to Andhra. Even the national media which was passive on this issue so far is jumping on the bandwagon with debates and discussions around the national impact of this move. But again, the media is twisting the story to make it look like it’s the BJP versus ‘the south’. But we have to remember that the other national political party – the Congress – also showed the same discrimination towards the people of Andhra when they were in power.
Meanwhile, the local parties like the Telugu Desam Pary (TDP) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) are luring common people by giving them the hope that special status can still be gained. With the entry of Pawan Kalyan into the active political scene with his party Jana Sena, things have really heated up, leading to a no-confidence motion against the NDA government. This will definitely showcase the inability of the NDA government to deliver its promises and also have an effect on the already low popularity of BJP in the southern states.
It will be interesting to see how these local parties will continue to fight. As the assembly elections are approaching very soon in Andhra Pradesh, it’s not clear as of now as to which party is truly dedicated to Andhra’s development and which one is just trying to appease the voters. The opposition parties YSRCP and Jana Sena came out all guns blazing against the ruling TDP party.
Jagan is focusing on the corruption charges against Chandra Babu Naidu, the cash for vote issue and painting the meteoric rise of his company ‘Heritage’ as unethical. The new party, Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena, is rooting for alternative politics, urging the youth to take a pivotal role in Andhra’s political agitations. Another major issue for the TDP is the image of its future leader Nara Lokesh, who has been heavily criticised by the opposition as an incompetent leader for addressing these important issues.
But one thing is very clear. The Telugu people have clearly lost their hopes in national parties and they want to support some strong local leaders who will get things done by any means necessary in the next term of government. For the national parties, these incidents should be a lesson to change their mindset towards the southern states and to be proactive in addressing their needs in a timely manner.
At the end of the day, the national government is responsible for the well-being of all the citizens of India, not only for the voters from the demographics favouring them.