Why Does Chandrababu Want To Project TDP As a Dalit-Friendly Party Overnight?

Kommineni Srinivasa Rao

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, it is clear, is feeling the heat of AP Leader of Opposition, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's Praja Sankalpa Yatra. The YSRCP chief's padayatra has been coursing through streets, alleys and villages and he has been interacting with people drawn from all sections of society. He has been lending a patient ear to their problems.

YS Jagan has assured the people of Andhra Pradesh, especially those belonging to SC/ST/BC and minority groups that he would ensure justice is done to them through a number of commitments. For instance, he has assured the sanctioning of land to Dalits, apart from the government funding the education of the poorer sections, pensions commencing from the age of 45 to cite just a few highlights which have received overwhelming public response.

Given this context, it is only to be expected that Chandrababu Naidu would make his own moves to woo the Dalits. But there are some sharp differences which any discerning person will observe. Chandrababu launched a programme aimed at Dalits called "Dalita Jyoti", sitting in his air-conditioned room, when YS Jagan, at the same hour, was meeting Dalit women, the aged and youth in a Dalitwada, and learning about their problems on a first-hand basis, in far-flung, remote villages.

One begins to wonder whether Chandrababu Naidu has begun to promote his grandson Devaansh already, considering he brought him into his meeting with the Dalit leaders of his party. He has become the butt of criticism for using an innocent child for his own political propaganda. Nothing wrong with showing one's love for a grandchild. But to bring an innocent child into a programme like Dalita Jyothi and hand him a poster, amounts to dragging the unsuspecting child into the world of politics. What sort of behaviour is on public display here?

At the very same time, YS Jagan had been meeting the poorest of the poor Dalits in their villages, neighbourhoods, by the road and has been blessing their impoverished children, hugging them and lavishing his affection spontaneously. Chandrababu further said that nothing had been done for the welfare of SCs during the Congress rule and stressed upon the late Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy's period. This statement is a reflection of how rattled he is by Dr. YSR's popularity to this day, nine years after the AP chief minister passed away.

Chandrababu's nervousness can be gauged from the fact that two chief ministers had ruled over undivided AP after Dr. YSR and yet he continues to harp on the late chief minister's era. This itself reflects the extent to which Chandrababu Naidu finds Dr. YSR's popularity, disturbing. Over the last three and a half years under Chandrababu's stewardship, attacks on Dalits have increased to the extent that statistically speaking, AP now has the dubious distinction of being the fourth in the list of such states. Be it Garagaparru or more recently the attacks on Dalits in Peda Gottipadu, not a single leader from other parties was allowed to visit the place. What does this indicate?

In the past, during Kiran Kumar Reddy's tenure, a sub-plan for SCs was introduced and it was decided that funds allocated for them should not be diverted. Chandrababu Naidu's absence at the assembly session which had passed this act had become a subject of criticism back then. It is obvious that TDP is apprehensive of the overwhelming support YSRCP has been getting from Dalits and minorities. The ruling party has come under severe public censure for harassing these sections using Janmabhoomi committees.

Coming to the capital region, the TDP leaders have been accused of having a major role in the assigned land scam. Ironically, Chandrababu talks of Dalit leaders being marginalized by the Congress party. TDP leaders now make us think for a moment that Dr. Ambedkar and Babu Jagjivan Ram belonged to their party. They want others to forget the fact that Babu Jagjivan Ram was a Congress stalwart and Central minister. When they claim they made Balayogi the Speaker of Lok Sabha, TDP leaders conveniently forget that Babu Jagjivan Ram's daughter, Meira Kumar was the Lok Sabha Speaker, as well. Can they ignore the fact that a Dalit, K.R. Narayanan was appointed President of India during the Congress era?

To highlight what the government has done for the weakest sections of society such as Dalits is justified. However,to deny others their due and to say that they alone are striving to better the condition of poor Dalits, and to discredit the contribution of others in the past is an exaggeration which people find distasteful, to put it mildly.