Think and course-correct : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Think and course-correct

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Telangana Today

            The India envisaged by our great leaders of yester years is in stark contrast with how the nation stands in present times.

The National Pledge which is commonly recited by Indians at public events and during the Independence Day and Republic Day was composed by a little known Telanganite-born in Anneparti, Nalgonda District-Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao, a noted author in Telugu and a bureaucrat.  While serving as the District Treasury Officer of Vishakhapatnam District in 1962 in the then Andhra Pradesh he composed this and later presented to Late Tenneti Viswanadham a former Minister and Member of Parliament who forwarded it to the then Education Minister PVG Raju.

The Pledge goes like: “India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it. I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy. To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well-being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness”.

Missing National Agenda

The question is, while remembering the struggle for independence spearheaded by our great leaders who are no more now, to what extent the words in the pledge, or to that matter to what extent the fruits envisioned during the freedom moment are relevant today? Is there a brotherhood and sisterhood among us? Are we really proud of our rich and varied heritage still? Are we worthy of our country? Are we politically in a position to steer the country towards progress? Do we have a perfect National Agenda to take the people forward looking? Are we in a position to compete globally with other nations? Where do we stand and where do we place ourselves in many areas? These are questions which have no answers.

 

What had happened in the recent general elections to Parliament? NDA led by BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi, UPA led by Congress under the leadership of Sonia-Rahul-Priyanka, the regional parties across the country as well as the namesake left parties competed each other with all their might. It was a fight between National Extremism, Secularism, Hereditary politics and regionalism.

Alternative Issues

A Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh strived hard for an alternative to BJP at the center while Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao advocated a non-BJP and non-Congress government. But, despite all this what happened? Beyond every aspect of region, preference, isms etc., the voter by and large preferred Modi, the national extremism, the Modism resulting in landslide victory to BJP led NDA.

In the North, West, East and Central India the BJP led by Modi-Shaw emerged victorious. In Uttar Pradesh everybody anticipated a great victory for BSP-SP alliance which not happened. In states like MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh where BJP lost in the recently held elections to the State Assembly BJP registered grand victory. In Gujarat where BJP just scraped through in the Assembly elections emerged victorious. Same with Maharashtra and Bihar. In West Bengal, once a strong fort of left-wing Marxist Communist party, the national extreme BJP beaten the middle line Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in considerable seats.

In the South too, though BJP’s performance was not comparable to rest of India, nevertheless, it was certainly highly impressive. In Karnataka it was unbeatable victory. Though BJP could not secure seats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and AP, surprisingly it won four seats in Telangana.

Analysing Gains

How to understand and analyze BJP’s impressive gains in Telangana? It’s not even four months since the great victory of TRS in the Assembly elections held in December 2018. On the other hand, BJP which lost deposits in more than 100 assembly segments then, has not only wrested the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat in the heart of twin cities but also won in northern Telangana’s Karimnagar, Nizamabad as well as Adilabad the ST seat bordering Maharashtra.

What could be the basis on which a particular party wins and loses has become an element beyond imagination. Vinod Kumar who was an MP earlier and now a sitting MP lost in Karimnagar for no valid reason. Ditto was Nizamabad sitting MP Kavitha where there is no reason for her defeat. In the Adilabad constituency despite the defeat of BJP candidate in the bordering Chandrapur voters there preferred BJP.

If this is credited to Modi’s magic then how come Congress won in three constituencies? How to analyze this phenomenon? Could there have been a possibility of a limited electoral understanding between BJP and Congress in these seven constituencies? Can’t be ruled out. If the defeat of TRS candidate was attributed to NOTA in Malkajgiri, in Bhuvanagiri it could have been due to the presence of Truck symbol.

There is absolutely no connection between the defeat of TRS in seven seats and the enormous welfare and development schemes conceived and implemented in the state during the first 51 months of KCR governance. Would there be any other factor other than welfare and development that influenced the voter in preferring BJP over TRS? If deeply analyzed this clearly shows that it was a fight between secular-federal policy and national extreme communal approach. Where would this lead in future is a big question now.

New Direction   

The country undoubtedly needs a new direction as seventy-one years have passed since independence. Still the country and its people are struggling for basic minimum needs with significant chunk of our people suffering from poverty and are either unemployed or underemployed.

So what suits our country. Can’t we leverage the wealth and inner strength of our country and its economy? What is stopping us? It is not an insurmountable problem and of course it is just a mindset issue. If we have to develop India, it requires out-of-the box thinking and not just the routine way as has been done during the past 71 years. The customary talk of “Best Practices” should be dropped and let us think of “Next Practices”.

A growth centric tactic for issues aiming at reinventing and reorienting India moving away from stereotyped practices is the need of the hour. We have to first get rid of poverty of thought and plan in a big way instead of incremental thinking.

Then who are responsible for all the ills? The Nehru-Gandhi leadership Congress Party era followed by Morarji-VP Singh leadership Janata-National Front era and then the Vajpayee-Modi BJP era with in between PV-Manmohan Congress era are squarely responsible for all that happened in the past 71 years.

Despite all this and against all this background people still preferred again one of the two national parties in the routine manner. The combination of federal, leftist and secular forces should have been the alternative to the existing political system. But it did not happen. Should this National Extremism be allowed in Indian politics unabated? It is for all of us to think.