Technically, I don’t usually talk about film stars in the positive sense, especially those who are known as movie actors but do not act proper in movies because they don’t need to anymore. However, when a national daily like the Times of India writes about Chiranjeevi starting a political outfit in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the news must be pretty reliable. Not that this is a surprise, not that this is good or bad, but this could be important.
Politics in Andhra Pradesh is as crazy as everywhere else in India. It is influenced by regionalism, caste divisions and party politics. Most Chief Ministers of the state have been either of the ‘Chaudury’ Caste or the ‘Reddy’ caste.
Taken and complied from K.C.Suri’s - “Democratic Process and Electoral Politics in Andhra Pradesh, India”. The statistics indicate that Chiranjeevi’s caste (Kapu’s) share a 10-12% strong population in the state. Higher than that of Chaudury’s (NTR/Chandrababu Naidu’s caste) or Reddy’s (Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy’s).
Brahmins – 2-4%
Vaishyas – 2-4%
Chaudury’s – 4-5%
Scheduled Tribes - 7%
Reddy’s – 8-10%
Kapu’s – 10-12%
Scheduled Castes – 16%
So called ‘Backward’ castes – 35-44%
Others - < 3-4%
–
And by religion
Hindus – 89%
Muslims – 9% (while in Hyderabad, the percentage is 26% of the population)
Christians – 1.8% , the number is harder to figure out as Scheduled castes and tribes are included in Christians too, and there are upper caste Christians in general, who form part of the 1.8%
Others – 1-2%
There’s no prominent Kapu personality in current political scenario who could rule the state by himself (ladies, by default omitted in AP politics, Renuka Chowdury could have been an option, but she’s too much of a man-hater to be the CM of a state)
29 March 1982 was one day when history was made when N.T. Rama Rao formed a political party that shook up the strength of Congress and became the first non-congress led state government in the state. Naming it ‘Telugu Desam’ (Country of the Telugus) and fighting for Telugu Atma-gowrawam (self respect of the Telugu’s), Telugu desam party won the riot and came to power.
Come 2008, Chiranjeevi’s entry could for the second time mark the entry of a cinema star into AP politics. NTR relied on his image as a demi-god who acted in roles depicting Lord Krishna and Rama and other mythological characters which were the norm in 70’s and 80’s. Chiranjeevi steadily built his image as a hero of the masses, with films starting late 90’s where specially penned dialogues in movies would be on the lines of “I’m born for the people” while two heroines whose combined age would still be less than his age would be fighting for his ‘love’. People, obviously are blind or squint eyed.
In late 80’s/early 90’s while I was at my grandmother’s place in Bhimavaram, coastal Andhra Pradesh, the news was that NTR would pass by in a procession, I vaguely remember the reason or the situation but sure remember the commotion it caused and the hundred thousand people that turned up out of nowhere in the wee hours of the morning. I preferred my sleep to NTR much to the surprise of the elders around me, but I know there were a thousand enthusiasts waiting to catch a glimpse of NTR.
In 2003, I happened to pass by Bhimavaram again, my grandparents are long gone, I do have lot of memories of the street though, one of my Aunt’s still lives at the end of the street where I spent the first 3 years of my life. Around 12-14KM away from the area I’m talking about, lies another small village –Vempa, where my eldest sister’s new relatives came from. It was but natural as her brother to follow up with all the new relations and get to know the families better, I did go, and I occasionally passed by a tiny place called ‘Mogalthur’ which was quite close to Vempa. Now the difference is, people in Vempa prospered instantly on aqua farms, overnight all paddy fields were converted to aqua farms and prawns raised, returns were quick and very high but not stable. Everyone made enough money for the next few years, lifestyles changed from Amabassadors and Maruthi 800’s to TATA Safari’s instantly, then dollar value dropped and foreign importers started complaining of a ‘mud’ smell in the prawns. Demand dropped. The thing with aqua farms is most paddy fields can be converted to aqua farms overnight, aqua farms cannot be reverted back as crop growing fields again for a couple of years.
Mogalthur on the other hand was very undeveloped, a road ran through the center of the village connecting vempa to other tiny villages around. Mogalthur had no big houses, or proper roads, but yes it had a specialty. It was where Chiranjeevi was born.
2003 is not too long ago, I doubt if anything has changed around Mogalthur, I sometimes wondered why the place wasn’t fully developed or at least had a proper road. Chiranjeevi could sure put one in place if he wanted in a matter of days. He did not, until now.
So if Chiranjeevi does become a CM, what essentially will change? Nothing. I can reasonably expect he is not pro-hindutva. He should have a sizeable following among all religions, especially Muslims. No leader outside the old city of Hyderabad has won the hearts of people inside the old city. Apart from ryot suicides, terrorism will be the primary obstacle that any future CM will have to face. It’s really impossible to expect someone to be good at ‘handling’ terrorism in Hyderabad. No one can, not even with years of experience as a state or central intelligence officer. Many other things will not change, the way bribes are given and taken, for every single little thing related to government. It won’t change.
And Chiranjeevi sure has an uphill task ahead, there are problems, problems and more problems. He has had to face reputation problems with his youngest brother’s first wife. Ironically, though most people would agree his brother wasn’t at fault nor did he cheat anyone. Someone just wanted to get back at him, she did.
And of course, the new teen sensation, Chiru’s second daughter, Srija – most people view her as the person who brought down the decades strong reputation of her father in an instant. Chiranjeevi’s successes make him super human; his problems make him human.
Above all, the challenge of politics itself, Chandrababu is lying low, but he is one of the shrewdest politicians in the history of Andhra Pradesh, and now he is the father-in-law of Balakrishna’s daughter. Chiranjeevi by default has two opponents, one an able administrator with the experience of two consecutive terms as the CM of Andhra, the other his primary opponent as an artist and son of the legendary NTR, viewed by many chamchas as the unofficial first family of the state. AP politics have rarely played an important part in politics at the central level, Jayalalitha in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu usually keeps hogging the limelight, Chiranjeevi sure has a lot to learn in the coming days, as long as he keeps his office honest, free of personal vendetta, keeps his family out of his political spectrum and makes able decisions, he can be a good leader. So simple, yet so difficult. Chiranjeevi in the fray.
References:
K.C. Suri - Democratic Process and Electoral Politics
in Andhra Pradesh, India.
http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp180.pdf
Recent Comments