Author: B R Haran
Publication: Vijayvaani.com
Date: September 6, 2009
URL: http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=795
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy's tragic death in a helicopter
crash, at the peak of his career, has shaken the entire political spectrum;
our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, relatives, colleagues, party
men and followers.
Political career
In a career spanning over three decades, YSR
as he was popularly known as, was elected to the Lok Sabha four times from
Kadapa (Cuddappa) constituency and five times to the State Assembly from Pulivendula
constituency of Andhra Pradesh. At a time when the state Congress was feeling
the pinch of the non-availability of a charismatic leader, YSR pitched in
and made full use of the opportunity. He served as president of APCC twice
(1983-1985 and 1998-2000) and as minister from 1980-1983. He was Leader of
the Opposition in the State Assembly during Chandrababu Naidu's tenure as
Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004.
YSR undertook a massive padayatra (1500 kms)
across the state in 2003, covering many villages and rural areas, and led
his party to a grand victory in the 2004 elections to both Parliament and
Assembly, to the shock of the TDP and surprise of the Congress high command.
His party won 185 assembly seats and he became Chief Minister. In the 2009
elections for Parliament and Assembly, he led from the front on a plank of
"Development and Credibility" and won 33 Lok Saba and 156 Assembly
seats, becoming Chief Minister again. But barely three months late, travelling
by helicopter from Hyderabad to Chithoor, he suddenly closed his life story
as his chopper crashed on a hilltop in Nallamala forest area.
Tenure full of controversies
Welfare Schemes for the masses
During his first term as Chief Minister from 2004 to 2009, YSR implemented
many new welfare schemes apart from the usual freebies such as free power
for farmers, waiver of loans, Rs 2/kg rice, which have become the order of
governance in the country now. Some schemes, launched with fanfare, include
"Jalayagnam" (water conservation), a programmeme of more than 50
large, medium and small irrigation projects worth more than Rs. 50,000 crores;
"Arogya Shree," a community health insurance scheme for BPL families;
"Pavala Vaddi" or interest subsidy, a programme to provide loans
to people, particularly women SHGs, at 3% per annum to encourage them to take
up small entrepreneurial businesses; "Indiramma illu," a programme
for construction of houses for the rural masses, the major share of which
is borne by the government.
Though the Congress party claims these schemes
and many others have been a success, the opposition parties have alleged rampant
corruption in implementation of the schemes. Probably a change of regime in
future might bring out the facts regarding implementation of these much hyped
schemes. Also, if the schemes prove really "remunerative," succeeding
regimes may continue with them, perhaps under a different name!
However, Rajasekhar Reddy was termed a pro-poor
leader and the rural masses loved and adored him, particularly as he periodically
increased the procurement price of paddy, which reduced farmer-suicides to
a huge extent to almost nil status.
Corruption charges
YSR and his family were in the thick of controversies during his tenure. The
leader of the opposition, Chandrababu Naidu, accused him of amassing huge
wealth through companies like Sandur Power Company, Jagathi Publications,
and Bharathi Cement Corporation, which were owned by his family members.
As the allegations gained momentum and featured
in the assembly, YSR accepted holding Government and forest lands and returned
614 acres at Idupulapaya estate in Vempalli mandal to the government. Still,
media reports said he could be tried under AP Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural
Holdings) Act, 1973 & Rules, 1974, AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers)
Act, 1977 and AP Forest Act, 1967.
(Ref: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/808974.cms)
Almost all opposition parties and the media
alleged his family's involvement in the multi-crore 'Satyam' scam. He was
blamed for the government's granting of huge contracts to 'Maytas' of the
Satyam group. He was severely attacked in and out of the assembly for his
'specific' assaults on Ramoji Rao and his companies.
(Ref: http://www.andhravilas.com/movienews.asp?id=79193&curPage=17 and
http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=3157&pg=1&mod=1§ionId=9§ionname=MEDIA%20RESEARCH&valid=true).
During his tenure, Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam was always in the news
for all the wrong reasons, from appointment of Chairman (once his own step-brother
and another time a liquor baron), to mismanagement, to lack of transparency,
to abuse of power, to shortages of jewels and gold coins, to sacrilege of
Thirumala by evangelical activities and ant-social elements. The total abuse
of TTD was attributed only to YSR and just some days ago Dr. Chandrababu Naidu
demanded dissolution of the TTD Board.
The New Indian Express dated 4 September 2009
said, "Charges of massive corruption in irrigation projects and other
big ventures dogged him throughout his first innings, so much so that he was
described as the chief fund raiser for the Congress at the national level."
(http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=He+was+the+rainmaker&artid=kySQCi/WkhY=&SectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=
&MainSectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=&SectionName=m3GntEw72ik).
State's insecurity
YSR's tenure blundered on security. Apart from the anti incumbency factor
for TDP, YSR's understanding with Maoist and PWG (Naxal) groups allegedly
helped in his victory in the 2004 elections. As per the understanding, he
stopped the anti-Naxal operations in the name of 'peace-talks' and allowed
them to regroup and roam the state freely with arms and ammunition. The Naxal
and PWG utilized this huge opportunity to establish contacts with Maoists
in other states and Nepal.
As a result, the Red corridor spread to over
15 states across India, from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh. The unholy nexus extended
to LTTE cadres and Jihadis, resulting in smuggling of different kinds of arms
and ammunition, including rocket launchers, and parts for making bombs, etc.
The huge cache of arms and ammunitions captured by Tamil Nadu police during
their regular arrests of LTTE cadres established the Naxal-LTTE nexus.
His tenure also witnessed two huge bomb blasts
in Mecca Masjid and Lumbini Park areas, resulting in immense loss of life
and property. So far investigations have not yielded any results. The state
still reels under the Naxal menace! The general law and order situation is
not up to the mark, as evidenced by regular occurrences of political murders.
Christianisation of Andhra Pradesh
With YSR's advent in 2004, evangelical activities increased alarmingly and
mass conversions were witnessed in rural areas on a large scale. His open
pandering to Church and missionaries emboldened evangelists to go all out
in their conversion activities. They dared focus on Hindu pilgrimage sites
such as Badrachalam, Simmachalam, Srisailam, Ahobilam, Mangalagiri, Kalahasthi,
and didn't spare Thirumala-Thirupathi! YSR aided the Church and missionaries
in many ways.
He sanctioned Rs. 80, 000/- per Church for repair works in August 2006 as
per GO MS. No: 21 dt 22/08/2006 (CM Reddy okays public money for Churches
- Deccan Chronicle, 23 August 2006) and an aid of Rs. 1.5 lakhs for the construction
of each Church.
This is done while the government is controlling
over 30,000 Temples and taking all their revenue. Only 15% of temple revenue
is given back for temple maintenance and salaries of priests. Over 40,000
Priests earn a salary of only Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/- per month. The rest
of the revenue is being used for other government schemes and minority welfare
schemes, as in Tamil Nadu.
The AP government is also auctioning cows
and calves donated by devotees to Bhagwan Narasimhar Temple at Simhachalam
to owners of abattoirs. With so much of revenue from temples, it is unfortunate
that the government has not bothered to maintain a decent Goshala respecting
the sentiments of Hindu devotees.
(http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/religious/save-temples/templesact/misuse.php)
The state government identified 7000 acres of temple lands for sale to raise
revenues of Rs. 20, 000 crores. In many places, those lands have been allegedly
encroached upon by Churches and Missionaries with the connivance of government
officials. Some have been given for construction of Churches and Mosques.
Thousands of Churches have been planted by
missionaries throughout the state totally disproportionate to the Christian
population - one Church for every seven Christians! The number of Churches
stands at 148,000; the temples are 190,000 (one for every 350 Hindus) and
Mosques figure at 176,000 (one for every 40 Muslims)
(Ref: http://www.drthchowdary.net/index.php and
http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HkPage.aspx?PAGEID=7317&SKIN=C ).
The pastors of the planted Churches straightaway
started their 'harvests' particularly in rural areas, where mass conversions
have been rampant for the last five years. While the government figure of
Christian population is 1.5% (2001 census), the Church itself puts the figure
at 10 to 12%, which could certainly be more in view of the large scale conversion
in the state. Most converts are Scheduled Castes who pretend to be Hindus
to enjoy reservation benefits, while they practice Christianity at home. The
AP Assembly passed a resolution for SC status for Christian and Muslim SC
converts.
Emboldened by the government's attitude, missionaries made a focused assault
on Thirumala Thirupathi. The YSR government facilitated such activities by
releasing a GO saying Bhagwan Venkateswara's assets were only two hills covering
an area of 27.5 sq. kms., and the other five hills would be taken over by
the government for converting them into a picnic spot with multiplexes, food
courts, commercial, sports and entertainment infrastructures including a rope-way
to reach the top of the hills.
Fortunately, the AP High Court quashed the
GO and the government beat a retreat after fierce Hindu agitations. {Judgment
of a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court1997 (2) ALD Page 59 (DB)
- Tallapakam Koppu Raghavan Vs State of A.P}
But the Church never stopped evangelical activities on the hills, sparking
off widespread agitation by the Hindu community. Sri Swarupanandendra Swami
of Saradha Peetam, Hyderabad, convened a Seers' Meet in Delhi to take necessary
actions against religious conversions. Subsequently, Sri Vishweshra Theertha
Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt, Udipi, organized a massive public meeting in Thirupathi
with the support of Hindu organizations.
He also constituted a fact finding committee
under the Chairmanship of Sri Justice G. Bikshapathy, former Judge of AP High
Court with Sri Justice K.B. Siddappa, former Judge of APHC, Sri TS Rao, former
Director General of Police, Andhra Pradesh, Smt. Dr. P Geervani, former Vice-Chancellor
of Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyala and Sri Dr. R Shrihari, former Vice-Chancellor
of Dravidian University, Kuppam, as members. The committee held a preliminary
sitting on 17 June 2006 at Hyderabad and visited Tirupathi and Tirumala on
21-22 June 2006 and held a public enquiry and subsequently issued public notice
in the dailies and in electronic media
(http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=139&page=3
).
The TTD's commodities contract also went to a Christian company by name JRG
Wealth Management. The Hindu-Business Line reported, "The introduction
of JRG Wealth Management Company's commodity futures terminal at Tirupati
gave an on-line price reference mechanism to the second richest temple township
in the world, next only to the Vatican".
(http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/31/stories/2005083102560900.htm)
Though YSR later kept out of Hindu pilgrimage centres, he gave a free hand
to Churches and missionaries to carry out evangelical activities in the rest
of the state. His son-in-law Anil Kumar is an evangelist with his own ministries.
A Brahmin-convert, Brother Anil Kumar claims to be a preacher with anointing
of holy spirits, powerful and authoritative teacher, revealer of Kingdom's
principles, warrior of faith and a healer through miracles doing wonders in
the name of Jesus (http://www.aweministries.org/).
When he arranged for a mammoth congregation,
as huge as US evangelist Benny Hinn's, the government's machineries were allegedly
used to make the show a big hit. Hundreds of banners were erected throughout
the twin cities and other major cities and towns to welcome Brother Anil Kumar.
YSR participated with his wife and daughter. The evangelical meet came in
for severe criticism and drew flak from the opposition. But when confronted
by the media on the use of official machinery to promote his son-in-law, YSR
had quipped, "What is wrong in that?" It is believed Brother Anil
Kumar has been placed as rival to the well-known evangelist KA Paul, also
from AP.
(http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/15-andhra-cm-son-in-laws-religious-meet-draws-flak.htm
and
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/YSRs-evangelist-soninlaw-triggers-war-of-words/421191/)
After winning the elections, YSR and his family went on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem,
at the end of May 2009 to offer thanksgiving prayers for the victory of the
Congress party. He did the same in 2004 also. Little wonder that he subsidized
Bethlehem/Jerusalem pilgrimage for Christians, first of its kind in the country,
allotting a budget of 2 crores of rupees for 2008-09, apart from 5 crores
of rupees for repairs of churches and mosques.
(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080219/nation.htm#4)
Small wonder that Christians of all denominations favoured him in the 2009
elections. Rayalaseema Regional Christians' Sadassu in Kadapa called upon
Christians in the four Rayalaseema districts to vote for Congress to ensure
further progress. Bishop of Rayalaseema Diocese, Yesu Varaprasad, former Bishop
CVM Fredrick Babu, Rev. Fr. Samson and Banhur Babu of CSI Church, Pastor CSI
Church, secretary Samuel Babu and Zion College of Physical Education K. Rajarathnam
Isaac were present at Sadassu. They appreciated the various welfare schemes
launched by government.
(http://www.thehindu.com/2009/04/18/stories/2009041851820300.htm).
The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) condoled the CM's untimely death
in a press release, referring to his message of 19 August 2009 to them on
the occasion of All India Congress on Church in Mission, expressing gratitude
to the "Christian Churches in India for their service to the nation in
the field of education, health and social work and for promoting peace, reconciliation
and development of all communities irrespective of caste and creed."
EFI called for prayers for the family of the late Chief Minister and for the
families of the four other officers who died in the tragic accident.
The London based "Religious Intelligence" mourned YSR's death by
publishing an article titled "Head of Indian state, a Christian, killed
in chopper crash," by Delhi-based journalist Vishal Arora. It said YSR
was a second-generation Christian, as his father Raja Reddy was converted
by missionaries while serving in the military in Burma. It claimed without
any evidence that "several" Christian priests and workers were killed
in "numerous" attacks in the last few years and blamed "Hindu
Nationalists" for those attacks!
(http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4961).
TV channels mentioned on the eve of his funeral
that his father was shot dead (by rivals) at the age of 75, thereby confirming
his 'bloody' past, which is also evidenced by the anti-social track record
of "Bhumana brothers" (Bhumana Karunakara Reddy and Bhumana Subramanya
Reddy) associated with his family.
(http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1133939601
and http://www.hindu.com/2004/04/13/stories/2004041305380500.htm and
http://www.sandeepweb.com/2009/09/04/how-slayers-are-sainted/#more-1356)
The New Indian Express reported, "Physical elimination of rivals, typical
of the factional politics of Rayalaseema region, began soon after YSR became
Chief Minister. Congress warlords loyal to the Chief Minister, but till then
confined to Rayalaseema, spread their tentacles to even the state capital,
dictating who should be awarded works and involving themselves in real estate
settlements."
(http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=He+was+the+rainmaker&artid=kySQCi/WkhY=&SectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=
&MainSectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=&SectionName=m3GntEw72ik ).
Coincidentally, just five days before, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu accused
YSR of mismanagement of Thirumala Tirupati Devasthanam's affairs and demanded
dissolution of the TTD Board. In a press conference at TDP headquarters on
28 August, he said the assets of TTD were worth about Rs 30,000 crore, while
the value of the jewellery could not be estimated as many jewels donated to
the temple since Srikrishna Devaraya's era were invaluable.
Dr. Naidu said the Chief Minister would face
the wrath of Lord Venkatesvara for indifference towards Tirumala, the Lord's
abode: "Lord Venkatesvara (Lord Balaji) is very powerful. This is a proven
historical fact. Such people will pay a heavy price in the long run."
He said former Chief Minister NT Rama Rao wanted to develop Tirumala at par
with Vatican City.
(http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20090829/1416/tnl-dissolve-ttd-board-demands-naidu_1.html)
All said and done, however, YSR was indeed a charismatic leader with a well-earned
pro-poor image, as evidenced by the startling spate of suicides and shock
deaths, hitherto an exclusive "culture" of "Dravidian"
land (Tamil Nadu). He outshone the Dravidian leaders in "all" respects
not only when he was alive, but also after his death. Karunanidhi fittingly
declared a state holiday as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
- The author is a senior journalist; he lives
in Chennai
