The Day NTR Died....

Fifteen years back on this day, I was woken up around 5 am by my editor P N V Nair (Deccan Chronicle). A man of few words, Nair broke the news that NTR passed away and wanted me to rush to the latter’s place on Road # 13, Banjara Hills.

That residence was very familiar to me, as I used to visit the place almost on a daily basis. At the time, I was covering NTR TDP for my paper and hence, used to spend quite a bit of time at NTR’s residence. I had met him barely 24 hours back on January 17 in his private room, and he looked as grand as ever.

No wonder, initially it was hard to believe my editor’s words. I felt sure it was just a rumour. I got out of my bed and ran down the steps of my apartment on Road # 4, Banjara Hills and whizzed past on my Kawasaki bike to NTR’s residence, which was a little more than a kilometre away.

Even as I entered Road # 13, I could feel a sense of sickness enveloping me. I could see that there was some activity near the house, though there were not too many people around by this time. I rushed into the front hall of the house, when they were just bringing the body down the steps from the upper floor. Only a chest-beating Lakshmi Parvathi and a few others were present at the time.

NTR looked peaceful in his eternal sleep. I almost thought maybe he was still alive. The dark reality descended on me slowly, as hundreds of people soon started crowding the place, many of them shell-shocked like me at the unexpected death.

NTR was in his elements when I had met him a day earlier. A correspondent from the international news agency Reuters (I forgot his name now) was in Hyderabad to have an interview with NTR. Syed Amin Jaffery, my bureau chief, gave him my contact number, and on his request, I sought an appointment with NTR, who gave us time at 7 am next day, January 17.

A day earlier, that is on 16^th, during my routine chit chat, NTR animatedly talked about the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. He was very keen on these elections as these would provide him an opportunity to establish that he was still the darling of the people and that his was the real TDP.

During the course of the conversation, he told me he would personally be in the race for the Parliament. He asked for my opinion on his decision. I said his being in the fray would make all the difference.

Towards the end of the tete-a-tete, I asked him whether I could do a story for my paper on his decision to contest. He asked me to wait.

During my briefing to Reuters correspondent, I told him to ask NTR whether he would contest Lok Sabha polls, which he did. “Yes, I am going to contest,” NTR declared in his theatrical style. I used the opportunity to file the story I knew all along. The story was published in Deccan Chronicle the day he died with the caption “NTR to contest LS polls”.

NTR looked at his best during the 30-minute interview with Reuters correspondent. He was energetic all through, and he went high pitch while talking about the August crisis. He compared Chandrababu to Aurangazeb who killed his brothers and jailed parents, to grab the throne. He talked at length about his own son-in-law stabbing him in the back.

“But nobody can keep me away from the people for too long. I will come back sooner than later,” he told Reuters correspondent, who filed the story the same day, which appeared in newspapers on the day of his demise.

I spent half-a-day mourning his death along with scores of people who came to pay their last respects. By the time I reached the office, my editor was waiting for me. He wanted me to write a piece on the political implications of NTR’s death. “He died barely a few hours ago. Don’t you think it would be in bad taste to write about post-NTR TDP politics,” I protested. “People already know he passed away. That’s no news tomorrow. We have to talk about what is going to happen”, he said in his awkwardly focussed style. “Fierce feud likely to inherit NTR’s political legacy,” was published the next day.

But I really pined to write a tribute to NTR. I sat at the PTI office a day later with my friend Suresh, and furiously typed a lengthy piece on what I thought of him. It was published in Rashtriya Sahara magazine. I don’t have a copy of the magazine, but I found the manuscript that I typed in 1996 January, which I am reproducing below.

He was a man, take him for all in all,

I shall not look upon his like again.

- Shakespeare

The legend is gone. The phenomenon called NTR is no more. The man, who strode the cultural and political life of Telugus like a colossus for decades, defies the usual run-of-the-mill assessment of his colourful life. Few personalities in recent history has become an integral part of the very ethos of a people, as Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (73) has been of Andhras.

Indeed, it is difficult to sift the man from the myth in the persona of NTR. He was a great artiste but transcended the image of a mere screen personality to become a role model to his people. There is no denying that he had imbibed some of the qualities and characteristics of the mythological characters he played with great aplomb.

Like Duryodhana, he was imperious, but like him always vulnerable. Like Ravana, he was self-righteous, but at the same time deeply religious like him. NTR, like Lord Krishna, the role for which he would be remembered for generations, was the greatest showman, but like the Hindu god, he remained a child at heart till the end. As in his portrayal of Krishna, the divine and the mundane merged in him so effortlessly.

When he entered politics in 1982 to become the most popular of the masses in the state, passion, not ambition, was his driving force. Indeed, there is not a more passionate politician in the country today than NTR. His means and methods might appear awkward, but his motives were always genuine. In fact, the familiar concept of scheming politician was alien to him.

He wanted to run politics according to his rules and most of the time succeeded. Flawed though it might be, he had a vision of his own for the betterment of his people. He was a fighter to the core and had indefatigable spirit abundantly in him. In a political career spanning less than 14 years, he fought four assembly elections, three parliamentary elections and was about to make a comeback in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. All his election campaigns in the state were the greatest spectacles of democracy in action.

Inspite of the aura he has built up over the years, NTR was the most accessible of all the politicians of his stature in his country. In fact, he was such an incorrigible campaigner that few would have had the kind of interaction with people which he had. He inspired awe but at the same time charmed the people around him. Even the high and the mighty were intimidated by his apparently whimsical persona but strangely the common man felt certain warmth in his presence and was always welcome to walk into his residence any day, whether he was in power or out of power.

The irony of NTR’s politics was that he had always been a darling of the masses, nothwithstanding his totally personalised style of functioning. He can be described as an autocrat, who has undiluted faith in the power of the people. In turn, the people had abundant faith in him and he reciprocated this trust with great conviction.

As BBC described, his was indeed ‘remarkable life’. History might not judge him as a great statesman, but it will certainly honour him as a truly people’s man.

(written on 19 January 1996)

In Search of T Holy Grail

The Telangana separatists have been in absolute denial mode on Srikrishna Committee's findings. Though not entirely unexpected, the conclusion that the region indeed is on par with the other regions in almost all development aspects is a bitter pill to swallow for the die-hard T supporter.

We have not, however, seen much of a reaction to the Report's findings except for the occasional outburst by frustrated politicians. The entire machinery of TRS party and the large number of sympathizers, many among whom are 'leading intellectuals', are yet to come out with specific and significant lapses in the SKC Report that materially alters the findings.

Which does not mean that Telangana supporters are in any way getting reconciled to the results of the Report. They are not the sort who will easily give up.

As we are reading this, the counter to Srikrishna Report is being furiously prepared by T champions to 'nail the lies" of the government-sponsored report. The steering committee of JAC under the chairmanship of Prof Kodandaram already concluded that it was a 'bunch of lies'.

According ToI, a 15-page preliminary report will come out in a week, while a detailed report will be prepared for submission to PM in February. The stalwarts who will prepare the counter include Prof Revati, Dr Narasaiah, R Vidyasagar Rao, N Venugopal, C Vittal, Madabhushi Sridhar and Prof Chakrapani.

The counter will seek not only to puncture the findings of SKC with detailed evidence but also to expose how the Committee members were 'influenced' by political leaders and capitalists from Seemandhra regions!

The eagerness and urgency to find loopholes in SKC Report is understandable given that the findings have dealt a death blow to the 'underdeveloped, exploited' agenda unleashed on the unsuspecting people of Telangana for years now.

The development issue, indeed, has been the 'holy grail' of Telangana crusade. It's the umbilical cord to which the T baby is connected. No wonder, now there is fear that the baby may strangle with the cord.

But whether the esteemed gentlemen put together by Kodandaram are more qualified than the SKC members is a moot question. For record, the Srikrishna Committee members are some of the best brains in the country with impeccable credentials. And they have been helped by a host of government departments, agencies and institutions. But more importantly, they have been ably supported by academically strong consultants on various subjects.

These include Ravi Dhingra, a retired IAS officer, who had worked as Additional Secretary & Adviser, ISCS, Chief Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh; Shri S.D. Sharma, a retired IAS officer, who had worked as Additional Secretary & Adviser, ISCS; B.L.Joshi, a retired Senior Economist of National Council of Applied Economic Research; Dr. (Ms.) Ameeta Motwani, Associate Professor, Department of Commerce, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi; V. Venkatesan, a retired Director of Ministry of Rural Development / Ministry of Power; and Ms. Pradeep Bolina, a retired Joint Secretary of Ministry of Women & Child Development.

These are only a few among scores of other experts in their respective fields who contributed significantly in the collection of the relevant material and compilation of the same for writing the various chapters of the Report.

It now falls upon the committed soldiers of Telangana to prove that all these responsible ladies and gentlemen have compromised their professional integrity and fudged figures to suit Seemandhra interests. Hope this time around, the wisemen of T will come out with some solid stuff, and not the usual skulduggery.

A typo here, an error there will not, as I said earlier, materially alter the conclusions.

Sensitive in the Time of Telangana

Chukka Ramaiah Garu is a well respected man. He belongs to a fast disappearing breed of rare personalities who lived a life of commitment and conscience in good and bad times.

But unfortunately, when it comes to Telangana, people who are otherwise known for their cool heads, let out steam in a manner not entirely keeping with their world outlook. Ramaih Garu is no exception.

Take his latest outpouring of anguish in Andhra Jyothi on the 'atrocities of police' in Osmania Campus. The picture painted by him is not unfamiliar; police mercilessly beating up 'peacefully protesting innocent students' without any sense of remorse.

There are a few questions that arise out of Ramaiah Garu's sense of outrage, shared by many, that need to be addressed.

First, is it only with regard to T agitation that police are ruthless? At any given point of time, cops in the state are charging with their lathis on umpteen groups, organizations and unions aggrieved over a variety of demands ranging from increase in mess fees to hike in DA.

And police are not known to be any more kind to them. We have seen replays of brutal treatment meted out to a host of student bodies and unemployed sections on various issues without as much as a whimper. The police reaction, as a rule, is proportionate to the 'aggression' of the agitators. How come, only Osmania 'brutality' is more hurting than other?

There is also this mischeivous suggestion by many T sympathizers that the police are more brutal in tackling T agitation. This, of course, is another attempt at driving a wedge on regional lines. The less said about it, the better.

Ramaiah Garu wants the cops to think before they charge to cane the students. What does the venerated old man exactly want? When the students, or those parading as scholars, become unmanageable, when they menacingly charge towards perceived enemies, when they burn buses, when they physically threaten public and politicians alike, what should the cops do, according to the IIT Guru?

Should they just wait and watch because the violent behaviour is justifiable in the name of Telangana? Does he really think that if all the cops are withdrawn from all sensitive points, peace will prevail? Can he give an assurance to that effect? Is it in his hands?

If Ramaiah Garu's sentimental piece is to be taken at face value, then police in the state of Andhra Pradesh are bad only in so far as their brutality vis-a-vis Osmania campus.

The world nowadays is viewed only from Telangana perspective!

Ramaiah Garu quotes Pasham Yadagiri's experience in Delhi where the cops apparently were friendly and even offered a cuppa, when he, along with a few others, sat in a dharna outside AP Bhavan in freezing cold, even as CM was attending a meeting inside. He wants AP police to emulate them. Sure, the state cops have lot of things to learn.

But the point is agitating in Delhi in a less charged atmosphere is not comparable to what happens in Osmania. Besides, Yadagiri was not trying to barge into CM's meeting and hence no need for any physical intervention by cops.

Last but not least, I always wondered why Ramaiah Garu, so fixed upon having the IIT at Basara, the abode of his family deity, never bothered to open his famous coaching centre for IIT at the holy centre of learning, instead of at Nallakunta in Hyderabad, where moneyed families from coastal districts always got a seat and put T students at a disadvantage in getting through the prestigious institutions!

Or am I being uncharitable...?

Modi and Popes of Political Correctness

Hate-Narendra Modi is a fairly accepted and politically correct stance in our times. But the lengths to which our Popes of political correctness take it to, is sometimes baffling.

Take the latest report which says that AP government decided against participating in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit that began in Gandhi Nagar Yesterday. AP officials were to have made two presentations today at the Summit on the business opportunities in the state.

The Summit is being attended by top business leaders and corporate honchos from not only India, but across the world, who endorsed the Gujarat growth story. According to reports, Gujarat got 50 billion dollars of investment at the Summit in flat 50 minutes.

But the Congress governments in various states apparently thought that showcasing the potential of their respective states, somehow, enhances Modi's already larger than life image and diminishes their own secular credentials considerably.

AP too pressed the panic buttons by withdrawing from the Summit at the last minute, following, according to ToI, "the intervention of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy". Incidentally, ToI itself was uncomfortable with the Summit, which it uncharitably described as "Modi-led BJP affair."

Surprising a media house of ToI's stature should feel that an investors summit in Gujarat should be led by anybody but the government and the Chief Minister of the state!

Equating Modi with the state of Gujarat has become so farcical that earlier Amitabh Bachchan was castigated for being the brand ambassador of Gujarat tourism.

It is as though Gujarat, along with Modi, have become the outcasts for the secular brigade. It is as though Gujarat and its people have committed a sin by repeatedly electing Modi that they deserve every condemnation that comes their way.

The US, which, not unlike our own Shankaracharyas of Secularism, thinks it is the custodian of democracy in third-world countries, earlier refused Modi visa in his capacity as CM. Because of his infamous role in communal riots in the state post-Godhra.

Many well-meaning people have strong antipathy against Modi, which may be justified in the backdrop of the communal politics he practiced. But to be prejudicial and condescending to Gujarat and its people is a travesty of democratic sensibilities.

Instead of finding fault with Gujarat and resorting to fake posturing, secular souls should mull over why Modi is still popular in his state.

Madhu Yashki's Mother of Leaks

Of course, every one with even a passing interest in the T movement knew it was coming. Why was it delayed so long after SKC Report is a matter of conjecture. Madhu Yashki Goud, the man for all Telangana seasons, said it finally: Sri Krishna Committee Panel members were paid money to give the report in favour of Seemandhra.

To quote ToI, the MP, who made his fortune in the US before returning to the greener political pastures in India, said, "I have specific information that money was given to some of the panel members and their sons and a portion of it was paid in Dubai".

Yashki should be praised for his boldness. In the cause of Telangana, he would not balk to level charges against a panel that is headed by a retired judge of impeccable integrity.

But as he himself declared, Yashki had 'specific information' on this issue, which involves the fate of 4 crore Telangana people. Why should he withhold such clinching evidence to blast the veracity of SKC report to smithereens?

If it's true that money changed hands in filing the report, then the Panel members should be exposed. More importantly, the Committee's findings on the backwardness of T must have been compromised and hence they should be rejected. The Report, to put it bluntly, should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Now, that is, if Yashki's accusations are true. The Telangana MP should now come out with all the juicy details of the pay-offs to members and their sons and daughters. Who are these members? Is it Duggal, Ranbir Singh, Ravinder Kaur or Abu Saleh Sharif? Or is Justice Krishna himself in the dock?

How much money was paid? What are the names of the sons and daughters who got paid for the services of their parents? What was the part that was paid in Dubai?

More importantly, who paid the money? Is is L Rajagopal, or K Sambasiva Rao? Were contributions collected from all Seemandhra politicians? If so, who make it to the list of conspirators?

If Madhu Yashki, who has 'specific information' of kickbacks, should come out with all the names (of members) and the numbers (amounts of money), then, it would be the mother of all leaks. The Yashki leaks would nail the united Andhra argument once and for all. And make the job of Telanganites for separate statehood easier.

It's in the interest of T that the second-time NRI MP, known for his competitive T politics, should divulge all information that he is privy to. Failing to reveal the scam in all its dirty details a.s.a.p. would make Yashki party to it.

Let Madhu Yashki not miss this golden opportunity to call the bluff of Srikrishna Committee, lest he should be construed as having been hand in glove with Seemandhra capitalists.