As is now expected of me, I shall begin this post with an apology. I said, in my previous post that I will continue with the them of the International System and the Peace of Westphalia. However, I have suddenly realized that I did not write about something that I wanted to and fortuitously I have found a computer with an internet connection and a little bit of spare time. So I will write that piece out. I hope to keep it short and simple. Let us see how it ends up though.
A few years ago I was watching a programme about British Indians on the Star World Channel. This was a sit-com designed to generate a few laughs and also had guests actually participating in it. I think the programme was called Kumars at something.... I cannot remember what it was. It was one of those stupid comedy programmes. In one of the episodes the featured guest was a lady (whose name I cannot remember, sorry, old age) who apparently scored the highest in an IQ test in the UK (or was it the world, oops, memory going bad again). She was asked as to what scoring the highest in an IQ test meant and she said it meant just that, which is she is capable of scoring very high in IQ tests. Nothing more. In yesterday's The Hindu newspaper (dated:15-4-2011) there was an article written by one Prof. Hegde (hope I have got the name right) on the whole idea of the "World Heart Day". The author while saying that this whole world heart day thing was bunkum, also said that if a person is capable of running a marathon, it means just that, that the person is capable of running a marathon. This did not indicate anything like the person being in a fit, healthy and wellness state. In fact, he even said that marathon runners were prone to fibrosis (hope this too is right) of the heart, a condition that could be classified as heart disease.
Now let us take this analogy to the victory that YS Jaganmohan Reddy secured in the Lok Sabha by polls at Kadapa. The same analogy can be extended to the victory that his mother Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Reddy secured for her dead husband's assembly seat. Both have scored huge victories with record margins. So what does that mean. It means just that. It simply means that YS Jaganmohan Reddy and his mother Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Reddy won the elections with record margins. Ideally this story should have ended here. But not so with our friendly neighbourhood journalists. They have been raising a whole lot of brouhaha about this. Why? Well if you are a newspaper there are pages to be filled and god forbid if you are a news channel on TV then you have to fill a hell of a lot of time and for that you need stories. YS Jaganmohan Reddy's victory has spawned out all kinds of stories. It is a shot in the arm for the separate Telangana movement (how may I ask? Especially since the man himself went to the well of the Lok Sabha to declare support for leaving Andhra Pradesh as it is); it is an indication that all is not well in the Congress (was there a doubt about this before the election was held and was his leaving the party itself indication that all is not well in the party); it portends to Kiran Kumar Reddy's failure as Chief Minister (did someone actually think that the Congress could make the YS Rajashekar Reddy legacy its own and that the voters will leave Jagan and his mother stranded?); S. Jaipal Reddy lost an opportunity to become Chief Minister and to contain Jagan (this dumbfounded me so I will say nothing of this); the Congress could lose the next election (is there a doubt about that? I think the question is more about who will replace the Congress).
My point is do we need this colossal waste of time to state things which are either obvious or simply in the figment of one's imagination? Anyone who is even remotely familiar with the politics of Andhra Pradesh will know that the late YS Rajashekar Reddy's rule has brought the state to the threshold of bankruptcy. YSR took populism to new heights (or should that be depths) by promising schemes that nobody asked for. The revival of the Rs. 2 per kilogram of rice in 2008 was something that nobody can condone. The scheme was first introduced by the late NT Rama Rao in 1983!!!!! Even then it was a drain on the state's resources and to revive in 2008, I cannot find words to describe it. The Arogyasri scheme and the fee reimbursement scheme were good in intent but horribly executed. Giving free education is indeed very noble, but before the introduction of the scheme planning was necessary and that did not happen. Now the whole education system is on the precipice of disaster. The Arogyasri scheme was again excellent in intent. Poor people who are condemned to die without access to health care found access to it. But the flip side is that private hospitals reaped money at the expense of the state. I can go on but there is no point. Even if YSR himself was alive, it is likely that the Congress party would have been humbled in the next round at the hustings
In this background and with the unresolved issue of Telangana still breathing fire, is it necessary to devote so much attention to a politician who as yet is a small timer. If with time he grows in stature then it makes sense to devote some time to him. Till then let us take things for what they are without reading all kinds of stupid things into them.
P.S: Not proof read. Please excuse all mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment