The whole YSR saga

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajashekhara Reddy's death due to a helicopter crash and what's followed has been a little upsetting. First, the media has decided all of sudden to declare him a hero. The reality is that he is not even close to one. He is just one more of the uncivilized cadre of politicians that we have managed to create. I would like to go back a while, when he was elected, and quote from Swaminomics article about his election:

The main problem with this thesis, as you discover when you visit Hyderabad, is that the new chief minister is widely believed to have risen to power on the basis of murder, loot and terror. Local journalists narrate in the most matter-of-fact manner how warlords routinely kill one another to monopolise works contracts and win elections in the Rayalaseema region, from where YSR hails.

The hair-raising history of YSR's rise to power through terror is documented by K Balagopal in a recent issue of Economic and Political Weekly. Cuddapah district, YSR's bailiwick, has mineral deposits, including barytes. YSR's father, the local warlord, was a partner with one Venkatasubbiah in a mining lease. The price of barytes shot up when it was found useful in petroleum refining. YSR's father offered to buy out Venkatasubbiah. He refused. So, Venkatasubbiah was murdered. The lease passed into the hands of YSR.

For many years after, YSR's barytes mining operation was the subject of one scandal after another. Through the AP Mineral Development Corporation, he obtained a sub-lease on the land of one Vivekanandam, who got a court injunction against the lease. Nevertheless, YSR continued with the mining and took away minerals worth Rs 5 crore. A maternal uncle of Vivekanandam went to the then chief minister to protest. He was set upon by a gang, who broke his hands and legs. After that, few dared quarrel with YSR in the Cuddapah region.

Mineral wealth permitted YSR to become the supreme economic and political warlord in Cuddapah district. Elections would be concluded in his favour, and his musclemen would ensure he monopolised all the civil/excise contracts he coveted. This sounds bland when stated in this fashion, but the process involved a tremendous amount of violence and inaugurated a veritable regime of terror in the area.

Until recently, the EC postponed any election if any candidate died during the campaign. In 1989, simultaneous polls were held to the State Assembly and Parliament. In Raychoti constituency, where YSR sensed that his party was weak, his men are alleged to have killed an independent candidate to gain time. In the parliamentary poll that took place, five persons were killed including a polling officer. The Congress was declared the winner.

Yet it is telling that Balagopal's article has not raised any storm of protest in Hyderabad. There, YSR's culture of violence is treated as commonplace politics.

The day after I left Hyderabad, goons hacked four TDP cadres to death in a public bus. The attackers used axes and agricultural implements which, by an ironic coincidence, had been freed from excise duty in Chidambaram's budget as part of reforms with a human face. Chandrababu had submitted a memorandum to the President recently claiming that, since the election in May, no less than 19 TDP men were murdered and 41 seriously injured.

Congress sources say they are meeting fire with fire. They allege that 186 Congress workers were killed by the TDP in the previous two years, and 850 in the nine years of TDP rule.

He is a politician of a very shady sort, who could have been behind the bars, had it not been for our convoluted system of politics and justice. You might ask why would I trust Swaminomics more than the common news - it is because he is not the kind to be swayed by popular sentiment and the need for sensationalism. He looks for sound data and inputs in putting together the reality. He has a track record for more than a decade and the fact is that I love to read him to this day despite having moved on from reading the completely sensationalist TOI.

My orthodox upbringing suggests that I should pay respect to the dead, which I believe is not applicable to shady politicians. When I tweeted about me not feeling sorry, some might have thought I am cold. If being cold for the death of politicians like YSR is wrong, then I am sorry but I can't help it. Our nation needs to move on from blindly hero-worshipping every politicians, even if they are of the shady sorts, and need to start getting inspired by real leaders. I will reserve my respects when a Narayanamurthy or Ratan Tata face the ultimate fate. I, however, do feel sorry for the pilots who lost their life in the crash. My heartfelt condolences to their families.

What's even more appalling, as I hear now, is that Karnataka is declaring a two day mourning for his death. Even if I were to consider that he were to be a revered leader, two days for a different state's CM's death is a little too much according to me. This, I believe, is one of the two - blind hero worship or too much laziness to get work done. Otherwise, there is no excuse for Karnataka to shut down work for a different state's CM.

I have received criticism for both the stands I have taken - not feeling sorry for him, and for why Karnataka shouldn't hold work back for this - and I am willing to take this criticism by my stride. These are my feelings and I am going to stand by it.

ps: And as always, the others of the dirty clan of Indian politicians have started their race to the CM's post.

[Update: I now hear that TN (2 days), Bihar (2 days) and Orissa (1 day) are also shutting down. We have now managed to create a very dangerous precedent which might prove extremely costly in the time to come. All states will now start mourning the death of politicians from other states, in the interest of being politically correct.]