Minority Appeasement has become a persistent problem in the Indian political landscape with most political parties claiming to be “secular” and offering all manner of electoral sops, exclusively for the minority communities. The concept of Secularism as it is understood in today’s context, came about in the Western world in response to the Politics-Religion nexus, that often restricted the progress of nations in many ways. Secularism was proposed and propagated to specifically keep religion out of politics and political parties out of religious affairs. Yet, this concept, over-used and misused in India, has done the exact opposite in our nation, thanks to the Congress party’s obsession with legitimizing its credentials as the founder of a peculiar type of secularism practiced only in India – a brand of secularism promoting religious interference, according precedence to the needs of the minorty non-Indic religions over those of the majority Hindus, even at the cost of cultural dilution and disrespect.
Among the most regrettable, arguably unforgivable mistakes of the Congress party’s father-daughter duo Nehru and Indira, was the sacrifice of a strong, distinct and proud Indian culture rooted in Hindu beliefs and ethos, at the alter of a peculiar Indian brand of secularism, that bends over backwards for minorities, at the expense of the poor and needy within the Hindu community.
The Congress and other “secular” parties have ensured the death of the actual meaning and purpose of Secularism and its proper place in administrative affairs. Almost all parties pander disproportionately to the perceived grievances of Muslims and Christians while taking the votes of the Indic-religions (Hindus, Sikhs,Buddhists,Jains, indigenous tribal belief systems) for granted. The fact that the Hindu vote is divided on the lines of caste regional differences, specific sects etc has made the problem worse over the decades.
Ironically, secularism for electoral gains, is embraced even by the supposedly “godless” Communists in India! Secularism as it was and is practiced in India, is the biggest disservice to Indian culture inflicted by the Nehru-Indira clan. It has undoubtedly caused irreparable damage to the preservation and nurturing of the Hindu way of life. Minority appeasement is no longer limited to the original culprits- the Congress and its allies. It has now spread to almost all political parties in India. All parties that follow the strange Indian brand of “secularism” indulge in it, sometimes to their own detriment. A curious case in point, is that of the Andhra, Telangana regional party- the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) currently led by Chandrababu Naidu.
The TDP leader has always been known for his focused development agenda, reforms in administrative practices and encouraging private enterprise yet he felt pressured to play a strong and vocal minority card during the 2019 state elections. Admittedly, the TDP had always declared itself a “secular” party with a fair share of Muslim and Christian supporters but Naidu took everybody by surprise when he openly requested the minority vote in the 2019 elections, based on a cache of significant minority appeasement schemes. Many complained he was risking it by crossing a line he had chosen not to, in his earlier campaigns and ministerships.
Observers and analysts were of the opinion that Naidu was pressured to go down the path of heavy minority-pandering, in order to combat a new, unexpected resurgence of interest in Andhra towards the newly formed YSRCP party, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is a fourth generation christian.
Jagan’s sister and his brother-in-law “Brother” Anil, a converted christian and an evangelist with a missionary zeal had campaigned for him and reportedly appealed to all the crypto-christians in the state to vote unanimously for him, in return for protection of christian interests.
Many TDP supporters were disappointed with Naidu’s loud and unabashed attempt to attract the minority vote. While some claimed to understand the political pressure he was under and pardoned him for an unusually high level of minority appeasement, others squarely blamed him for his lack of courage in toeing the same line as most parties and withdrew their support.
Naidu’s strategy vis a vis the minority communities failed, as did his risky decision to part ways with his previous alliance partner, the BJP. He lost both the Hindu vote as well as the minority vote, which went to Jagan’s YSRCP party. Interestingly, after a drubbing in the 2019 elections, Naidu is now projecting himself as a pro-Hindu leader and at times, appears more vocal about Hindu issues like temple affairs and lower caste reservations, than even the local BJP leaders. He is also trying to mend relations with the BJP and appeal to the broader Hindu community. Will the TDP’s new strategy result in electoral dividends in the 2024 state elections ?
Some Hindu community leaders are still fuming at Naidu’s 2018-19 brazen attempts at garnering the minorty vote. Naidu’s 2019 poll sops included large financial aid packages to churches and an assured SC status to converted Christians. Here are a few of the sops he had offered ahead of the 2019 elections, clearly amounting to a heavy dose of minority appeasement as well as his posturing towards one community to the exclusion of all others.
In 2018-19, the TDP government had sanctioned Rs.38.36Cr for Construction/Repair of Churches. It sanctioned ₹58 lakh for construction and repair of toilets in Churches through a GO RT408 on 29.11.2018.
Chandrababu Naidu, who participated in a Christmas celebration organized by the State government heaped praises on Christian missionaries saying “Christian missionaries served great for education and health. We saw Mother Teresa, how she served society.”
The Telugu Desam Party chief in 2018 said, “Our government has spent ₹250 crores for Christians in these four years. We will fight for giving the SC status to converted Christians and till then we will support you. I assure you to develop Guntur general hospital with six acres of additional land.”
On the developmental work undertaken by the state government, the Chandrababu Naidu said that the Andhra government has provided full economic support for the construction of churches in the state.
Adding to this he said, “For a Christian Bhavan, we gave two acres land and ₹10 crores. Now, we are allotting additional six crores as per your appeals. We will provide full economic support for the construction of churches even without contribution.” He also said that he will give 24 December as an optional holiday. He further went on to offer sops saying that the government will provide ₹50,000. for the marriage of Christian girls and spend ₹100 crores to develop burial grounds for Christians.
Earlier in 2015, while participating in the foundation laying ceremony of “Christian Bhavan” in Guntur district, he had proposed the creation of a cabinet sub-committee to monitor and protect land owned by various Christian bodies.
Naidu had also said that converting to Christianity would bring about an ‘overhaul’ in the ‘socio-economic’ conditions of people and henceforth, the government would offer a Christmas “Chandra anna” Kanuka (gift) to mark the festive occasion.
So, contrary to the popular perception that only the YSRCP goes out of the way to woo the Christian minority in Andhra, the TDP is equally culpable of minority appeasement.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.
Can Jagan’s Sister Sharmila Make An Impact In Telangana?
Angry BRS (Bharat Rasthra Samithi, formerly TRS – Telangana Rashtra Samithi) workers, attacked a convoy of vehicles belonging to Sharmila Reddy’s YSRTP party (YSR Telangana party), in retaliation for her comments against Narsampet BRS party MLA, P Sudarshan Reddy.
A bus and a few vehicles in her convoy were set on fire by agitated BRS activists, following her reference to the BRS MLA’s alleged corruption. Sharmila reportedly intervened as her supporters clashed with those of the BRS party. She was taken into “preventive” custody on Tuesday, by the Warangal Police and was granted bail earlier on Wednesday (30 November 2022).
Sharmila, who launched the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) last year, is the proverbial underdog in Telangana politics. She claims her party will emerge a major contender to Chandrashekar Rao’s ruling BRS (formerly, TRS) party in the 2023 Telangana polls. Her brother, Jagan Mohan Reddy is the incumbent Chief Minister of the “twin” Telugu state of Andhra Pradesh and leader of the YSRCP party.
Sources claim, not all is well with the once strong relationship between the brother-sister duo, the children of former chief minister of the larger, undivided Andhra Pradesh state, Y.S Rajashekar Reddy
(a.k.a YSR) who had vehemently opposed the bifurcation of the state into Andhra and Telangana. YSR died in a helicopter crash, in September 2009 while he was still Chief minister, giving rise to several conspiracy theories.
Y.S. Sharmila, who launched the YSRTP party in Telangana last year without the support of her brother, the current A.P chief minister and YSRCP leader Y.S.Jagan Reddy, has said that her brother’s support didn’t matter and that her newly launched party would contest all 119 seats in the 2023 Telangana assembly elections. She is being supported by her mother and her husband Morusupalli Anil Kumar (“Brother” Anil) who is a Christian evangelist/missionary and founder of “Anil World Evangelism”.
The entire family, including Jagan and Sharmila are practicing Christians and may have an edge with the Christian minority.
It’s early yet to predict whether Sharmila’s enthusiasm and optimism will turn into a sizeable vote share but political analysts speculate that she may cut into the share of the BRS party’s Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Minorities and Dalits. If that were to happen, it would be worrisome for the incumbent BRS party in Telangana and an advantage for the state’s BJP, which has witnessed a meteoric rise since the last state elections in 2018. The other parties in the fray, namely Congress and the TDP have lost their political relevance in Telangana since the 2014 bifurcation.
Touted to be a hotly fought contest between the BRS and the BJP, Sharmila’s YSRTP is the proverbial underdog that may end up with a surprising electoral result, forcing the BRS to take its potential appeal to the Minorities (especially Christian), Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes, seriously. The Telangana Muslim vote is likely to remain with the Hyderabad based, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Sharmila claims her “padayatra” (walkathon) to personally connect with the common people of Telangana, will bring back memories of the legacy of her late father and former chief minister (YSR), based on the numerous welfare schemes he had launched in the undivided Andhra state. She was quoted stating “Many ruled me out in the beginning… that YSR is a long-gone era and he is no longer prevalent in Telangana, but I received a lot of warmth and love during the ‘padayatra’. Being YSR’s daughter will just be a launchpad for me; people will actually see my calibre…”. Sharmila who has been on a padayatra in Telangana since last October, claims that people are paying attention and showing interest in her vision, which is similar to her father’s vision of welfarism and upliftment of the lower classes.
It is worth noting that it was Sharmila and her missionary husband, that played a significant role in reaching out to the people of Andhra Pradesh ahead of the 2019 elections, while Jagan Reddy was in jail in connection with several embezzlement charges. This resulted in an impressive vote share for Jagan, in the 2019 A.P state elections, which saw Jagan’s YSRCP party wrest power from Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP. However, Sharmila and her husband Anil, were not given any legislative posts of importance in A.P, post Jagan’s 2019 win. On numerous occasions, she has expressed disappointment with her brother’s lack of reciprocation but contends that it’s his choice, at an individual level.
As of now, Sharmila’s relatively new Telangana based YSRTP party, has very few recognizable faces other than herself. Only time will tell whether she will emerge as strong as her brother.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.