It has been sometime since I have blogged in this site. But now is a good time to restart the discussion OverTea. After about a day's mystery finally we know that CM of Andhra Pradesh YSR has died in the chopper crash.
After he had taken over from Chandrababu Naidu as CM, a visionary credited to have ushered in an IT revolution in Hyderabad, YSR had done well not to root out the best of reforms the former CM brought in.
For example, the Velugu project to eliminate poverty renamed a Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) in YSR regime did very well to imrprove the rural poor's quality of life. The same example also points that he seems to have learnt from ostensible mistakes of Naidu too. Often Naidu election debacle after 9 years of rule was attributed to his "one-sided focus on the cities" and ignoring the poor. While the claim is arguable, YSR seems to have maintained the urban-rural development balance well. His own initiatives like Arogyashree (health care) and Indiramma housing programme seems to have been received well by the public.
In my own personal experience during my last 5 years of residence in Hyderabad, I find the municipality of Hyderabad as less corrupt and more proactive than any other municipalities I have found. So, all said and done, as a CM YSR did well, and Andhra Pradesh and the country at large is at a minor loss at his untimely death. May his soul rest in peace and hope his replacement is at least as good as he was.
3 comments:
Well summed up. I aint that conversant with the ground realities in AP, but he did appear pro-poor, pro-rural to me as well, more than many of his predecessors and counterparts in the other states. I am also told that a graver loss out of this calamity is the demise of the principal secretary, a top-notch IAS officer.
ysr family history:
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.
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.
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.
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
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