Now ‘padayatra politics’ seems to be the ‘new mantra’ of political leaders in a bid to catapult their image among the masses obviously with an eye on the 2014 elections!
The Telugu Desam Party President Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu began his marathon padayatra, termed “vastunna mee kosam”, from Hindupur in Ananthapur district on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi jayanthi on Tuesday.
Incidentally, even as Mr. Chandrababu Naidu launched his padayatra from Rayalaseema region, a former TDP legislator Mr. Byreddy Rajasekhara Reddy kick started his own padayatra from Kurnool, ostensibly to protect Rayalaseema atma gauravam (self respect).
Accompanied by his wife Mrs. Bhuvaneshwari and son Mr. Lokesh, the TDP President left here this morning by flight to reach Bangalore and then reached Hindupur by road, and began his padayatra. Hindupur is the Assembly constituency of Telugu Desam founder President and former Chief Minister late N. T. Rama Rao.
Before emplaning for Bangalore, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Secunderabad and then proceeded to NTR ghat and paid floral tributes to late NTR. He commenced his grueling padayatra after performing pooja at Nugur Anjaneya Swamy temple. In his native village of Naravaripally, family members performed Sri Laxmi Ganapathi homam at his ancestral home, for his success and safety.
The 63-year old TDP President, with this padayatra, is hoping to rebuild the sagging image of his party and also enhance his political fortunes in the ensuing elections. He stated that his mission was to study for himself the grim ground realities and infuse confidence in the minds of the suffering millions and find ways to resolve their sufferings and problems. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu planned to walk over 2000 kms during his 117 days padayatra which is expected to conclude on January 26, 2013.
BYREDDY’S YATRA FOR RAYALASEEMA
Ironically Mr. Byreddy Rajasekhara Reddy, who had recently quit from Telugu Desam protesting against Mr. Chandrababu Naidu addressing a letter to the Prime Minister for resolving the Telangana issue at the earliest, also launched his 40-day padayatra to protect the interests of the Rayalaseema region and its people. His grouse for quitting TDP was that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu had not bothered to mention anything about the rights and fate of the Rayalaseema region and its people.
Before launching his padayatra, Mr. Rajasekhara Reddy said that his main objective was to safeguard the interests of the people of the region. Asserting that nobody can now prevent the formation of a separate Telangana state, he said that no one seems to be bothered about he fate of Rayalaseema which is sandwiched between Telangana and Coastal Andhra.
There is no denial of the fact that political leaders are banking on padayatras to attract the attention of the masses by drawing inspiration from the one launched by the late Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy during 2003. The late YSR, who was the then Leader of the Opposition, launched his “ Praja Prasthanam Padayatra” stretching to an extent of 1500 kms from Chevella in South Telangana to Itchapuram in the North Andhra for 64 days.
This “empathy tour” which provided that most needed “pint of confidence” to the draught-hit farming community and considered as a glorious chapter in the annals of the state had helped the Congress party to wrest power from Telugu Desam in the 2004 elections.
As a matter of fact late YSR was not the only politician or the first one to launch a padayatra to highlight particular problems that were plaguing a large number of people in a particular place at a particular juncture. Padayatras were of course a part of Gandhian tradition to reflect the anger of the people to reach the ears of the rulers. Many great soldiers of the freedom struggle did resort to this practice and could successfully attract the attention of the powers that be. A Gandhian late Kommareddy Satyanrayana during the third decade of last century launched a Raithu Rakshna yatra that went along the coastal line of the state from Itchaputram to Tada and succeeded in getting the problems of the farmers redressed. And the late YSR seemed to have drawn inspiration from this yatra, though with a political motive, to launch his Praja Prasthanam Padayatra, of course with an eye on the 2004 elections and succeeded. (NSS).