The four southern states viz. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have something in common as far as politics is concerned. They have produced some very strong leaders who had the guts and courage to challenge the high commands of their parties sitting in New Delhi, based purely on their charisma and / or performance.
In Tamil Nadu, ever since independence, Annadurai, MG Ramachandran and Jayalalitha have controlled the local politics. And there is every possibility that their legacy would be carried forward by Karunanidhi’s family in coming years. It would be interesting to see who will challenge Karunanidhi’s family in coming decades, as Jayalalitha has no family to carry forward her legacy. Some of the popular tollywood stars have successfully entered politics in Tamil Nadu, but they do not have the fan following enough to start a political outfit by themselves.
In Andhra Pradesh, there have been two charismatic leaders - NT Rama Rao and YS Rajasekhara Reddy. They had such a mesmerizing effect on masses that people considered NTR a god, while they almost treated YSR as a messenger of god. NTR gained his popularity through acting in mythological films in god’s roles and even today, it is said that there are some temples of NTR in Andhra Pradesh. NTR’s name is in Guinness book for forming a political party and bringing it to power within 9 months of inception. It looks unbelievable now, but at one time, Telugu Desam had 42 MPs while BJP had only 2 MPs. YSR earned much of his popularity through hard work. He toiled very hard for almost 3 years before coming to power. He extensively toured the interior parts of Andhra Pradesh. Both NTR and YSR initiated and carried through several populist measures which helped the poor people a lot. When YSR died in a helicopter crash few years ago, 68 people committed suicide, unable to bear the tragic news. Such was his charisma among the masses…!
In Karnataka, BJP could form its first state government in south India solely based on the popularity of Yeddyurappa. He worked very hard for several months to achieve victory. However, the corruption charges against him got his first to be replaced as Chief Minister and subsequently being expelled from the party. BJP was almost cornered as far as Yeddyurappa’s case was concerned. If they continued with him, their attack on Congress on corruption issues was getting blunted. And if they got rid of him, it affected the party. Finally, they bit the bullet and expelled him, resulting in a very big setback in the recently concluded assembly elections. Post poll analysis shows that if BJP and Yeddyurappa were together, they would have got another 36 seats, almost double of their existing count of 40 seats.
In Kerala, the political scene is equally divided between Congress and Left parties. However, the leaders of both these parties are so much focused on regional issues that they dictate the terms to centre and not vice versa. This was evident recently, when the centre would have definitely let the two Italian marines escape, if not for Oommen Chandy, who forced them to put pressure on Italian government to return them back. In this case, the pressure from Kerala government was much more than the opposition in parliament to get the accused back in India.
No national party can ever dream of having a hold on these regional leaders in their respective states. They need to play second fiddle always, in larger interests of the party.
In a stark contrast, in North India, the leaders are very servile to the high command and obey all instructions without hesitation. They dare not challenge the high command. Can we ever imagine Bhupinder Singh Hooda or Ashok Gehlot disobeying Sonia Gandhi’s orders? Never...! For whatsoever reasons, they psychologically cannot violate the party high commands diktats.
The high commands do not have same control over leaders from South India. Imagine Rahul Gandhi giving instructions to Siddaramaiah, the likely CM of Karnataka. It is anybody’s guess whether he would listen to him. Similarly, one theory suggests that Congress high command was actually somewhat relieved at the untimely demise of YSR, because he was growing much larger than the party and it was becoming too difficult for the high command to contain him.
One of the primary reasons why the south leaders are so strong is probably because they did perform to the expectations of masses and did something tangible for their welfare. Annadurai, MGR, NTR and YSR were very much popular among the poor people because these leaders gave a feeling to the masses they understood the problems and issues of poor. And they did take measures. NTR initiated the schemes of giving Rice at Rs. 2 per Kg & a Saree and a Dhoti at Rs. 10 or so. The government canteens were made available to give food items at subsidized prices. In other hotels, apart from their normal priced items they were made to keep items at subsidized rates as well. So, there was a NTR Dosa and NTR Idli etc. These actions made them very popular. When the news of MGR’s death spread, several people self immolated themselves, not able to bear the loss.
Such leaders are rarely seen in North India. We do not see the fanfare of leaders to such an extent where people will give their life for their leaders.
One more major difference… When the leaders defected in North India, there was no effect on the party. When Sharad Pawar, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharati etc left their party, there was no difference to the party. However, when Yeddyurappa left BJP in Karnataka, BJP lost the state.
It would take a very long time for the BJP to stage a comeback in Karnataka… the path is difficult, but much better travelled without Yeddyurappa, than with him.
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