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Journalism of Courage
While some of the top Opposition leaders of the country were gathered on the stage of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rally here Wednesday, the import and significance of it seemed to be lost on most in the audience.
Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI leader D Raja’s speeches in English highlighting the “attacks” on the Constitution and Judiciary by the BJP-led Centre, and appeals to “save democracy from the BJP”, were met with boisterous cries asking Telangana CM and BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao to speak.
The addresses in Hindi by Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, the party’s Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also drew little or no reaction. It was only the mention of KCR that stirred the public.
In an attack on the BJP, Pinarayi said: “We have a peculiar situation in which a political formation that was not part of our national freedom struggle is in power. The followers of those who tendered unconditional apologies to the colonisers and promised to serve the imperial crown are at the helm of affairs today. They have been and remain antagonistic to the values of our anti-colonial struggle. Ideas such as secularism, democracy, federal structure, social justice and equality… they do not know these values on which India has been built as a sovereign, democratic, republic.” The crowd, that numbered over a lakh, met the speech with near silence.
Mann, who is a hit at rallies in the north with his jokes, tried the same here, but the audience seemed to get little of his speech peppered with shayari directed at the BJP.
Other leaders too underlined the “importance” of forming an anti-BJP alliance given the “threat” to the country’s unity and integrity, but if the message they were seeking to send out was of the start of a change in politics, the sense could not be felt on the ground.
By the time KCR rose to address the public, anticipation was high about the Telangana CM delivering his usual rhetoric-laden acidic speech. However, given the company and the occasion, the BRS chief also restricted himself to larger subjects such as the problems “facing the country” including power, water, and failure to capitalise on resources. The face of the Telangana agitation, which is the bedrock of his popularity, KCR even ditched his usual ‘Jai Telangana’ slogan for ‘Jai Bharat’.
“They came to launch the BRS and see the Kanti Velugu programme (the BRS government’s scheme to conduct eye check-up camps and provide free treatment to eligible beneficiaries, including giving out spectacles). I have no idea what they said in their speeches. It was something about Modi and the BJP,” said Venkanna, a college student from Mahbubabad.
In terms of crowd though, the rally was a show of the BRS’s un-waning organisational strength in the state, with thousands mobilised from every village, mandal and town in the former Khammam district, that comprises 10 Assembly constituencies.
Every form of transport, whether buses, trucks or mini-trucks, had been requisitioned by BRS leaders.
“This is the biggest public meeting I have ever seen. The TRS party’s launch at Karimnagar in 2001 pales in comparison,” 62-year-old Anjaiah Boina from Khammam town said.
If there was one leader who drew some curiosity besides KCR, it was Kejriwal, with many youths saying they drove down on motorcycles from neighbouring places just to see the Delhi CM because “he fancies himself as the leader who stands against Modi”.
“I saw messages on social media saying he is the main Opposition leader against Modi,” a youth called Ajay said.
What about KCR, who has made no secret about his national ambitions? “Yes, yes our KCR is now taller than the rest of the leaders and the BRS will be bigger than any party,” Sidhu, a student from Khammam, said.
