Pawan Kalyan and the changing shades of white, grey and saffron

While his supporters cheered his hour-long speech – where he switched between Tamil, English and Telugu – his critics point out that up until five years ago, Pawan Kalyan was a “Che Guevara fan”. His Jana Sena Party (JSP), which he founded in 2014, was then in an alliance with the Left and BSP.

With his fans urging him to play the role of Che Guevara, Kalyan would speak what political observer Ramesh Kandula calls “Marxist jargon”. While JSP insiders admit a change from that, they insist at least one part of Kalyan hasn’t changed over three decades – he has, they say, remained a champion of the Telugu middle class.

“He has experienced middle class life and its tribulations. His early years have shaped him,” Ajay Kumar, JSP spokesperson, told The Indian Express.

Kalyan was born in 1971 to a Prohibition and Excise Department official of the then united Andhra government, Konidala Venkata Rao, and Anjana Devi. A turning point in the lives of this middle-class family would be when Chiranjeevi, Kalyan’s eldest brother, made it big in the film industry.

Chiranjeevi’s stardom also catapulted his brothers Nagendra Babu and Kalyan, the youngest, onto the silver screen. But Kalyan chose his films – about 25 of them – carefully. “In his films, he was always the underdog who rose to save the day. Alongside, he built a vibrant and outspoken personality which attracted especially the young,” a Telugu film critic who did not want to be named says.

Kalyan’s political entry appears to have been as planned. In 2008, he floated ‘Common Man Protection Force’, which was largely a platform for his fans. But its formation coincided with Chiranjeevi making a political entry with his Praja Rajyam Party (PRP). Kalyan later helmed the youth wing of the PRP.

But the PRP did not make much of a dent in Andhra politics and later merged with the Congress. “Kalyan was not a supporter of the Congress and he stayed away,” says Ajay Kumar.

In 2014, the same year as the Congress-led UPA government went through with the bifurcation of Andhra, Kalyan launched his own political party – the JSP. His anti-Congressism meant “he was one of the first celebrities to support Narendra Modi”, Kumar says. JSP insiders say that at this time, Kalyan also supported the TDP, but in 2019, when Naidu’s party joined hands with the Congress, he decided to support the Left.

Both the TDP and the JSP, however, failed to make a dent in the 2019 polls, with the YSR Congress Party sweeping both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state. Kalyan lost both the seats he contested from.

Ahead of the 2024 polls, Kalyan took another U-turn and was instrumental in bringing together the BJP and TDP. JSP insiders say that even at a time when YSR chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and his welfare measures were being touted as a winning ticket, Kalyan was sure an NDA alliance could oust the YSRCP from power.

“Kalyan was the key element who brought not just the BJP and TDP together, but also the Kapus and Kammas (the two dominant castes of Andhra),” says Kandula.

Kalyan’s gamble was successful, with the TDP-JanaSena-BJP alliance winning 165 of the 175 seats in the Assembly. The JSP won all the 21 seats it contested from.

As Kalyan now veering seemingly even more to the right, especially in light of the Tirupati controversy, a source attributes it the JSP leader’s astuteness in gauging that the state has not yet seen a consolidation of Hindu votes in favour of the BJP – and spotting an opportunity in it for himself. “Kalyan knows that he is the right person to capitalise on the Hindu sentiment, in a way Chandrababu Naidu cannot because of his ‘secular’ credentials,” a source says.

Apart from declaring himself a true Sanatani Hindu, Kalyan has spoken about “unification of Hindus”, as well as expressed concern about “desecration of temples and idols”, “dilution of rituals and traditions”, and “attack on the Hindu way of life”. “You may hate Modiji but do not talk negatively about the Ayodhya Temple or Lord Shri Ram,’’ he has said.

Some compare what Kalyan is attempting to what B S Yediyurappa did in Karnataka. “Yediyurappa had a south Indian version of Hindutva where he did caste engineering and also batted for a Hindu way of life,” a source from Vijayawada points out.

Those in the JSP are also at pains to point out that Kalyan’s definition of Sanatana Dharma is distinct from the BJP’s. Party leader Dr P Hari Prasad says Kalyan has always been a religious person. “He has been undertaking fasts and deekshas since childhood… It is not that he has suddenly become a champion of Sanatan Dharma… And Pawan Kalyan respects all religions. If a mosque or a church invites him, he goes too. He is of the opinion that people should show the same respect to Hinduism.”

Adds TDP leader Anam Venkat Reddy: “Lord Balaji holds a very special place in the lives of Telugu people. He is an emotion. Pawan Kalyan, like Chandrababu Naidu, feels very strongly about the entire (Tirupati) controversy.”

Sources in both the JSP and TDP also believe that Kalyan’s Sanatan Dharma remarks, including his attack on DMK leader Udhayanidhi as a part of them, could see him help the BJP and AIADMK get back together in Tamil Nadu. “Taking a jibe at DMK chief M K Stalin’s son for his remarks on Sanatana Dharma definitely looks like the start of something,’’ a JSP leader says.

While Kalyan could not be reached despite several attempts, other JSP insiders say his new persona post the laddoo row in Tirupati is also partly because the Deputy CM has been on “deeksha” since he took office. “He is wearing saffron because he was first on a chaturmasa (four-month) deeksha. Later, after the laddu controversy broke, he took up penance and wore saffron,” says a party leader.

His teeming fans and supporters across south India are, for one, convinced he is on the right path – one that will lead Kalyan right to the CM’s post. “We worked so much for the JSP during the 2024 elections and will not rest till the ‘Power Star’ becomes CM,” says Murali Gowda, the president of the Power Star Pawan Kalyan Fans’ Association in Karnataka.

There is a significant obstacle though in these ambitions: Old Andhra Pradesh warhorse Naidu’s own aspirations regarding son Nara Lokesh.

With Sreenivas Janyala, Hyderabad