Please Don't Die

Even as he battles the agony of losing his father so unfortunately and so untimely, young Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy perhaps is also battling another tragedy – that of the heartbroken AP’s deaths triggered by YSR’s sad demise.

All that he could perhaps has on his lips is a prayer “please don’t die” because he knows how much his father loved the very same people and gave up his life in their service.

That is one facet to the phenomenon of YSR that the junior has to contend with. It is also the aspect that the Congress party could be considering in the days to come even as the battle for succession rages. The party could be weighing this factor far more than any.

There is a link between these deaths and how YSR made AP a bastion for the Congress party at the Centre.

The chopper crash has claimed not just five lives including that of YSR, but also that of 343 persons so far in the State. Majority of these are due to heart attacks. The rest were consumed by their passionate love for YSR who reached out to them in the last five years like none others had done.

There is no geographical disparity too to these tragedies that are striking individual households. Cutting across regions, people are following YSR in his death too just as they had done, in his life.

What could be the reason?

Populist schemes and programmes may fetch one votes as one has seen in several states. But not such love. A careful analysis of the deaths brings to our notice one fact that most of these are poor people whose very life was transformed by YSR. The late Chief Minister not only introduced several schemes but every one realize that those are not mere schemes, but his way of thanksgiving to the masses who brought him to power after a very long political career.

Free power or Rs.2 a kg rice scheme could help you one time in retaining power, but certainly not endear one to the masses so much as YSR did. Only some one like him who could constantly think of people’s welfare could achieve this. If rice scheme and free power helped YSR’s vote bank, what made him a god of the masses is his Arogyasri, pensions to the aged, 108 and 104, housing programme and scholarships.

These programmes enveloped entire state and had no political imbalances. The poor and the deprived sections saw not just a benefit in them but a new lease of life. Just earning two meals a day is not what they wanted, but dignity to their lives. They wanted some one to take care of their all needs. And YSR did exactly that. The aged and the infirm in the villages got restored of their confidence that even if their children neglect them, they could survive. The young widows could stave off the wolf from the door with the widow pensions that YSR delivered. Arogyasri was a rare phenomenon that revolutionised the concept of health care and brought five star treatment facilities to the doorsteps of people. Serious ailments like congenital disorders that could snatch away dear family members were kicked out of the households. Diseases like cancer were no more threats to the lives.

Persons did not hesitate to knock the doors of corporate hospitals. They clutched their white ration cards, got wheeled into the hospitals with ailments and walked out smiling. Then there was the letter from YSR, perhaps a fifth or sixth one, inquiring into their well being and blessing one and all. The smile on the face of YSR was in fact what the smiling poor donated to him. And he wore it in style.

People poured out their grief in front of him and he consoled them patting their backs or touching their heads. The confidence got restored. The self-dignity that YSR restored in the masses was something that made him a messiah of the masses. In him they saw, an elderly son, a brother, an uncle and a father, but not just a Chief Minister.

If today the same spontaneous outpour of grief is slowly turning into a demand for continuing the YSR legacy, it is not strange. The masses are seeking is continuation of the same programmes and schemes that changed their lives and restored their right to decent life and dignity. They are also seeking the same caring and loving attitude that went along with those till the other day.

It is this legacy that they are thirsting for. Because, they are not sure that power hungry politicians could continue delivering the same, they are raising this slogan and pressurizing their MLAs and MPs to bow to their wishes. Caught in the whirlpool of emotional yet rational pressure is the Congress public representative. What are they going to do, is a million dollar question ahead of them now. If they don’t yield to the people’s wish, they find it difficult in going back to their constituencies. If they seek the same from the high command, it could give one an impression that they are trying to blackmail in favour of someone.

It would be interesting to watch the moves of the Congress high command now. The people are waiting with bated breath. Many with their breath halted already out of fear that along with their dear YSR, their hope too has vanished.