TIRUPATI: Strangely, the biggest political launch in the state since N T Rama Rao’s in 1983 began on a quiet note. (
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With a DVD of Chiranjeevi’s film Stalin being screened on the big screen on the dais to keep the crowd in good humour, they hardly reacted when their ‘annaiya’ made his first appearance, typically bashing up some bad guys.
However, two hours later, about 7 lakh people roared to real life Chiranjeevi when he thundered about delivering social justice and unveiled his Praja Rajyam. Not surprisingly it sent shivers down the Congress and TDP camps and placed Chiranjeevi clearly as a serious chief ministerial candidate.
To Chiranjeevi’s credit, the prolonged build-up to his political initiation did live up to its expectation. After having kept everyone waiting and guessing about whether and when he would enter the political scene for the last several months, the simple press conference announcing his political intention followed by Tuesday’s meeting seem to herald the semblance of a mass social movement.
“This is a political tsunami, and chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and opposition TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu will be swept away by its current,” claimed T Rammohan from Guntur who said he quit the Congress to join Chiranjeevi.
For those who had dubbed Chiranjeevi as a mere film star, his speech was full of content. He spoke of how the government was selling away land (and thus mortgaging the future) for balancing the budget, how fertile cultivable land was being given away to SEZs, how the Naxalite problem arose from poverty and how he would not mind granting Telangana if the region could not be developed otherwise.
He also displayed a marked Left orientation and though his speech was shorn off great oratory, he used symbolism with great effect to demolish the policies of the present government.
But true to his please-all image, the megastar did not attack anyone by name. The potraits of Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Mother Teresa and Jyotiba Phule on the background of the huge stage gave the message clearly about where his sympathies lay.
Tuesday in this temple town dawned to a huge influx of people by the thousands making it to the meeting in buses, lorries, jeeps and by foot.
By 10 am, all roads leading to the city were packed with Chiru’s men, and by 3.30 pm, about three to four lakh people had converged at the meeting. Some wore masks of the actor, some carried flags and some others even carried small cutouts.
Although Tirupati has members of Chiranjeevi’s Kapu caste in sizable numbers, such a mammoth gathering could not have been made only by its members.
The actor seems to have inspired many outside his community, for it was a combination of several weaker sections, Dalits, Muslims and backward classes that could have led to this large crowd.
The Chiru camp was upbeat over the attendance, and are now insisting that their leader is clearly on the way to the chief ministerial gaddi.
The politician did not directly attack the Congress and the TDP, but by clearing declaring that the current set-up has only spawned social injustice, he has made it clear that they are his main targets.
Now that his party has a name, a flag and a song, how he takes the next step would be crucial for the extent of his success. This would include setting up of a party organisation.
If indeed the people are with him, as perhaps indicated by the numbers at Tuesday’s meeting, then the magnificent fireworks at the venue has a clear message for everyone: August 26 is a political and social milestone in the history of Andhra Pradesh.
