Hyderabad: The Telangana government had sent five names to the Union government for the Padma awards, but all five were overlooked. On the other hand, the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh had also sent five names, and all of them were agreed to.
The sharp difference in New Delhi’s handling of relations with different state governments was explained by Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy at a function in Hyderabad on Friday (January 31) evening.
He made no bones about the fact that he felt slighted by the Union government’s approach to the distribution of awards after he had personally sent it the state’s list of five names.
The occasion was the 77th birth anniversary of balladeer Gadar. The Telangana government had proposed his name for a posthumous Padma Bhushan.
To make matters worse, the Union government selected two persons from Telangana who were not in Revanth Reddy’s list: D. Nageswara Reddy, a noted gastroenterologist, and Manda Krishna Madiga, a Dalit leader, for the conferment of a Padma Vibhushan and a Padma Shri respectively.
Krishna, of course, was openly identified with the BJP in his crusade for the sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hugged him on stage at a BJP rally in Hyderabad and also met him after the Union government conceded the demand, triggering speculation that the BJP was keen to win the vote bank of the Madigas, a numerically strong community in Telangana that Krishna represents.
Apart from Gaddar, the others who were recommended on behalf of Telangana included educationist Chukka Ramaiah, poets Andesri – who wrote the anthem of the state government – and Goreti Venkanna, and researcher in folk and tribal lore Jayadheer Tirumala Rao.
From Andhra Pradesh, actor and politician Nandamuri Balakrishna will get a Padma Bhushan, and four others – K.L. Krishna, Vadiraj Raghavendracharya Panchamukhi, Madugula Nagaphani Sarma and Miriyala Appa Rao (posthumous) – got a Padma Shri.
Last year, the Telangana government had sent a dozen names to the Union government, of which six were eventually selected for awards.
Congress, BJP clash over Gaddar’s exclusion and Maoist past
Revanth Reddy expressed severe disappointment that the BJP-led Union government went all out to ‘appease’ its coalition partner, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is at the helm in Andhra Pradesh.
Incidentally, Balakrishna is the brother-in-law of TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The Telangana chief minister said the Union government was undermining the federal structure of the country by bowing to pressure from coalition partners.
The BJP justified not honouring Gaddar by referring to his Maoist background, but there was no word forthcoming about the four others.
Also read: Gaddar, Who Symbolised Revolutionary Politics, Leaves Behind Questions on Social Transformation
Union minister of state for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said there was no question of decorating Gaddar with the award because “he killed hundreds of BJP workers and policemen”.
He also said it was not binding on the Union government to present the awards to all those recommended by the states. “They must have the requisite stature,” Bandi said.
His remarks received strong reactions from the the Congress and activists.
Revanth Reddy himself warned that the BJP may get away with its move this time but that the party should not lose sight of the fact that it has a state-level office in Hyderabad.
The state government will name the lane where the BJP’s office was located after Gaddar, Revanth Reddy said. “Then, you will have to mention Gaddar’s name in the office address.”
Asking in what way the five persons from Telangana were inferior to those from Andhra Pradesh in their standing, Revanth Reddy lavished praise on each of the five nominees from Telangana and said his government made its selection without bias or prejudice.
For instance, he said Goreti was selected even though he was a legislator of the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samiti. None of them had sought the state government’s favour, he added.
Former editor K. Ramachandramurthy told The Wire that Gaddar was admired by a large section of the people for waging struggles against the excesses of the state. He was actively involved in the separate Telangana movement over a decade ago.
Gaddam Sammaiah, a Padma Shri awardee from last year for his contribution to the promotion of ‘Chindu Yaksha Ganam’, a folk art form, said the Union government should have conceded at least one or two names to honour the state government’s proposals. Future generations would run down achievers like himself if they lacked recognition, he said.
New Delhi’s concession to Andhra comes against backdrop of mutual support
The concession by the Union government to Andhra Pradesh marks a fresh initiative of mutual support between the two governments in a scenario where the National Democratic Alliance government is dependent on its allies for survival.
Union home minister Amit Shah had recently said the Union government had extended financial aid of Rs 3 lakh crore to Andhra Pradesh starting June last year, when the TDP returned to power.
The party in turn has pledged support to the BJP in the Union government after the latter suffered a huge loss of seats in the parliament elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sanctioned a financial package of Rs 11,440 crore to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in the state in a bid to bail it out of a financial crisis during a recent visit. A loan of Rs 27,000 crore was provided from the World Bank and the Housing And Urban Development Corporation Limited for the development of Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh’s capital.
Also read: Vizag Steel Plant: Modi’s Rs 11,440-Crore Package Raises More Questions Than Answers
‘Modi had condoled Gaddar’s death, but this does not hold water in context of Union-state relations’
Another former editor, K. Srinivas, felt all five persons recommended by the state government qualified for the awards but apparently lost out due to adverse Union-state relations on account of the Congress being in power in Telangana and rival parties in New Delhi.
He recalled that the prime minister had expressed condolences at the passing of Gaddar in August 2023, but that such gestures did not hold water when it came to the Union government’s dealings with state governments.
Srinivas recalled that the Congress had taken Gaddar on board after he met its leader Rahul Gandhi. Gaddar’s daughter Vennela, who is the chairperson of a cultural troupe of the state government, contested the previous assembly elections in Telangana as a Congress candidate, but lost.
Reacting to Bandi’s outburst, Srinivas said it may have been an afterthought to justify the rejection of the award to Gaddar.
Pasham Yadagiri, an activist of the Telangana movement, said the BJP and the TDP connived to deny the awards to Telangana’s recommended names. He recalled that Gaddar was hit by a bullet that was permanently embedded in his body in an attack during Naidu’s chief ministership.
No one was arrested in the incident, which was proof enough to show that the assailants were none other than the police, Pasham said, alleging that the attack had the blessings of the government.
“If the Maoist ideology was wedded to killing alone, then Karl Marx should also be bracketed with a killer group,” Pasham added.
Gaddar is said to have never held a firearm in the decades of underground life that he led. He quit the then-People’s War Group due to differences with its leadership.
