In a batch of first five files signed by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu immediately after assuming office on Thursday (June 13) was the approval to renaming a social security pension to the poor after the founder president of Telugu Desam Party ( TDP) and former chief minister N.T. Rama Rao. NTR, as Rao was called, was also the father-in-law of Naidu.
The scheme was implemented by the previous Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy government in the name of Jagan’s father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) and christened YSR Bharosa. The name is now reverted to NTR Bharosa which was in vogue during the earlier regime of the TDP in Andhra Pradesh from 2014 to 2019.
Naidu also approved revival of ‘Anna canteens’ (NTR was affectionately called Anna) which sold breakfast, lunch and dinner at Rs five from about 200 permanent locations across the state. The Jagan government disbanded the scheme and used the buildings to house government offices. Some of these buildings which have steam cooking machinery to provide hot and hygienic food were also abandoned.
The implementation of the twin programmes could trigger an onslaught on the names of several populist schemes initiated by Jagan either in his own or his father’s name. Obviously, the implementation will start from changing the names.
One name change that has already raised high speculation is that of YSR University of Health Sciences — headquartered at Vijayawada since its inception in the undivided Andhra Pradesh — which was initially named after NTR and was renamed during Jagan’s tenure.
It was NTR himself who initiated the establishment of an exclusive university for health as the chief minister in 1986 to promote medical education. But after Jagan took over as the chief minister, its name underwent change in a dramatic circumstance as he took the decision overnight and convened an online Cabinet meeting to clear the draft Bill for the purpose in a rare show of urgency.
Within hours, the Bill was passed by the assembly amidst severe protests from TDP members who even climbed the Speaker’s podium, tore papers and threw the shreds at him.
Rampaging TDP workers replaced the letters YSR with NTR on the board of the health university at Vijayawada. A statue of YSR was also pulled down in Nagarjuna University campus at Guntur.
The university now awards degrees to nearly 200 medical institutions solely in Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation of the erstwhile state. In this background, it is eagerly awaited whether Naidu will restore the name of NTR or retain the same which is unlikely going by party’s stand in the assembly.
Nonetheless, the Jagan government had named a district carved out of the erstwhile Krishna district after NTR with headquarters at Vijayawada in an attempt to mollify the hurt feelings of TDP leaders and cadre. Equally a district after YSR was also formed in the reorganisation of districts at the same time.
A long list of schemes named after YSR beckons the present TDP government if it is serious about reviving the image of NTR. A former MP of TDP who did not want to be named said that is the only way they can pay tributes to our founding leader. “There is no other way,” he told The Wire, adding that the name of NTR is a reminder to tracing their antecedents. NTR had founded the party, almost dream walking from cinema to politics to reinvent his films with social themes in real life, he added.
Some of the names of schemes introduced by Jagan after YSR include the popular health insurance cover for the poor free of cost. It was originally conceived by YSR when he was the chief minister of the combined state of Andhra Pradesh in the name of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi — Rajiv Arogyasri. It was continued as NTR Vaidya Seva in the earlier TDP government. But, Jagan renamed it after YSR.
The addition of initials YSR to a centrally sponsored programme of housing to poor landed the Jagan government in trouble as the Centre refused to provide funds since it amounted to hijacking it’s initiative.
Political analyst Telakapalli Ravi said Naidu cannot ignore the contribution of NTR to welfare to perpetuate his memory if he wanted to continue the strong foundation of the party. He recalled that NTR pioneered the Rs two a kg rice scheme, subsidised Janata sarees and mid-day meals in schools and laid the foundation for TDP as a party wedded to the welfare regime.
The welfare measures of Naidu like social security pensions and some others, notwithstanding, he cannot escape the blame that he had sidelined NTR after leading a family coup against him in 1995. A senior editor said Naidu had realised that he cannot carry on the government by criticising NTR. Though Naidu had never openly criticised NTR, he saw to it that the latter’s fame was diluted both in party and government. He was clearly sidelined before and after his death in 1996. More so, his pictures and narratives were banished from publicity material and records. It was only gradually that NTR’s name was again invoked by Naidu to glorify the party and TDP governments that he led after the famed actor’s death.
