Recently TDP supremo Chandra Babu Naidu has taken the stand of Hindutva and he vehemently criticised AP government for its alleged failure in protecting Hindu temples. Not stopping at that, he also made some serious comments against proselytisation and spreading of Christianity in the state. But there’s a debate going on whether CBN taking up “Hindutva” agenda is another big mistake similar to the mistake he committed during Telangana movement by taking pro-Telangana stand.

There will always be ONE champion for an issue :

Traditional political parties always try to cash on the mistakes committed by the ruling party. Their main goal is to turn any anti incumbency on the ruling party in their favour. But unlike such regular political parties, the parties that build their prospects on specific issues or movements operate differently. Their main goal is always to convince people that they are the sole champions of the given cause. Their fight is to ensure other parties also appreciate their cause and at the same time agrees their party is the sole champion of the cause. In 1920s, this is what Justice party in Tamilnadu did against Madras presidency association party, which is also fighting for same cause of anti-Brahmanism. In independent India, many political parties, including TRS , portrayed themselves as the sole champion of the cause they are fighting. The same way , BJP has always demonstrated that it is the champion of the cause of Hindutva among all the political parties.

Taking up the cause, for which someone else is already the champion, is suicidal:

Taking up the cause, for which someone else is champion already is always suicidal for any political party. Some leaders like late YSR knew this very well. Sanjay Baru, political advisor to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, wrote in his book about one incident of YSR convincing the then PM on exactly same concept. “It is true. I can also tell you what Rajasekhara Reddy’s view was. I was present when he came to meet the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He said, if we go to polls announcing Telangana, we will neither win in Coastal Andhra nor in Telangana. How true was he proved. Reddy had said, in Coastal Andhra, people will be angry with us so they will not vote. In Telangana, they will give credit to TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao and they will not vote for Congress “ wrote Sanjay Baru in his book referring late YSR’s meeting with Manmohan Singh before 2009 elections.

CBN repeating same mistake now:

CBN on the other hand took the stand of pro Telangana and despite that , his party has no presence in Telangana now. Now, CBN has surprisingly has taken Hindutva stand and made serious comments against Christianity spreading in the state. It has seriously boomeranged as social media is now full of videos of “Then & Now “ videos of CBN in which his past speeches in churches and his current comments against Christianity are shown parallel. Needless to say, such videos showing the leader taking different stands on same topic will seriously damage the reputation of the leader.

Secondly, he is not going to get any additional advantage because of the Hindutva stand as BJP will be benefited if the emotions flare up, the same way TRS benefited during Telangana movement. As strengthening of Telangana emotion helped TRS become a major political party rather than ally to others, strengthening of Hindutva agenda in the state will help BJP the same way.

Thirdly, most of the TDP Christian leaders at district level are now leaving the party citing his recent comments on Christianity. Apparently, the statements made by the leader of the opposition, who is also the leader of a party that never tainted its secular credentials in the past (despite allying with bjp), appalled the leaders belonging to that religion.

So, by taking up Hindutva agenda, CBN is not only damaging his own reputation as he is contradicting his own statements in the past, but he’s also losing the base among the voters belonging to the religion. And all this is for what? For the other party who claims championship of the cause of Hindutva to get benefited finally.

Overall:

Overall, it looks like CBN, who is once considered Chanakya in contemporary politics, has lost his political acumen now. Some of the political analysts are seeing this move of CBN, as his desperate attempt to patch up with BJP. If that is the case, it would be really a pitiable condition.

We need to wait and see whether CBN will realise this mistake before it costs him and his party or not.

– ZURAN (@CriticZuran)