Sixty six years ago, in a godforsaken village called Naravaripalle, closer by to the foothill of Lord Venkteswara’s temporal abode, Tirumala, in Chittur district, a child was born to a poor couple, Kharjura Naidu and Ammannamma, on this day.
They wouldn’t even have had his horoscope drawn. So, even the prediction of occult powers that they had given birth to a person with a princely future wouldn’t have been known to them.
Milk vending and agriculture were the sources of income of the family.
Typical of a hardworking couple they were, they invested all their earnings on the education of their wards. Coming up in flying colours with inborn leadership qualities, their eldest progeny grew into a man who had excelled more in his non-academic pursuits. He neither was a bright student, nor was a low achiever either. He was ok at studies and earned a postgraduate degree in Economics from Sri Venkateswara University. He had nursed political ambitions from a very tender age.
He had tried to contest as an MLC from a Graduates’ constituency but withdrawn from the race, as he could not secure the Congress ticket.
He had taken a headlong jump into political fray with Assembly elections in 1978. He won from Chandragiri Assembly constituency. Dame Luck smiled on him. He was inducted into the Cabinet by T Anjaiah, then Chief Minister, who had succeeded Dr M Channa Reddy.
He had served as Minister for Cinematography, Minor Irrigation and held a few other portfolios too for three years. He was married to the third daughter of thespian N T Rama Rao, when he was a minister. The whole State Cabinet was present at the mother of all weddings then.
In a couple of years, his father-in-law, NTR, harping on the popularity he had earned in the filmy firmament for over three-and-a-half decades, floated a political party that received a mammoth patronage from people all across the State in 1983 leading to the trampling the unrivalled grand old party, the Congress, under feet.
For once, for the first time, the young politico had found himself in an awkward situation by miscalculating his own political acumen. His chips were down. He had challenged his father-in-law and was crushed at the hustings, turning him into a butt of jokes.
So what? He knows the nut graph of the story he was scripting for himself. He lost no time. To mend fences, he went and joined hands with his father-in-law, almost immediately after the victory of the TDP. And, slowly, but steadily, he had entrenched himself into the party, fighting all odds. He portrayed himself as the saviour of NTR’s power when the latter was ousted by his own deputy in 1984.
He had taken the calculated risk of staying outside the poll fray in 1985 to manage the party. This made him stay away from the Assembly for seven years. He learned the trick of the trade on “how not” to revolt. He made a notes of the positives and follies of Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, who had deposed NTR.
This episode was an inspiration to him. And, he got a lot of learnings from it.
Sun Tzu’s epic work, The Art of War, is one book this man learnt by heart and by act. He might have read it any number of times. He told me this in his casual conversations and also proper interviews, many a time.
He stepped into the Assembly on behalf of the Opposition in 1989 and handled his pieces of responsibility with great élan. He was always behind NTR – physically and figuratively. So, he knows the “back” of NTR like none else.
His meticulous planning and well-crafted execution, coupled with people’s trust in NTR catapulted the TDP to power throwing the Congress into the dumps in 1994.
He widened the base of his loyalists, leaving nothing to chance. Not a person bestowed with great oratorical skill or a gift of the gab though, he was always up to something. Never could any one find him twiddling his thumbs and mulling over on what to do next. Because of him in the case of some, and in spite of him in the case of a few others, he always had his patrons and minions keep their fingers crossed.
He had his way when he dusted his notes and marshalled the support of all the necessary pawns, rooks, bishops and knights in 1995. He executed what was minutely planned, spanning over a decade, and acceptance levels were high and the timing was such that nothing absolutely worked against him.
Stars, up above in the sky and down below on the earth, have all favoured him, His political savagery, or at least that was how the legendary NTR dubbed it, emerged unchallenged. The patriarch was dead and gone. His spectre has been converted into a beacon light. The man who was damned had suddenly been deified.
He successfully turned every challenge into an opportunity and portrayed himself as the man of all seasons in Indian politics and had a great innings. Criticism has always, however, been swept under the carpet.
He lost his glory and power in 2004 when his bench mate, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, took on him head on and inflicted a crushing defeat. He could never ever become what he was until then. He had his share in the bifurcation of the State and completely yielding ground to his rivals in the State. He was once seen as a messiah and a darling in the ceded part where he is now treated as an alien.
Yet, he regained power in the truncated Andhra Pradesh by aligning with the right forces at right time. His story and history are all too well known to his admirers and detractors alike. His deeds are open, but thoughts are always close only to his chest. He thinks, eats, and breaths only politics.
He too has his set of modern day Paul Joseph Goebbels to do the command job for him anytime and every time. The man, incidentally shared his birthday with Der Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, with the marked difference being that Hitler was the most hated and this man, yes, you guessed it right, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, is the most liked by all.
Many happy returns of the day to you, sir, Mr Chandrababu Naidu.
