RAJIV MANIA

RAJIV MANIA

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

In Andhra Pradesh state, there is a great Mania or sickness that has surrounded the ruling party. Each and every Institution and the place is being named after Rajiv the assassinated former PM of India at a very young age. Every one feels sorry for the untimely death of the young leader and condemn killing by LTTE. But why this craze of naming every thing after his memory. What is his contribution to the state of Andhra Pradesh during his tenure that warrants so much of glorifying that has even crossed the memory of Mohandas Karam chand Gandhi or Netaji Bose to be precise.
People still would remember how Rajiv insulted the former AP CM Sri Anjiah, the simple soul who rose from a coolie to the level of CM. He was the most simpleton CM that AP ever produced. People even circulated Jokes about him. Yet he was very much loved by all because he was honest and simple. Rajiv was very rude to Sri Anjiah at Begum pet airport when he arrived by flight. He was in no official capacity, yet he was very rude without caring that he was speaking to the CM of the state he is visiting. In what capacity he was visiting at that time. He being the son of Late Indira Gandhi naturally commanded respect and obviously CM went to meet him. In this act he insulted Telugu pride and NTR correctly awakened the pride in Telugus and Telugu Desam party was broken. There was great indignation among the people and soon the congress was thrown out of the throne lock stock and barrel. CM Anjiah never recovered from the shock and was a sad person throughout his remaining life. Rajiv went ahead to become PM of India after the sad assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi after the attack on Golden Temple. Obviously he had to be made the PM as congress party can not imagine to be lead by any other person when some one from dynasty is there. It happened and Rajiv became PM. He had his tenure and lost the position too soon when others climbed the throne. Sadly he was killed at Madras by LTTE in a blast. The nation was shocked.

NTR ( NT Rama Rao) and Chandra Babu (His son in law) ruled AP state for many years and all these years, Congress party ran around in leather hunt. Fortunes fluctuate in politics and TDP lost power to Congress mostly due to improper handling by Naidu mostly due to over confidence. Anti Govt vote did the magic and congress came to power. Late YS Raj Sekhar Reddy climbed the throne in AP and his priority was to keep center and dynasty happy. The spree of naming things after Rajiv commenced and was continued throughout his tenure as CM. All schemes and palaces were named after Rajiv as if there was no guy in the history of AP state. These actions have become rather ridiculous. We are reminded of history of Spain. When Moors invaded Spain in medieval times they destroyed churches and built mosques. The rule of Moors continued for long and they were thrown out by the Spaniards and now they destroyed mosques and built churches. Similarly Congress too changed many names given by NTR government. International Air port is named after Rajiv at Hyderabad. They have not left any thing for others. The express high way however was named after the sad PV Narsimha Rao who was not even cremated properly by the state authorities at Hyderabad when he was denied cremation at Delhi at Yamuna Ghat.
The question is what is the contribution of late Rajiv to the state of AP. There are many great stalwarts in the history of AP who contributed to the state and vanished into history unsung and un heard. It is OK one feel sorry for his untimely demise and prays for his soul to be at rest. Is it necessary to name everything after him. Are we showing respect to him by this? This is more like a mockery and people in fact are laughing behind the curtain. The latest government action is to name Lalita Kala Thoranam after Rajiv as Rajiv Lalita Kala Thoranam and this has been done by Sri Rosiah. Now probably he is trying to gain centers sympathy and love by doing all these things. There is hardly any government scheme that is not after Rajiv. Why can’t the places and schemes be named after other stalwarts such as Rani Rudrama Devi, Paratap Rudra Deva, Nannayya ( As an eye wash they named a University after him), Tikkanna, Erranna, Krishan Deva Raya, Proudha Deva Raya, Boorgula Rama Krishna Rao, Ramananda Thirtha, Shoibullah Khan, Turre baz Khan, Raja Kishan Pershad, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan, Nizam 6, Abdul Razak Lari, Madanna, Akkannna, Abul Hasan Tanasha, Tandra Papayya, Papanna Goud, Kapayya Naika, Sithapathi Raju, Raja Somanadri Bhoopala of Gadwal and many more. They did more the state of AP than Rajiv Gandhi. This is not to show disrespect to him.There are nearly 450 schemes named after Nehru- Gandhi family. These can be seen at the site given below:-

http://search.esnips.com/search/?esnipsmeta=true&ie=UTF-8&safe=&searchQurey=List+of+places+and+schemes+named+after+Rajiv+Gandhi+in+AP+State&category=web&sa=Search

In fact the AP government will save respect in the minds of people for Rajiv by not resorting to these cheap gimmicks.