Few cultural activists have had the appeal revolutionary balladeer Gaddar boasts with the masses, especially in Telangana. The songs he penned and sang stirred up people to action, be it in his erstwhile radical politics, or the more recent Telangana movement. Little surprise then, that his decision to campaign for the ‘Praja Kutami’ dominated and led by the Congress party came as bolt from the blue for many. Social media was agog with posts about this “betrayal”, and people described him as “drowning ship” playing on his epithet of ‘People’s Battleship’. Nevertheless, Gaddar, in a freewheeling chat at The Hindu office, effortlessly coursed between conversation and verse, to reveal what he thought was the need of the hour.
Could you please analyse Telangana movement from an objective position?
Telangana movement in 1969 was rooted in unemployment. It initially began as student movement, but later got politically usurped by Chenna Reddy. In its second phase, it started as a cultural movement which swept across crores of people, with major participation from women. It has also become the bandwagon for the feudal lords who had fled the villages after the Naxalite movement, and were looking for places to invest their capital. Eventually, it went into K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s (KCR) hands, forcing the Telangana people, who have historically never tolerated oppression, to eulogise this new lord.
Why are you opposed to KCR’s democratically elected government?
Turning sentiment into a movement is all right, but it should not be used to ignite passions. There is no need to invoke “Andhra Hegemony” now. Even if N. Chandrababu Naidu wants to be Chief Minister of Telangana, he has every right to do so, provided Telangana people vote him in. KCR is a wordsmith. He has never kept any promise he made.
He said he won’t ask for votes if drinking water is not delivered at the doorstep, but dissolved the Assembly before it could happen. What happened to three acre land for Dalits? Telangana’s women don’t want Bathukamma saris. They want jobs for their children. Welfare schemes, which are Constitutional rights, are being referred to as his largesse. There is no trace of double bedroom houses, KG-to-PG education, Muslim and ST reservations. Input assistance under Rythu Bandhu scheme went to NRIs, but not to tenant farmers.
He stays at farm house, despite wasting public money on a palatial camp office under the pretext of Secretariat’s bad Vaastu, but does not meet people at any of these three places. Even I could not get his appointment despite repeated efforts.
The last four-and-a-half years have been witness to the fact that his populist slogans were to get to power and not to serve people. If he is now going to elections, he should beg for votes after humbly explaining the reasons for his failure. But he is assuming a threatening tone, speaking as if it is Telangana people’s obligation to make him win. Political corruption is more dangerous than financial corruption. People are questioning it.
Doesn’t campaigning for Congress-led Praja Kutami go diametrically against your long-espoused principles?
United alliances need mix of hot and cold water. Pitched against a strong enemy we are like mice against a cat. We can only win by strategy. When it is two tigers at war it is the peace time for the prey. This fight between two opposing forces gives us time and breathing space to unite and emerge as an invincible political force. I will join hands with Chandrababu Naidu too, if he is willing to back the slogan ‘Save Constitution – Save India’. Congress is certainly better, as it has a liberal fibre, an amalgam of ideologies , which have evolved over the decades.
Criticism abounds about you meeting AICC president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi.
I always welcome scientific criticism. When I met Rahul Gandhi, he asked me to sing a song. I sang about the abundance of the country, yet leaving its people with begging bowls. Sonia Gandhi gave only two minutes time, as she was not well. But as soon as I entered, she sang a whole verse of mine, and offered to translate all my songs into English.
Our only political discussion was about how fascism has enveloped the whole country and the duty of the liberal bourgeoisie to save it. Rahul and Sonia have convinced me with their conviction to compromise on their quest for power, to save the country from fascism.
Could you explain the reason for your journey from radical politics to supporting parliamentary politics?
In this country, armed struggle alone cannot achieve victory. It needs certain conditions with politically mature people. We were a troupe of 32 cultural activists, and only two of us are left alive now. I have come out of the Maoist party — after spending major part of my life there and getting a bullet lodged in my body — when they said they cannot immediately incorporate caste alongside class in their struggles. I see Constitution as a liberal legal document that won’t change anything right away, but offers some space for us to fight and expand it. War is at its own time, and peace at its own. The war of Mahabharata lasted only for 18 days, but preparations for it went on for 18 years.
Going forward, can you please define your role in Indian political landscape?
I’m a poet, a singer, a wounded soldier. A farmer who tills the land when he is young, and guards the field when old. Our youth, constituting 60 to 70 % of population, are under cultural invasion set off by globalisation. They have no jobs, they are directionless, and travelling towards anarchy. We need to direct them, spread awareness among them about democratic movements. We need to prepare them for a war of wisdom as advocated by Ambedkar. We need to teach them to hold a ballot if not a weapon. I will dedicate myself to building a cultural movement in Telangana to awaken the youth.