Sanjaya Baru | Pride & politics: Netas toss the Tirupati laddu around

What ought to have been an issue of either sloppy supply management or deliberate corruption in the purchase of ghee has been turned into a politico-religious issue. Not to be left behind his scheming deputy, an apparently nervous N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra chief minister, has jumped onto the communal bandwagon, blaming the “minorities friendly” Jagan Mohan Reddy, his predecessor in the CM’s office, for this insult to Hindu sentiment.

If religious passions are stirred, can the BJP be left behind? BJP activists in both Telugu states are rushing to save Hinduism from Hindus. God is no longer to be relied upon in protecting Oneself and humans.

Humans, that too political power brokers, are required to protect Gods. For the first time in contemporary political history, religion has been brought into the caste-ridden state politics of the Andhras.

The entire controversy revolves around a report that drew attention to the possibility of adulteration of ghee supplied to TTD. This is not a new problem. In the past, if such adulteration of ghee with vegetable oils was discovered, after sampling, such consignments were rejected and returned. Over the years several complaints were filed about such adulteration of ghee with vegetable oil. However, for the first time this year, when such adulteration was once again discovered, the Chandrababu Naidu government sent a sample of the ghee to the Gujarat-based National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for further verification.

The NDDB analysis pointed to adulteration with vegetable oil. However, in an interesting new twist to the controversy, and an unusual move, it added a line in its report that it was “possible” that there “may be traces of animal fat”. Thus far no evidence has been presented to confirm that there indeed was any animal fat. To suggest that there is a possibility of such adulteration is not to confirm the actual fact of such adulteration. Why the NDDB felt it necessary to flag this “possibility” without offering any evidence is a question waiting to be asked and answered.

Why bother about such issues when politicians are ready to stir the pot of communalism. If Chandrababu Naidu was trying to get at his bete noire, Jagan Mohan Reddy, by accusing him of insulting Hindu sentiment (remember Jagan Reddy’s Christian credentials), Pawan Kalyan may be attempting to get closer to the BJP, and exerting pressure on Mr Naidu. Pawan Kalyan has been playing games seeking to cement his status in Andhra politics, preventing the rise of Mr Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh. In this game of power politics involving all the three alliance partners -- TDP, BJP, JSP -- the Tirupati laddu has become a political ball to be tossed around.

The Tirupati “laddu controversy” is the first sign of the entry of communal politics into caste-ridden Andhra politics. The erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh entered the history books as India’s first linguistic state. Taking the cue from the Telugus, the Gujaratis, Maharashtrians, Kannadigas, Punjabis and other linguistic groups managed to get their own administrative and political regions based on language. In the formation of Andhra Pradesh on the basis of language, the Indian

National Congress and the Communist Party of India, at the time the single largest Opposition political party in India and in the state, forged common cause.

Years later, when the first round of a movement for a separate state of Telangana dividing a region united by language got dissipated, N.T. Rama Rao tried to re-unite the Telugus based once again on linguistic sentiment by naming his party Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Telugu pride secured a national boost and recognition first when NTR became the leader of an all-India political formation called the National Front, and then found its expression once again when P.V. Narasimha Rao became India’s first Prime Minister of South Indian origin. Both NTR and PVNR were secular leaders who focused on development and welfare. Neither allowed communal politics to take root in the state.

The cementing ability of language became weaker once caste politics took over. The battle for power and wealth among the Telugu elites -- Reddy, Kamma, Kapu, Velama and Raju -- contributed to the rise of caste as a factor in Telugu politics. In the new state of Telangana, the political divide among the elites was between the Velamas, who controlled the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), and the Reddys, who regained leadership within the Congress Party. In truncated Andhra Pradesh, the political battle has been between the Reddy-dominated YSR Congress and the Kamma-controlled TDP.

Into this matrix of caste-based politics, the BJP entered with its time-tested communal politics. In Telangana, it secured easy entry given the history of Hindu-Muslim divisions dating back to the days of the feudal potentate, the Nizams of Hyderabad. The leadership of the Congress Party in united Andhra had exploited these underlying communal tensions as part of the internecine political battles within its local leadership. The NTR era contributed to a decline in communalism in politics but over the past decade, with the rise of the BJP at the national level, religion has entered politics in a big way in Telangana.

While politics in Telangana has always had a communal tinge, the Andhra region has been largely free of it. The Muslim minority in the Andhra region is also far more integrated into local social and cultural life, with many even among the elite comfortable speaking Telugu while their Telangana counterparts still struggle with the language of the majority.

Both Andhra chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy are focused on development and welfare and have so far shown little interest in stoking the communal fires. While the BJP is wont to do that, Pawan Kalyan’s conversion from faux Marxism to perhaps faux communalism is a self-serving political somersault of undiluted cynicism. It remains to be seen if this controversy is set to rest or ends up communalising Telugu politics.