Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s call to the people to emulate Tamil regionalism in Telangana has triggered an interesting debate in the media circles.
While asking the people to bless him for a second time, KCR suddenly raised the issue of Tamil Nadu regionalism during his speech at the Sunday’s massive public meeting held at Kongara Kalan village on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
He pointed out that in Tamil Nadu, people had rejected the national parties and would vote only Tamil parties to power. They would never allow Delhi bosses to control the state.
He asked the people of Telangana, too, to ignore the national parties and elect only those parties which would take their own decisions without looking up to Delhi.
“We all know these so-called national party leaders in the state to bow before their Delhi bosses even for the selection of MLA candidates. We have to maintain our self-respect,” he said.
It is very obvious that KCR was trying to play the Telangana self-respect card in the coming assembly elections this time to woo the electorate.
However, one doubts whether this Tamil Nadu model will work in Telangana, as the people here are not so parochial like Tamilians and are quite liberal.
“They elected even Indira Gandhi when she contested from Medak in 1980. They are very open minded. They know what the Congress party had done to the state in the past.
“Moreover, the political dynamics in Tamil Nadu are very different, as the people there were influenced by Dravidian movement, which was against the North domination. So, they have been rejecting Delhi parties,” a political analyst said.