Bye-Elections in AP: The politics over deaths

The above news item was published a day after Jagan Mohan Reddy was arrested by the CBI. This was published in Sakshi newspaper, that is owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy himself. The headline roughly translates:

"Hearts of 18 people stopped". 

The report details how 18 people died after hearing the news of Jagan's arrest. 

The next day, we had the below news item. 

This news item increased the number of dead to 48. 48 people died in the state of Andhra Pradesh (either suicide or due to depression/shock) because Jagan Mohan Reddy was arrested by the CBI. 

These two news items pretty much summarize the "politics of deaths" that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his ilk are playing in the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

We (people of AP) are not new to this kind of politics. After YSR died, Sakshi flooded us with news of how 100s of people died out of shock. The last we heard, the number was pegged at about 600 people. We don't know the real number - it kept varying from 10s to 100s. 

And those were the days when Jagan Mohan Reddy was still in the Congress. He promised to meet the families of all those people who died "out of the shock/depression". He wanted the Congress High Command to give him permission for the same. Quite obviously, the permission was "denied" and he was advised to meet all the families at one place only. Jagan Mohan Reddy said it was against our culture (yes, he is the torchbearer of our culture too) to do so, and defiantly announced that he will visit the families. 

So far so good. How did he visit the families? 

Suppose he had to go to a village X in a district. He will first visit the district headquarters. From there, he will traverse all along villages A to W, before reaching the actual family in village X. Yes - he will stop at every single village. He will address a public meeting, and will formally open to the public a statue of YSR. In that public meeting, he will deride the current rule of Congress (of which he was still a member then). 

An entrouge will follow him. We will hear in Sakshi paper and channel that people are forcing him to stop at every village (A-W) before reaching X. Over a period that will range from anywhere between 1-4 weeks, he will have traveled the entire district and would have "consoled" maybe 10 families. 

This strategy will repeat in every single district. Maybe he even visited the districts twice (we would never know, for it is impossible to keep track of these visits!!). YSR died in Sept. 2009. Believe it or not, Jagan Mohan Reddy's "Odarpu Yatra" (Consolation Tour) is not yet over. He is still touring the state under the name of consoling the dead, and he is doing the exact opposite of that. 

Now, the Congress started getting uneasy. It tried to create a rift in Jagan Mohan Reddy's family. It was successful in doing that, and therefore Jagan quit the party. And from then on, there was no stopping him. And since every person who is outside the Congress automatically becomes corrupt, the law was unleashed on him. 

Jagan started using these "Odarpu Yatras" to generate sympathy for himself! The irony was stark - he was supposed to console families of those who apparently died for his father. The show was going on and on and on and on... 

In between he even resorted to 1 day and 2 days fasts on issues concerning farmers etc. Those events became a stage for him to showcase the support he has amongst MLAs. Once that purpose was achieved, another "Odarpu Yatra" was launched in another district. 

Meanwhile, a Congress minister (Shankar Rao) files a case in the High Court. The High Court orders a CBI enquiry into Jagan's wealth (the growth of which has been documented here and here). And since then, we have seen the CBI arrest Jagan's relatives, auditors, business partners, IAS officers, and ministers also! (All details about those cases, arrests are here and here). 

Jagan was accused number 1 in the chargesheet CBI filed. They arrested accused number 13 too, but not number 1! After facing flak, the CBI finally arrested him on the night of May 27, 2012. And that's what lead to 48 more deaths, which would mean Odarpu 2.0 will start when Odapru 1.0 will end (if and when it ends). 

The timing is suspect - no doubt about it. He was arrested just about 2 weeks before a crucial by-poll in AP (details of which are here). That is not my concern though. His disgusting politics over the dead is one of the worst things to happen to the state of AP, but then that doesn't seem to concern too many. They are busy with sympathizing with Jagan (for being a "victim" of politics, while all he merely did was to loot the state). They are busy eulogizing YSR for making the lives of the poor better (though they were looted too). 

Finally, the below snapshot in Sakshi newspaper exemplifies the depth to which Jagan can plunge: 

"7 year old stops eating because of CBI investigation of Jagan".