The Odarpu Yatra undertaken by the YSRCP chief Mr. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in AP with the sole aim of consoling the families of those who died of heart attack or who committed suicide following the tragic and sudden demise of YSR was historic, unprecedented and marathon by all counts.
The young and jubilant leader, covering 16707 km in 227 days, had visited more than 4700 villages and met people of different walks of life going deep into their problems and issues and accepting representations from them.
Notwithstanding the objective of consoling the affected families, the dynamic leader made it a point to move closer to the people especially those living below poverty line and having personal interaction with them.
No other leader in modern political history of India had involved in such a unique close interaction with people over such a long duration as Jagan Mohan Reddy had done. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during the course of his Yatra, personally consoled 475 families of those who gave up their lives unable to bear the brunt of the YSR’s death.
Jagan Mohan Reddy’s was not a time-killing exercise. It was a serious effort that was unique, an innovative political exercise that could be a model and trendy and a necessity of sorts that must be followed by other political leaders.
A great visionary as he was, YSR proved that he was the heartbeat of the masses as he had understood their problems and solved them on a priority basis. In a democracy, people’s problems must find suitable and timely prescriptions and that was what exactly YSR did.
Taking a leaf from the book of YSR who undertook a 1475 km- long Padayatra in the scorching heat of the summer in 2003, Jagan Mohan Reddy, overcoming several obstacles, went a step ahead and accorded priority to know the personal problems of people in each and every village.
There is a subtle difference between the 60-day Padayatra undertaken by YSR and the marathon Odarpu Yatra resorted to by his son. While YSR tried to understand the problems of people of different professional groups especially those of the farmers and peasants in most places, Jagan Mohan Reddy made it a point to meet the people of a village as a whole and asses the local problems and issues as a whole. And the young leader tried to visit as many villages as possible in each district.
In both the Yatras, the interaction with people was there but the additional point to be noted in Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Odarpu Yatra was the personal rapport he developed with the affected families in several villages.
Odarpu Yatra can’t be termed as purely a political one as Jagan Mohan Reddy began the exercise when there were no elections around. There was no immediate political gain of any sort either that could be accrued to him through the Odarpu Yatra.
Political power is something that would naturally hug leaders who mingle with people lock, stock and barrel unconditionally. People would no doubt entrust political power to those leaders who strive for the welfare of the people on a priority basis irrespective of the state of affairs.
When majority of the population finds itself economically handicapped by the policies and decisions of the government, people would look towards political leaders who reduce their economic burden even at least by a whisker in this selfish society.
YSR was one such leader who emerged as a savior to the masses, who reduced their economic burden, who shared their mental agony, and who treated the people’s happiness as his.
Next only to YSR, Jagan Mohan Reddy emerged as such a powerful leader and we find no such parallel in any other politician in AP. The day is not far off when Jagan Mohan Reddy also would turn into a permanent heartbeat of the masses, like his father.
Updated on Aug 24, 2012
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