‘No Use Of It’, JC’s Review On Padayatras

Former minister JC Diwakar Reddy made some sensational remarks against padayatras. He said that padayatras have become obsolete and people were not appreciating that efforts by political leaders.

During a chit chat with the media, he said that political leaders including TDP scion Lokesh or Congress leader Revanth Reddy would not give the desired results. Padayatras in the past were different from those being undertaken by leaders today. These days, all padayatras involve expenditure of huge amount of money, he said.

The public have stopped looking at padayatras. It has become a tradition for many of the leaders to lead the walkathons, observed political analysts.

When NTR took up the campaign in his Chaitanya Ratham, he remained simple taking bath in the open and eating something available on the roadside. Sometimes, food was cooked in makeshift kitchens. It was a new concept at that time and NTR could establish the connect with people then. With his son Harikrishna at the wheel, NTR covered over 7,500 km waving to the crowd at every nook and corner of the streets in the state.

Later, former CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy embarked on a walkathon ‘Praja Prasthanam’. YSR also had been very simple with his attire and demeanour, during his padayatra. He interacted with the public and took note of their grievances to represent them before the state government. He could resonate with the people’s feelings against the then TDP government and this helped him to catapult to power in 2004 elections. YSR covered 1,500 km in 60 days during his walkathon.

In 2013, TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu took up his padayatra and covered over 2,840 km in 208 days. This effort by Naidu helped him to clinch power in 2014.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy also led a padayatra and was voted to power in 2019. Padayatras are being used as a tool by the opposition parties to unseat those in the ruling since long. However, they might not be able to achieve the desired results now as everyone is doing it, in a much more organised manner, streamlining several aspects, pointed out political analysts.

Now, with every other leader hitting the road and interacting with the public, without the required spirit in it, will the public believe in the politicians’ assurances is a billion dollar question. It has to be seen how good the crowds turning up for Lokesh’s roadshows really vote for him during the elections.