YS Jagan’s Absence Dims Impact of YCP Protests

It has been nearly 7 months since YS Jagan was relegated from being the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh to just being Pulivendula MLA, and not even the opposition leader. However, he still appears to be in hibernation mode when it comes to public protests.

Incidentally, Jagan had called for public protests on farmer issues and hiked electricity charges this December and instructed his cadres to actively partake in the same. In accordance with this war call from Jagan, his party troopers came out in some numbers to hold protests against the NDA government on two occasions this month.

However, these protests that were held by YCP were not even remotely close to even catching the attention of the government or the general public let alone troubling the administration. In fact, not many people even knew that these protests happened in the first place.

This is a gross result of the inactiveness of Jagan himself. The hard fact, here is that YSR Congress entirely revolves around Jagan himself, and there are no two ways about it. So, without his participation in these protests, whatever public theatrics that are done by his party troopers will not get even bare minimum recognition.

With Jagan on the ground, the situation could have been much different, thanks to his mass appeal and public connect. But that wasn’t even remotely the case.

While YCP was protesting against the mentioned factors, Jagan himself was touring around and participating in marriage functions. Related pictures and videos surface on social media, and these were used to desensitise this situation.

The NDA social media activists could nullify the situation by saying that Jagan himself is happily partaking in marriage functions while his cadres or on the roads protesting. This massive mismatch in the operation resulted in the protests getting unified completely.

The only way that YSR Congress can stay relevant for the next 4 1/2 years is if Jagan is on the ground. The same could be understood if we look at the recent failed protests done by YCP.