With English 'millstone,' Jaipal Reddy hunts for lost roots in Telangana

In a rare spectacle, former union minister and Congress national leader S Jaipal Reddy was seen sitting in the company of local political leaders in a remote spot near Bhootpur in Mahbubnagar district the for ‘parochial’ cause of an Assembly constituency or two.

 
Jaipal Reddy, one of the most visible faces in national politics for over two-and-a-half decades, sat with rural leaders with a green shawl draped on his shoulders and spoke in a language typical to that of a provincial politician.

 
The meeting was organised to demand the implementation of irrigation projects as per a Government Order issued by the previous Congress government in the state.

 
Reddy, who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Mahbubnagar district, is opposing the so-called redesigning of the irrigation projects mooted by the current K Chandrasekhar Rao’s government.

 
Another important aspect of the meeting is that it was an all-party meeting where TDP, Congress, BJP and CPIML were present.
 

In every respect, this is a metamorphosis as far as Jaipal Reddy is concerned.

 
In the new state of Telangana, the Congress was crushed to a pulp in the polls. Thanks to that, Jaipal Reddy, a student leader of Osmania University in the early 60s, had rejuvenated lost roots in his home district of Mahbubnagar after 40 years with the help of a small farmers’ movement.

 
Because of the politics he pursued, Jaipal Reddy does not have a presence in the state, and now he has none in New Delhi either. The situation is such that the 'English' Reddy is being forced to vernacularise himself for a role in Telangana politics.

 
The presence of Jaipal Reddy at a small gathering at a remote place for a hyper-local cause is an incredible change in Reddy’s attitude towards local politics.

 
Ever since he landed in New Delhi in 1984, where he instantly carved a niche for himself in national politics, Reddy has maintained an honourable distance from state politics.

 
He used to stoutly refuse any request for a comment on the happenings in state politics.

 
“I am involved in national politics. I am a union minister with the major responsibilities. I don’t want to involve myself in local politics of the state,” was his constant refrain whenever state reporters confronted him for a comment on developments in the state Congress or the then Congress-ruled united Andhra Pradesh government.

 
Even at the height of Telangana movement, he was the only leader from the former Andhra Pradesh (especially from the Telangana region) who never uttered a comment either in favour or against the demand for a separate state.

 
If compelled, he used to make highly erudite English statements on Telangana, which Telugu correspondents found difficult to decipher into their native lingo. 

 
This extremely neutral and detached approach to state politics tethered him to New Delhi, robbing him of his local roots. He is the only national leader from the state without any following or his faction either in the state as a whole or at a constituency level.

 
This had some very real consequences for him. For example, in the 2014 general elections, he had to vacate his seat from the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency, as local leader Sabita Indra Reddy wanted to field his son from there. He was shifted to his home constituency of Mahbubnagar, where he found he was not wholly welcome.

 
Though rootless in local politics, Jaipal Reddy is well respected in state politics. But not for his political acumen. 

 
Rather than his politics or national stature, his flawless English and the associated elitism inspired awe among his colleagues, party workers and people. 

 
In the words of a senior Congress leader, who did not want to be quoted, Jaipal’s English was the millstone around his neck.

 
“Had he unlearned some English and cultivated Telugu Political Dialect, he would have become chief minister after YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s death in 2009, and that would have changed the course of Telugu history,” he told Asianet Newsable.

 
Jaipal Reddy is said to have rejected the Congress offer of taking over from Rosaiah as chief minister in 2010 because of a lack of roots either in Telangana or Andhra.

 
Having lost his address in New Delhi and unable to find an anchorage in Telangana, Reddy is now struggling to come to terms with the new reality of hyper-local politics.