By Nara Lokesh,
As Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu turned 75, his journey bears a great resemblance to another 75-year-old — the Republic of India. His story is that of a boy from an unelectrified village who came to be the longest-serving chief minister of the Telugu states and one of the makers of modern India.
As India moved into its most transformative period of the 1990s and beyond, Naidu played a key role in designing and implementing the major reforms that shaped the strong and self-reliant India that we see today. 75 is a great time to look back and reflect on the incredible journey filled with several highs and lows.
One can understand his life from the prism of three key pillars of his personality — an enormous propensity for risk, a firm belief in the potential of the Telugu community, and a dedication to the Telugu Desam Party beyond self and family.
Naidu – the risk-taker
Several watershed moments of his life have been a result of his propensity to take risk. Undoubtedly the biggest risk Naidu took has been risking his own life while taking on the scourge of Maoists in his first two terms as CM of the united Andhra Pradesh between 1995 and 2004.
Despite being fully aware of the risk to his own life, he knew it was important to eliminate this threat completely for the state to progress. Over the next decade, the state launched a clean-up operation to eliminate the influence of Maoists. In this process, several of our party leaders also paid a heavy price.
The battle culminated on October 1, 2003 in a deadly attack on his life by the Maoists when a large number of claymore mines were set off on his convoy on the foothills of Tirupati. Naidu still calls October 1 as his second birthday and attributes his rebirth and his new life to Lord Balaji.
A firm belief in the potential of the Telugu community
An overriding theme in his life has been his firm belief in the potential of the Telugu community worldwide. Over the last four decades, all his decisions have been taken with the interest of the Telugu community in mind, whether it is the TDP’s role in a central government to advance the state’s interest or to bring big-ticket investments to Andhra. In some of his most important decisions such as declining the PM’s post in the United Front coalition of the mid-90s or refusing ministerial berths in the Vajpayee NDA government, the guiding principle was always the same – Is this
in the best interest of the people of Andhra?
He has always looked at himself and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) as a vehicle and a spokesperson for the aspirations of crores of Telugusworldwide. His heart swells with pride when a Telugu anywhere in the world excels at their field. I have always believed he’s been more proud when Telugu boy Satya Nadella became the CEO of Microsoft, than when his own son graduated from the prestigious Stanford Business School! His unshakeable belief in the potential of the Telugu community has driven him to deliver on some of his transformational initiatives, such as the modern Hyderabad city, the Polavaram project, or more recently, the recommencement of Amaravati.
Party comes first
He always prioritised the interests of the TDP over himself and his family. For us, as his family, we were always to abide by two important principles. The first was that if there’s a choice between family and party, the party always came first. We could discuss cricket at the dinner table, but if we had to discuss politics, we had to prove our political mettle first. It was this quest that set me on the 3,132km “Yuvagalam” padayatra.
Starting early 2023, I walked across the length of Andhra as we galvanised the cadre for the 2024 election campaign and set the stage for a historic victory. The second principle was that we would never depend on politics for our family’s livelihood. He pushed both Brahmani (daughter-in-law) and me to get the best of professional qualifications and work experience. Very early on, he started Heritage Foods, a dairy company established with the highest standards of corporate governance. He “started-up” long before startups were cool. He spent time on the business and directed its strategy during his long years in the opposition.
As politics took centre-stage in his life, he requested my mother, then a housewife, to take charge of the dairy
business so that the family could have a steady source of income. Three decades later, Heritage Foods is now among India’s most admired dairy brands.
Building the next Hyderabad
Undoubtedly, the biggest living and breathing legacy of Chandrababu Naidu to the Telugu community is the city of Hyderabad. It is easy to call this as one of the finest urban developments in modern India. He had painstakingly brought each of the anchor investors and marque institutions to make Hyderabad one of India’s most admired and well-planned cities.
As he turns 75, he has set about with the urgency of a 25-year-old to rebuild a better version of Hyderabad in the brand new city of Amaravati. The city is being developed with all the elements of Hyderabad – modern architecture, world-class infrastructure, yet grounded with the deeply liberal and secular values that underpin Hyderabad city. These values are not just Hyderabad’s or Naidu’s, but of the Telugu community as a whole. As I set out on my political journey, I have these values to show me the way.
(The author is minister of HRD, IT & EC, government of Andhra Pradesh)
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of FinancialExpress.com. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.