Pawan Kalyan and Chandrababu Naidu.
Credit: PTI photo
Hyderabad: More than three years ago, a sleepy village in the northern coastal Andhra Pradesh became the stage for a 'secular' politician making a dramatic ideological turnaround. Just a few days before it, on a cold December morning of 2020, some miscreants had 'beheaded' the idol at an ancient temple in the village — Ramatheertham — in Vizianagaram district.
Visiting the village with a large entourage, the then-opposition leader, N Chandrababu Naidu, declared that he was there to safeguard the interests of the Hindus.
Having lost power in the 2019 assembly polls, Naidu used the incident to target his nemesis and then Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy over his Christian identity.
Many were surprised, as the corporate-friendly leader had never shied away from wearing a 'secular' badge.
Since then, Naidu has often pointed fingers at Jagan's faith. The TDP supremo even alleged that religious conversions were rampant during the YSRCP rule.
The political landscape of Andhra Pradesh has been witnessing a significant shift towards the right in recent years, especially after the YSRCP came to power in 2019. Unlike many other states where the BJP has the upper hand in weaving Hindutva narratives, Andhra has seen two regional parties—TDP and Jana Sena—adopt a more assertive Hindutva stance.
Outpacing BJP
This shift has been marked by several high-profile incidents involving alleged targeted attacks on Hindu places of worship under the YSRCP regime; beginning with the mysterious burning of a decades-old chariot at the premises of a temple in East Godavari district in September 2020.
The recent allegation that adulterated ghee was used in the preparation of the famous Tirupati laddus during the reign of Jagan has only added more heat to the simmering political pot.
While it was Naidu who went to the press to charge at Jagan, the subsequent attacks were launched by his deputy, Pawan, who has proclaimed himself as an 'Unapologetic Sanatani Hindu'. After the Supreme Court rapped Naidu for his 'premature' comments on the issue, the government took a more nuanced approach, issuing an order to grant autonomy to temples in the matters of rituals.
In all the above incidents, both TDP and Jana Sena have surprisingly outpaced the BJP in championing the 'Hindu cause', marking a departure from their previous political positioning. Pawan, who was initially inspired by leftist figures like Che Guevera, has emerged as a staunch advocate of Hindutva.
"It's important to remember that both TDP and Jana Sena are partners in the NDA. Naturally, they will have their agenda to implement in the state. In the South, beyond Andhra, the BJP might be feeling that Pawan's charisma could be used to fill the existing gap in Hindutva politics in the region. And he is implementing the BJP's agenda," says senior journalist and noted political analyst Telakapalli Ravi.
After returning to power in the assembly election this year, Naidu has been giving the impression that he might continue his rightward shift. However, not everyone agrees with such an opinion.
Even while attacking Jagan and his faith, the TDP leader never lost sight of the significance of voters belonging to minority communities.
Remember what happened in 2002, soon after the Gujarat riots, when Narendra Modi and Naidu were chief ministers of their respective states? The TDP leader, despite being a key member of the NDA, publicly took an anti-Modi position.
After the TDP's debacle in the 2004 polls, Naidu blamed the Vajpayee government for not taking action against Modi. Naidu had reasons to be angry as he paid a heavy price after minorities distanced themselves from him for aligning with the NDA.
Naidu's delicate position
"It is true that the laddu episode has damaged Naidu's reputation to an extent. It has also created a perception that he is serving the BJP's interests. If the laddu remarks were made deliberately, then it could be presumed the whole episode was driven by a design. However, Naidu made those remarks during an NDA meeting while discussing several other issues concurrently. Naidu was quick to retreat as he sensed the issue was taking on a communal colour. He has always carefully balanced his secular credentials," says Ramesh Kandula, a political analyst, senior journalist and the author of Maverick Messiah: A Political Biography of NT Rama Rao.
Ramesh says that Naidu quickly retreated, focusing instead on governance, a domain in which he is most comfortable.
The analyst, who has been covering Telugu politics for several decades, however, agrees that by presenting himself as a "warrior" of the Hindu cause, Pawan is tapping into the sentiments of those who feel that Hindu customs are under threat in the state.
Ramesh feels that while Pawan's transformation into a Hindutva-inspired politician may offer new opportunities for the BJP, it also presents a delicate situation for the NDA dynamics in Andhra Pradesh, particularly with the TDP.
In a state where a majority of the voters belong to SCs, STs and BCs — a big chunk of them having unofficially converted to Christianity — it is a perplexing question whether polarisation tactics benefit Naidu.
The answer lies in the voting pattern. In TDP's worst performance in the 2019 polls, when Naidu's party bagged just 23 out of the 175 assembly seats, it received close to 40% of the total votes polled. In the 2024 polls, in which the YSRCP could win just 11 seats, Jagan's party bagged around 40% of the polled votes. The common factor in both elections is that both the regional parties managed to keep their own fixed vote bank of 40% each. This means that the remaining 7-10% of swing voters, potentially influenced by religious narratives, can determine election outcomes.
Caste dynamics
Andhra society is divided more along caste lines than religion. The majority of SCs and STs, Muslims, and Christians formed a solid block that voted for Jagan in 2019. Despite the nominal official Christian population of 1.19% in the state, there are claims that almost 90% of the SCs and STs are unofficially Christians, having converted over time for historical and cultural reasons. They don't come out in public as Christians due to a fear of losing the benefits of reservation and look at YSRCP as their 'own party' due to the Christian credentials of its chief, Jagan.
On the other hand, the backward classes, which comprise more than 143 sub-sects, account for approximately 37% of the state's population. The BCs had been a solid support base of the TDP till 2014, but the arrival of Jana Sena is starting to upset this, forcing Naidu to expand his base.
The rise of Hindutva in Andhra represents a complex interplay of political strategy, demographic realities and shifting ideological stances. While regional parties have adopted more pro-Hindu positions, the effectiveness of this approach in a state traditionally divided along caste lines remains to be seen.