Blogging a cab ride in Hyderabad, India

Posted on: 08 April 2009 by Ananya Mukherjee

April 7, 2009; 7:30 am

I just arrived in Hyderabad, yet another Indian city known for its hi-tech glory, and often referred to as India’s second Silicon Valley (the first being Bangalore).

Hyderabad is also the capital of Andhra Pradesh, a state with one of the highest number of farmer suicides in India.

The general elections are only two weeks away. In the 2004 elections, this is the state where perhaps the greatest upset took place. Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister responsible for much of the growth of the IT industry, was confident of winning the elections - as was the BJP which was then ruling at the center. They were so confident that they had called the elections in advance. By the evening the unbelievable had happened. The Prime Minister had handed in his resignation, so unmistakable were the signs that the BJP and its allies had lost power. The astute Indian electorate had dealt a strong blow to the now infamous India Shining Campaign. Naidu, riding high on the success of the IT Empire he helped to create, had no idea that he would be out of office that soon. The rural communities, plagued by the agrarian crisis and the epidemic of suicides, had sent him a message he was not prepared for.

So what is likely to happen this time?

Let me take you through the analysis I got from the young man who drove me to hotel from the airport. He was in his early twenties, with a striking face and a brilliant smile. He spoke a nice local version of Urdu, his mother tongue, sometimes contaminating it with colloquial Hindi for my benefit (as he correctly presumes, Hindi is easier than Urdu for people like us who are not native speakers).

He sets the scene first, assuming I do not know the key players, but appears pleasantly surprised when I indicate that I have done at least some of my homework. According to him, the key players are three: Chandrababu Naidu (again), and his party the TDP; this time on a different platform than hi-tech; Cheeranjavi – Chiru for short – a movie star turned politician – and his party the PJP; and the incumbent of the Congress party led by the current Chief Minister YSR Reddy.

"I will vote for Congress," he says.

Why?

"They have done a lot of good, free power to farmers, debt-write offs, cheap rice and health facilities for those below the poverty line."

"But more than that I haven’t forgotten what happened during the Babu (short for Chandrababu Naidu) years."

What happened?

"He claims he brought about development in Andhra. But what kind of development?"

"It was like that with Shahjahan. Everyone thinks he built the Taj Mahal. But he actually cut off the thumbs of the labourers who really built it. In Babu’s time, so many farmers committed suicide. He gave so much land to the IT companies that the ordinary person cannot afford any land at all. He gave thousands and thousands of acres to businessmen and they are all so corrupt. Business has taken all our resources. We have no water, I see water in the tap every third day if I am lucky. What all politicians do is to take from the poor and give to the rich. But how much can you take? The poor already have nothing. The little water that they have, the land on which their jhoparpatti (shanty home) stands, the little farmlands they have - even that is taken away."

What about Cheeranjivi? The megastar turned politician?

"He has no record of performance. What do we judge him on? But whoever he supports will win."

"Many of us think he has come to politics to make sure the government does not come after the wealth he has amassed. Politics is his shelter. This is why the wealthy enter politics. But in my opinion business and politics should be kept separate. But politics is the biggest business."

You have faith that if you re-elect the Congress it will deliver?

"No, I don’t have faith, if you mean faith in the true sense. But there is a record. They have done things I can see. I will go by that."

I tell him that I have to write to my students in Canada about India. What should I write? What according to him is “India”? Without a moment’s hesitation he says, “India is that place where the common man is perpetually looking for justice. There is no justice here, madam, no justice at all. “

PS. Many thanks for those who have written to me directly on my Slumdog post. Do keep writing.

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