Opinion: What TRS wants to learn from DMK?

TRS leadership has gone into an overdrive to strengthen the party at the grassroots to blunt the tools of BJP.

A week ago, TRS working president and IT/Municipal minister KT Ramarao announced that he would visit Tamil Nadu along with senior leaders to study the political model and organizational structure of DMK and AIADMK.

"There are certain aspects of DMK's structure that I would definitely like to incorporate in TRS. For instance, they have a party office in every village. Their workers are extremely loyal to the party. They have survived for 65 to 70 years continuously and become an institution. That is how we would like to see TRS grow in Telangana," he told the media.

Why KTR wants to Study Dravidian Model?

Barring the unfettered distribution of freebies, there is not much similarity between the TRS and the Dravidian parties. Ideologically the DMK stood for social justice for the lower castes in the wake of Brahmin domination. It opposed the imposition of Hindi as a threat to Tamil identity. The TRS is neither here nor there on these issues. Then what is it the TRS wants to learn from these Tamil parties?

KTR's statement has unleashed a curious debate in the state as to what is forcing the TRS to search for a new model better than its own, and why? Many are of the opinion that TRS is more interested in knowing how Tamil Nadu is able to scuttle the entry of BJP into the state.

Is the rise of BJP unsettling TRS?

According to BJP spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao, two issues might have forced the TRS leaders to look towards down South for a possible remedy for the looming BJP threat in the state.

"Chief Minister Stalin's DMK government has become too popular in too short a time, whereas in Telangana TRS government is becoming unpopular with the passage of time. What is the reason? Two, TRS is planning to practice hyper-regional politics like Dravidian regionalism. This regional, race, language, cultural identity in short Tamil Identity is a major hurdle for BJP to enter into Tamil Nadu. But, Tamil model won't work in Telangana," he said adding that each state has its own model and they cannot be replicated in other states.

According to M Kodandaram, President of Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS), three factors that have become visible in the recent past might be forcing TRS leadership to search for a new model. "Congress, BJP, and social pressure are the new factors. Telangana Congress, under its new leadership, has become alive and kicking. Similarly, BJP is sighted on the horizon. For the first time, an alternative to TRS is being debated," Kodandaram, KCR's once -lieutenant, said.

Noted political scientist K Srinivasulu agreed that the undemocratic content of TRS leadership's politics has rendered Telangana doors wide-open for BJP's entry. According to the former Professor from Osmania University, the TRS leadership by obliterating all voices of opposition has created a vacuum in state politics.

The political vacuum, Prof Srinivasulu said, always becomes a fertile ground for radical changes, and Telangana is experiencing this kind of vacuum now.

Instead of accommodating different voices such as students, unemployed, farmers, Gulf migrants, employees, etc who amplified the Telangana movement with their own JACs, Chief Minister KCR wanted the newly formed state Vipaksh-Mukth Telangana by encouraging defections.

KCR's announcement that TRS would work like a typical political party would stand testimony to the change in the character of the TRS government. When their aspirations are not reflected in the governance, People look for alternatives irrespective of their ideology. BJP appears to have sensed what is happening in Telangana.

The saffron party is trying vigorously to project itself as an alternative to TRS. Against this backdrop, the TRS leadership might be thinking that the Dravidian parties could offer some solution to weather the threat of BJP.

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