Posted on 09/03/2009 11:28:56 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Death shock kills 33
G.S. RADHAKRISHNA AND G.C. SHEKHAR
Hyderabad/Chennai, Sept. 3: Thirty-three supporters of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, most of them poor farmers, died since they learnt about their leader’s death this morning.
Some committed suicide while others suffered cardiac arrests after confirmation that the Andhra Pradesh chief minister’s helicopter had crashed, killing him and the four others on board.
The casualties are among the highest reported after a popular leader’s demise or misfortune in the south, where such incidents are not unheard of.
In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, two dozen supporters of M.G. Ramachandran consumed poison or set themselves on fire after an illness left the charismatic leader fighting for his life in 1984.
The figure, the highest in Tamil Nadu so far, fell to 12 after he died three years later, possibly because the ailing leader’s death was expected.
Eight persons killed themselves after another popular leader, Andhra chief minister N.T. Rama Rao, was toppled by his finance minister N. Bhaskar Rao in 1984.
Today, the largest number of deaths — 11 — were reported from Reddy’s home district Kadapa — four of them from hometown Pulivendula alone. The rest were from Karimnagar, Mahboobnagar, Warangal, East Godavari, West Godavari and Srikakulam.
Some officials dubbed the casualties drought-driven suicides but failed to explain how so many could die in just 10 hours.
Sociologist Prabhakar Chowdhary said: “Common people adore leaders who launch populist plans. The fear among poor farmers over the fate of the free power and medicare, Reddy’s pet schemes, may have caused shock deaths or driven them to give up their lives.”
Reddy’s family appealed to people not to resort to such dire steps.
“My father worked for the poor and to prevent farmer suicides. Please don’t defeat his mission by committing suicide,” Reddy’s son Jaganmohan said.
India is largely socialist, and the extreme poor are often extraordinarily vulnerable to whichever political operators most directly control their lives. So losing a local political champion can be devastating, especially when the population is ignorant enough to confuse politics with saviors.
Even still, such suicides are incredibly sad and pathetic.
Wow. The only thing similar I’ve ever heard about was the many Japanese suicides related to defeat in battle, either locally or nationally. That’s honor related and not like this, though. I’ve never heard of anything quite like this, and can’t imagine such marginal lives.
These people take their politicians a mite too seriously, don’t they.
Holy cow!
I don’t think the socialist explanation makes a lot of sense, since this does not happen in other far more socialist and poor countries.
It’s got more to do with the veneration of leaders, particularly charismatic figures-an old cultural thing in parts of the subcontinent. YSR Reddy was a remarkable in the sense that he could connect with the large rural masses in the state and yet reach out to big business firms for investment.
About the suicides, we really don’t know how many died of shock and how many killed themselves. Or for that matter, whether any suicides had to do with the minister’s death.
Cow jokes aside, the dead politician was a Christian.
Well if he didnt do that, would he have been a good INDIAN politician???
But on another level,caste identity is so entrenched that most parties don’t really bother about reaching out. Satisfy your caste-then fund factions in the other castes to minimise an opponent’s vote share.
Sad. RIP.
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