Pawan Kalyan bats for farmers, irks Chandrababu Naidu

Hear Pawan Kalyan speak and you would think his mind gallops faster than his tongue. Which is perhaps why he does not complete many of his sentences and moves to the next one, almost as if trying to keep pace with his restless brain whose word processor seems to be fairly quick. Over Thursday and Friday, this extremely popular Telugu star has got Chandrababu Naidu wondering what is on Pawan Kalyan's mind. He had travelled to villages in the Tullur region of Guntur district which fall in the capital area of Andhra Pradesh. The farmers there have been reluctant to give up their land and move out and had invited Kalyan to hear them and represent their cause.

The Telugu Desam had expected Kalyan to convince them that they need to trust Naidu but Kalyan's rhetoric set the cat among the TDP pigeons. He pointed out that in Undavalli village, people felt they were not getting adequate compensation. In Penamaka, farmers felt that they should not be forced to part with land on which three crops grow annually. Villagers of Tullur had expressed apprehensions that guarantees given to them may not be honoured.

The TDP government has been batting to get 32,000 acres of land, something Kalyan feels is not a very wise thing to do. He advocates phase-wise pooling of land so that farmers are allowed to grow crops without being forced to disconnect themselves from their land next month. Kalyan's argument is based on past experience and the fact that the capital, like Rome, will not be made in one day. He says land in the past too has been bought from farmers but successive governments have acted more like real estate agents, selling the land to private companies. When I told Pawan Kalyan that the TDP is not amused with his taking on the government, he agreed he was being direct. "There is no subtle message. I am direct and honest. I know the TDP won't be amused but I am uneasy with what is happening. It pricks me," he said.

This does not do Naidu's image any good because he ends up coming across as someone who is forcing farmers to part with their land. Already there are critics like the former IAS officer M G Devasahayam who have accused Naidu of behaving as if he is running a chit fund scheme. Now by pointing out that social impact assessment is a must when land is acquired, Kalyan points to the possibility of social unrest if land is acquired. "We must know what impact it will have on the lives of landless agricultural labourers who live off the land," he said, indirectly commenting on the new Bill on land acquisition. When such a message comes out of someone who is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has a huge fan following, it cannot be ignored.

The flip side however is that Pawan Kalyan's special appearance has come a bit too late in the day. The government had set February 28 as the deadline for land-pooling, by paying compensation to farmers, and had acquired over 32,000 acres by that time. The government has said in the earmarked area, no cultivation should happen post-April this year. In order to convince farmers, Naidu also enhanced compensation. Farmers are to be paid 30,000 rupees annually for dry land (less than an acre of land). Where there is water, farmers will get 50,000 rupees an year. Upto one point five lakh rupees debt of horticulture farmers is to be waived while wetland farmers will get 1,000 square feet of land for residential purpose and 450 square feet of land for commercial purpose.

But Naidu is not backing down in the face of criticism. He pointed out that a capital can be built in 100 acres also but asked if such a capital will attract investment. "This capital will be the people's capital," he said.

Rebutting Pawan Kalyan's criticism, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had said yesterday that a capital could be built in 100 or 1,000 acres but it won't have value, in terms of attracting investment. "It is the farmers who will lose out," he said.

As the foundation stone will be laid later this year, Naidu knows as an experienced politician that irrespective of the stones that are thrown at him, he has the job of building an institution from scratch.