Articles
NTR, the Beloved and the Inimitable
Dt:2/5/23
NTR, the Beloved and the Inimitable
Dr T H Chowdary*
Sri Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao garu was a phenomenon in political life, as much as on the silver screen. He would remain as a legend in the reverential memories of Telugu people for generations to come . My interactions with him were mostly in my capacity as General Manager of Telecoms (1978-83) in undivided AP , as Dy Director General (DDG) of the Department of Telecoms (1983-87) and as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) (1987-89) and thereafter briefly as Chairman of A.P Electronics Development Corporation ( APEDC), I will recall a few of my interactions with and about him .
2. The first narration about him is regarding his mammoth meeting in Tirupati launching the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Indira Gandhi addressed one meeting on or about the same date as NTR in Tirupati. I had to report about what I have seen and heard at these two events to my then Minister, the late Sri N Vittal Rao Gadgil. I described to him the great histrionic and oratorical speech with literary flourishes which moved the mammoth audience into identification with the great actor, orator , politician NTR . In contrast, Indira’s meeting and address were non-descript. I mentioned to my minister to his great surprise, that the Congress would be routed, Indira would be humbled and NTR and his party would come triumphant.
3. During NTR’s first stint as Chief Minister, he decided to take over some private engineering colleges. I telephoned him and pleaded with him that would be a great mistake as dozens of engineering colleges are required and private entrepreneurs should be encouraged not only to run the existing ones but to start many more. I am glad that I was able to convince him. He desisted from taking over a well performing engineering college in Vijayawada .
4. NTR wanted to have a multistoreyed parking building for motor cars in the Abids center of Hyderabad . My Telecom office building was there just opposite the great GPO and the CTO. As GM Telecoms I said that I will make over my site provided the AP government gave me 1.25 times the area I would surrender and that should be on the L.N Gupta Marg which connects the Abids center to Nampally Hyderabad Railway Station . In a weeks’ time, the letters were exchanged and the site where the present office of the GM of Telecom Telangana state is located was DOT’s. I did not seek permission from the Telecom Directorate in Delhi. I did not put the government to loss and I was not personally benefitted and the public cause was served.
5. My report about the Tirupati meeting of NTR and this very swift exchange of the sites made the Ministry think that I was an NTR’s man. Soon thereafter, I was shifted as Dy Director General to Delhi .
6. In 1987 NTR wanted that I should quit the DOT and come to AP as Chairman of the AP Electronics Development Corporation (APEDC) . I was just then selected as the Chairman and Managing Director of the newly created corporation of India’s Overseas Communications as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL). NTR called me to come to Hyderabad . He asked me to quit my VSNL position and take up the APEDC Chairmanship. “I told him that it was a tribute to NTR that I who was considered as your man, has been chosen by Rajiv Gandhi to the prestigious post of CMD, VSNL. He is your rival whose Congress you humbled”. He smiled and said, “now, you promise me that as soon as you retire, you will come and take up the Chairmanship of APEDC”. He called his Secretary, the late Dr P.L. Sanjeeva Reddy and asked him to take my date of retirement and directed him to contact me on that date and give the charge of the Chairmanship of the APEDC. Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy did contact me on the date of my retirement and within the next 3 days, I was in Hyderabad as Chairman of the APEDC. It was a short- lived position for me because soon, there were elections and the TDP was trounced by Congress led by the late Dr M.Chenna Reddy . During my brief Chairmanship of the APEDC, I could get a licence from GOI for one of the entrepreneurs picked by NTR to manufacture rural electronic telephone exchanges designed by C-DOT .
7. Another occasion I recall is release of a commemorative postal stamp in honour of the late Kaviraju Tripuraneni Ramaswami Chowdary a great social reformer, rationalist and polemicist poet. I could get the postal department to bring out the stamp and have it released by the great NTR in Delhi in May 1987. However, I could not be present at that event as I was then in the USSR on an official mission to that great country . My wife and Sri Ramaswamy Chowdary garu’s daughter, Chowdarani were specially invited to that event whereat both NTR and the President, Sardar Jail Singh graced the occasion. Sri NTR spoke eloquently on the social reforms and the rationalist thought that Rama Swami Chowdary garu launched in Andhra area through his several literary works and speeches.
8. The next interaction I had with the great NTR was on the 15 of Aug 1995 in the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad at the reception given by the Governor on Independence Day. When I greeted Sri NTR , he asked Smt Lakshmi Parvati to stand up and say namaskar to me . She did so. When NTR asked me why I was not seeing him for the last several years, I told him with great unease that “ whenever I thought of him, I was remembering Dasaradha”. The message went to the very well-learned NTR. He exclaimed and said: “avunaa ..entha pedda mata annaru…….”. Then he turned to his Personal Secretary, Dr. Jayaprakash and instructed him to get me to him the next day. I told him that I was going to Jabalpur and on return may be I would see him. When after 4 days I returned, by that time the tragedy took place. Sri N Chandra Babu Naidu dethroned NTR. From the airport I straight went to the Viceroy Hotel where Sri Chandra Babu Naidu fixed up his office. I greeted him by reciting the poem,
“Alludaa rammani adarammuna bilvabampu maamanu batti champagalame…”
the words of Arjuna, insinuating against Krishna in the play Gayopakhyanam. I added that what he did was right for it was meant to save AP from the rule of a clever but undeserving lady.
9. I felt very sorry for the tragedy that struck this giant Sri NTR because of the entry into his household of a person who was seen to be scheming to become the real influence over NTR to the detriment of the TDP and the state.
10. Nothing can detract from the name and fame of so talented a person like NTR who inflicted so humiliating a defeat on Indira Gandhi and her Congress party within a few months of forming the great Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
11. People wonder why so illustrious a person is still not honoured with India’s highest award, Bharat Ratna. (1,212 words)
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