Are Sharmila’s royal “deekshas” proving counter-productive?

Is YS Sharmila fast ending up as a bundle of contradictions and something of a joke in Telagnana politics? Every Tuesday is a protest day for her. This is something unheard of in Telugu politics. People organise protests when there is an issue. But, Sharmila is looking for a cause to hold protest every Tuesday.

But more than the cause for which she is holding those protests, it is the way she is holding the protests that is becoming something of a joke. The latest issue she took up for fasting on Tuesday was the death of a jobless youth. One Paka Srikanth who tried fr many jobs but couldn’t get one committed suicide. She went to Nalgonda to console the family members and then sat on a day-long dharna.

So far so good. But, it’s not the protest nor the reason for protest that has become a source of derision. It is the way in which the dharna is staged. Normally, such dharnas are simple affairs. But, Sharmila’s dharnas have extra-large mattresses. Then at the centre of the mattress is a huge reclining pillow. Then there are side pillows to put her arms on. The whole thing gives an appearance of a royal queen reclining imperiously. She would look every inch a ‘dorasani’ that the Telanganites detest.

The deeksha begins at about 10 am and continues till 5 pm. It is hardly six hours. Can’t she sit for five or six hours without this paraphernalia? Did not anyone suggest to her to keep the arrangements simple? Why is a humble protest turning into a show of royalty? Why have such huge setup for a day’s dharna, where what she is forgoing is just one meal and a cup of coffee? Did not anyone tell her how simple her father’s yatras and dharnas were?