NTR - A DISASTER.
He might be a great actor, but his coming to politics spelled a disaster for Telugus. No doubt, Rama Rao did some good things, like property rights for women, Rs2-a-kilo rice, and most importantly abolition of liquor, but overall he damaged our state irreparably. See the following points. Other states also may learn from this.
1. Brahmin hater:
He was a Brahmin hater (I don't know why). Poor Telugu Brahmins working as Karanams & Muncifs (hereditary posts that were village heads since British & Muslim Jamana), taking only a salary of some Rs.10/- or so, the Brahmins (being good at mathematics) were doing a great service to our Telugu land all three regions Coasta, Rayalaseema, and Telangana, organising a big state as far as land-and-revenue record system was concerned. To hit Brahmins, he abolished Karanam and Muncif posts in Andhra Pradesh and introduced Mandala system which threw the entire Land revenue system into disarray; it took a long time to bring it back to order.
2. Madras-Wallah:
He had a liking to Madras city more than Andhra Pradesh(Telugu movie industry was in Madras for a long time) and hence he arranged Krishna river water to Tamil city Madras even though Madras and Tamilnadu are no way connected to Krishna river, thereby forever making a demand by the quarrelsome Tamils for Krishna river water, while Rayalaseema (a dry land) farmers helplessly watch water going to Madras through their land.
3. Caste-chauvinist:
He was for his caste called Kamma-caste and not for other castes, other castes mattered to him only as voters. It is because he filled everywhere in power positions with Kammas and Kammas became a dominating force that a rift between Telangana and other regions started (No Kamma domination in Telangana). It is this Kamma domination that was the root cause of the bifurcation of the state, and it is also the reason for Telangana politicians hating Seema-coasta politicians. It is these Kammas in Hyderabad who built many wealthy properties there, nothing wrong in making money, but they kept silent and did not bother to stop bifurcation of the state even though they, with their money power and political connections, could have managed to stop bifurcation. I have got a suspicion that these Hyderabad Kammas might even have tacitly supported the bifurcation; remember Chandrababu Naidu gave a letter to Centre (Delhi) agreeing for bifurcation. Today, KCR, CM-Telangana is a supporter of all Kamma establishments in Hyderabad.
4. Usurper:
He was described as the founding father of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Is that so? So funny! He was not the founder-father of TDP. The founder-father of TDP was Nadendla Bhaskar Rao (Originally in Congress). Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, (he was also a Kamma but not like NT Rama Rao) was a better administrator and is of sound mind and a gentleman (God bless him). It is he who brought actor N.T.Rama Rao into politics thinking that a well-known face is required for his newly founded party. And it was a mistake and he paid a heavy penalty.
Lesson- Unless we Seema-costa People give up caste politics we will not able to survive!