YSR Death : Need for a balanced approach

At least 60 persons either committed suicide or died of shock after hearing the news of Chief Minister YSR Reddy's death in a chopper crash. The deaths have been reported from Guntur, East Godavari, Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Prakasam, Medak, Nalgonda, Karimnagar and Kadapa, according to reports on Telugu television channels. Shocked by the spate of suicides, son Jagan Mohan Reddy appealed to the people not to resort to such extreme steps. "Due to such acts (suicides) my father's soul will not rest in peace. He had an ever-smiling face and worked for uplift of the poor. They (people) should not resort to such acts," an emotional Jagan said. Unfortunately, the media's hype projecting YSR's death as a catastrophe for the state too has contributed to this trend. While YSR was certainly a popular Chief Minister, he was not above board. The media should have covered him objectively including allegations of massive corruption against him and his family. The media lost its sense of balance. At a time when we are broad minded and liberal enough to analyse the actions of even the father of the nation and leaders like Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel, why not objectively look at YSR? He was not God. Neither did he have the charisma of Prakasam or NTR. The media should not get carried away and mislead the gullible people. There is life beyond YSR both for Andhra and Congress. His death is undoubtedly a tragedy but let us not indulge in hipocrisy. Let not political crooks take advantage of this emotional and sensitive situation.