KA Paul courting trouble by his ‘peace-politics’

K A Paul, the evangelist-turned-politician is a desperate man.  The man supposed to be preaching the gospel of peace has turned into a rebel without a clear cause.

His fight with late Y S Rajasekharara Reddy and how he fell from grace during the former’s regime is well-known. Paul was  calling the shots even politically during Chandrababu Naidu regime, when the likes of the late Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi were his close pals. Many thought once YSR left the scene, Paul would go back to his evangelism.

But Paul refused to let go. He was so possessed in his political ambitions that he had decided to throw his weight in the ensuing by-polls. Many believe that Paul and his mission suffered financially during the YSR regime. Having not been able to recover from his loss, Paul diverted his attention to politics where he is desperate to make a mark.

But knowing the politics in this state, it is anybody’s understanding that Paul would not be able to make inroads into this well-entrenched bastion of the existing players – the latest of them being Jagan. Paul has neither the ideology, nor following nor resources required to run a political party successfully.

But still he went ahead and fielded candidates in five constituencies where the Dalits form substantial chunk of voters. And he is making every effort to impress upon people about his Praja Shanti Party.

But the problem is Paul seems to be crossing the thin line between religion and politics. Despite his protestations to the contrary, Paul is basically an evangelist. His attempts at converting his ‘peace conferences’ into political rallies is likely to land him in trouble with Election Commission sooner or later.

It is also doubtful how far the Dalits, who come to him to listen to God’s word, would be swayed by his political speeches. There is already some restlessness in his meetings because of this odd mixture of Jesus and Politics. This was evident in his political-cum-peace meet at Narasapuram on Sunday evening, which was a paid live on Maha TV.

Some people suspect that Paul’s mission is to wean away a section of Dalits, who are said to be supporting Jagan’s YSR Congress Party en masse. Such a move, if fulfilled will benefit the other parties.

Whatever might be Paul’s idea behind his political foray, it is certainly not a convincing one is the general feeling.