YS Chowdary – A Man of the People

विक्रमी पुरुष, सिर पर, चलता न छत्र पुरखों का धर, अपना बल–तेज जगाता है, सम्मान जगत से पाता है।

The couplet above by poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar aptly suits the much loved YS or Sujana Chowdary’s persona and his journey from a lower-middle-class family to a businessman to a political leader who won the hearts of Andhra Pradesh. It was the aura of his personality carved out of sheer grit and determination that shined when he voiced his aspiration of serving the country and its people.

Before he ventured into politics, YS Chowdary established the Sujana Foundation in 2007 with the vision & goal of developing the community through thoughtful social entrepreneurship. Through the Foundation, he set himself on a path to help underprivileged communities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’s rural and semi-urban areas. Through social initiatives that prioritized the transformation of lives in these regions, the Foundation and Mr. Chowdary himself made significant differences.

His efforts established initiatives to provide better education by providing scholarships for the socially and economically backward and the underserved girls. Additionally, the physically and mentally challenged also get included in such programs. Since his vision is not limited to Andhra Pradesh’s geographies, he facilitated quality education programs across South India.

His other focus through the Foundation is to promote healthy habits for which he sponsors various sporting events at multiple levels – from schools to colleges and even at the professional level, resulting in a two-fold advantage. Children get actively engaged in physical activities. Secondly, young prodigies also get identified and nurtured to become professional athletes who bag national accolades.

Sujana Chowdary then established the Sujana Charitable Trust with one sole purpose: extending financial support to the economically weaker sections. The Trust funds the higher education of financially more vulnerable students so that their aspirations do not remain grounded. Furthermore, the Trust provides financial assistance to patients who otherwise would not be able to afford costly medical care and surgical procedures.

As he continued to make headway in the business industry, he eventually relinquished his seat for a seat in politics. This platform led him to serve the entire nation. Even though the conventional wisdom about every politician is the image of a 50-year-old grey-haired man dressed in a white kurta, ready to turn India into a secretariat battleground, that view is myopic because YS Chowdary’s journey has been far from it.

After transitioning to politics out of noble intentions to serve the people of Andhra Pradesh, he adopted Ponnavaram village in Krishna District and Palaparru in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. In sync with PM Modi’s vision of making India digital, he directed his efforts toward development programs that enabled the digitalization of the villages. In addition, he also conducted medical camps, set up drainage systems and toilets, and constructed cement roads to provide better healthcare and livelihood to the people living there. Mr. Chowdary further introduced means of digital learning in the local government schools. He established professional skill development and entrepreneurship development programs to ensure that the villages’ youth were not left behind. During his tenure in the parliament, he continued to foray into healthcare by being the chairman of the charitable society, Share Medical Care.

As his tryst with the parliament ended in June 2022, Mr. Chowdary’s thirst for social welfare and the nation’s betterment remains unquenchable. That is precisely why he continues to invest his efforts in developing India and its people.