Vibha Sharma in New Delhi
BJP president Amit Shah spoke exclusively to The Tribune on a variety of issues. Excerpts:
The campaign for the Lok Sabha elections ended today. How are you feeling at the end of this mammoth campaign that you led for the BJP?
I am feeling very relaxed. No doubt it was a tiring and long campaign. From the booth level to the national president to the Prime Minister, everyone did back-breaking work. I am sure that when the results are declared on May 23, those will be in the BJP’s favour. We will form a strong NDA government with more than 300 Lok Sabha seats. I am also expecting an increase in the number of seats of the NDA allies, but the BJP is winning 300 seats independently.
You have been firm on 300 seats for the BJP from Day 1. What gives you the confidence?
The BJP fights elections on the strength of the organisation. From the booth to the national level, the way the organisation has strengthened itself is enough to win elections. But a big reason for this confidence is coming from the popularity of the Prime Minister. The work he has done for the benefit of the people in the past five years has raised his popularity to a new level. At the same time, there is also an increase in the expectations from him and people want to repeat the Modi experiment.
You are firm on 300-plus for the BJP but other parties have started holding meetings on forming the next government. Where are they getting the confidence from?
If they had the confidence, there wouldn’t have been any need for such meetings. I am sitting here relaxed. I am not meeting anyone because I know my party is getting 300 seats. Those who are not confident are meeting others. Tell me, is it the time to meet voters or meet each other and talk? They have abandoned the campaign and are holding drawing room meetings. Those who are confident of winning do not need to meet others. The Prime Minister went campaigning today, but I am sitting here relaxed, doing this interview with you.
At the end of this long campaign, do you think you could have changed something, done it in a different way?
An electoral campaign cannot be decided by one party alone. It is a pratidwandhita, a spardha (competition between rival parties). You have to respond to the campaign the way your opponents respond to it. Eventually, the campaign is not in the hands of one party. Media, people’s expectations, events occurring during the campaign, statements by Opposition leaders, their attitude, the shape of their election campaign... it is on the basis of all these factors that a party’s election campaign acquires different shapes. It is never that a campaign follows the same path from the beginning.
But the way it has shaped in the past few days gave a new place of importance to your biggest rival — TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Her stature has increased by leaps and bounds and now, she is giving you a direct fight from an equal position.
Whenever there is a fight between two sides, they automatically acquire a barabari ka darja — a status of equality. Ramayan mein dekhiye to Ram ke barabar Ravan ka darja hoga (If you see in the Ramayan, Ravan has a status equal to Ram). People of Bengal know that the reason for the violence is the Trinamool’s greed to hold onto power. The BJP is fighting elections in the entire country. If we were the reason for the violence, there would have been violence everywhere. But Mamataji is only fighting elections in West Bengal. That means the only reason for the violence there is Mamata Banerjee and the goons of the TMC. People of West Bengal know this very well.
As these elections progressed, it also appeared as if you were hoping to make up for the expected losses in Uttar Pradesh from Bengal.
Whether or not there are losses in UP, it is our democratic right to increase the base of our party in Bengal. Why should we not do that? We are an all-India party. We also tried to expand our base in Odisha and there was no violence there. We won in the North-East, we have won many new states — Jharkhand, Manipur, Assam, Tripura — but there was no violence anywhere. Why is there violence only in Bengal where there is Mamata Banerjee?
Reports suggest that Left cadres are supporting the BJP in the violence.
It is not about the Left or the Right. All the people of Bengal came out in support of the BJP. The atmosphere there is similar to that during the Emergency. The way Mamata Banerjee has throttled democracy, I think the priority of the people there is to first restore democracy. During the panchayat elections, BJP activists were killed and we were not allowed to file nominations. She is trying to do politics on the Bengali language, foisting Urdu for appeasement of her vote bank, not giving permission for Durga pooja (it had to be taken from the High Court), attacking those doing Saraswati pooja and those who say ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Mamata didi gets down from the vehicle with a warning Bengal mein rehna hai ki nahi rehna (do you want to stay in Bengal or not). What is the meaning of all this?
But why has the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ found an echo in West Bengal when it was not used by the BJP in most of the Hindi belt?
We did not carry out any such experiment. It was because of their (TMC) reaction that the issue became bigger, the way they tried to suppress the emotions of the people, with appeasement.
Do you think it was a correct decision to field Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur?
Absolutely, it was the right decision. The candidature of Sadhvi Pragya is our satyagrah against the farzi (false) case of Hindu terror. The Congress tried to make a false case of saffron terror to appease its vote bank. We said nothing till now. But when two courts have declared that the entire case is fake and also considered the conspiracy fake, do you realise the harm that they (Congress) have done to Hindu religion and culture... and the country by compromising national security? The real culprits arrested in the Samjhauta blast case were all let off. That’s how they compromised the nation’s security.
These elections have seen polarisation like never before. The Prime Minister himself has become a big polarising factor — either you are with him or against him. Do you not think that these elections have changed the way elections will be fought in the future?
Not at all. In these elections, the Opposition did not contest on issues like ‘garibi hatao, corruption hatao, gandagi hatao, asuraksha hatao’, they made ‘Modi hatao’ their main issue. So, the elections became polarised into pro-Modi and anti-Modi camps. But it is the pro-Modi camp which is bigger.
Why did the BJP not make a big splash of demonetisation in these elections? Many other issues were highlighted but not a major decision like demonetisation, which many believe is one of the reasons for the state of the Indian economy today.
We are counting demonetisation among our achievements. It is a part of our ‘sankalp patra’, but the media did not highlight it. It (demonetisation) is in our favour. The Opposition also did not raise it because they thought they might lose if they did so.
In these elections, questions were raised on the language used by the Prime Minister. In an interview to The Tribune, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Modiji refuses to understand the restraint, dignity the PM office enjoins”.
Nowhere has the Prime Minister made use of any language that reduced the dignity of the PM’s post or the office. While Manmohan Singh ‘likh ke padne wale neta hain’, Modiji is a leader known for his direct connect with the people. At times, when a leader tries to make a point, make an emotional speech, there can be some ‘idhar udhar’ in the choice of words. But I have observed and followed Modiji’s campaign closely. He has not uttered even one word to hurt the dignity of anyone in these elections. Yes, as far as attacking the Opposition is concerned, it is our democratic right. When the PM campaigns on the behalf of his party, will he not highlight shortcomings of Opposition parties? It is his daitva (duty) to put before the people of the country the shortcomings of his opponents. There is no need for anyone to get upset over it.
There is said to be a decrease in the poll percentage in these elections. Don’t you think it indicates lack of enthusiasm in the BJP cadres?
There is no decrease in poll percentage. Rather, there has been an increase by a quarter per cent in the last phase. It is all a-prachar (malafide campaign).
Prime Minister Modi recently said he has the experience of running a coalition government. Are you looking for new partners to fill the gap?
There is no question of any gap. The BJP is winning more than 300 seats on its own. But even after that, we will run a coalition government with our NDA allies. We have been running a coalition government for the past five years.
You had said in an interview that in a federal structure, there are no permanent enemies. Do you think that Mamata Banerjee can ever be your ally in the future after such a bitter campaign?
More than 80 BJP workers have been killed in Bengal in the past few months. The kind of sanskriti (culture) she has adopted, I don’t think it will be possible.
Coming to Punjab and the last couple of phases, the BJP did not make national security a big issue. Was it because you felt it would not resonate as well in these parts?
We have raised the issue everywhere. In Punjab, we are fighting on three seats. But when I went there, I raised it on both occasions. Modiji also talked about it in all his speeches there. I don’t know about the Akali Dal, but the BJP has raised it strongly.
You said you are contesting three seats in Punjab, plus one in Chandigarh. When will you think about going it alone there given that the state leadership has always been in favour of the BJP doing so?
There is no such plan. We have an understanding with the Akali Dal and it will continue. The Akali Dal is an old partner and there is no scope of any reconsideration on this issue.
In Punjab, the Congress appears quite confident. Would you like to say something to the people there?
Punjab is a border state sharing its borders with Pakistan. The way its leaders, especially (Navjot Singh) Sidhu, embraced the chief of the Pakistan Army, refused to refer to Pakistan as a terrorist nation, I think the Punjab Congress has gone too far in the politics of appeasement. The government run by Captain Amarinder Singh has failed to fulfil the promises made to the people. The good schemes started by the Parkash Singh Badal government have been stalled due to paucity of funds because of which the progress of the state has been stalled. I would like to appeal to the people of Punjab that it is only under the leadership of Modiji that the country will progress. So they should believe in the leadership of Narendra Modi and support Akali Dal and BJP candidates.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2VLiZUV
via Today’s News Headlines
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