Former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh is engaged in perhaps the most difficult contest of his political career. He is locked in a fierce fight with Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The senior Congress leader talked to The Tribune reporter on the charge of having coined the phrase “saffron/Hindu terror”. Excerpts:
Bhopal has become the centre of attention. What are the issues you are contesting on?
Madhya Pradesh has been ruled by the BJP for 15 years and Bhopal for 30 years. It is a progressive, well-located city with several educational institutions. But it does not feature among the top educational or employment hubs like Hyderabad, Pune, Nagpur or Bengaluru. These cities are getting all employment opportunities. This is one issue that voters of Bhopal must ask the BJP.
You are being accused by the BJP of trying to sell a ‘soft Hindutva image’ to woo majority vote.
It is the BJP that started using religion for political gains. Congress leaders, right from Mahatma Gandhi to the current leaderships, have been practicing Hindus. Leaders of other religions in our party have also been practicing their religion. Everyone who knows us knows we follow our religion. Religion and politics are two different issues. I have for several decades performed puja at ‘Pandharpur Mandir’ on Ashadi Ekadashi. I perform ‘Govardhan parikrama’ and the Narmada parikrama on foot. I had visited all temples even before the BJP was born.
You are accused of coining the phrase ‘saffron terror’.
This phrase was coined by then Home Secretary RK Singh. The BJP got him to use ‘saffron terror’ for political gains and rewarded him in 2014 with the party ticket and made him a minister in the Modi government. It was also used by the Maharashtra Police under the then Police Commissioner Satya Pal Singh, who was also given the BJP ticket and made a minister in the Modi government. It is the BJP which coined the term saffron terror... I always said ‘Sanghi (RSS) terror’.
With Pragya as your rival, how confident are you of a victory?
The Bhopal seat has been with the BJP for the past 30 years. I have taken it as a personal challenge to unseat the BJP.
How confident are you of your party doing well in the state?
We have been in power only for a few months and have waived loans of 22 lakh farmers. The government on the very first day took the decision to waive loans of eligible farmers and it is only a matter of months that the paper work will be completed. The decision will be implemented in letter and spirit.
Your rival Pragya is calling this contest a ‘dharmyudh’.
She was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police under the tenure of the BJP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The police was the first investigator in the murder case of Sunil Joshi (RSS activist), who was accused of the Samjhauta blasts, as per the police records. Pragya was part of the conspiracy.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2VGzTTR
via Today’s News Headlines
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