As the battle to gain control of Rajasthan gathers momentum ahead of the single-phase polling on December 7, Moneycontrol is travelling across the western state to gauge the mood of the people.
Moneycontrol spoke to Union Minister of State for Law and Justice and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, PP Chaudhary.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
Q: There is a view that the governments, both in the state and the Centre, have not done enough for farmers and the farmers are upset. What do you have to say about that?
A: Our honourable Prime Minister always thinks about farmers. Our Prime Minister is worried about the condition of farmers.
If we see the plight of the farmers, this is not the outcome of one or two years or four years, this is outcome of the last 70 years, when the country was ruled by one party.
They were not concerned about farmers’ welfare. They were concerned about their own welfare. This is the reason our prime minister is very much concerned about the farmers.
This is the reason that he has also introduced minimum support price (MSP).
Earlier, we had witnessed that only Rs 10-20, Rs 30 per quintal or a maximum of Rs 100 was the phenomena. There is a lot of difference.
Soil Health Card and so many other schemes for farmers’ welfare have been introduced. In coming years, you will see more welfare schemes for the farmers. It is the aim and vision of our prime minister that we have to double the farmers' income.
Q: So, how do you see BJP’s condition in Rajasthan?
A: The BJP’s condition is very good. The election campaign for the BJP did not start just now. It started when our candidates were re-elected. So, the election campaign had already started in 2013.
We are not coming at the nick of time, like the Congress. Our people, our representatives are working in the area round-the-clock. In Congress, there are only leaders, no workers.
But in BJP, you will find workers at the grassroots. This is the reason that our national president Shri Amit Shah ji has built the party with membership of around 11 crore in this country. It is one of the biggest parties in the country.
And not only this, in every booth, be it Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, in every booth, we have booth pramukhs. We have panna Pramukhs. In every booth, we have 20 panna pramukhs. So, our structure is decentralised.
Secondly, I can tell you that in 2014 elections, we had secured around 13 crore votes, and our beneficiaries, as of today, are more than 22 crore.
If all our beneficiaries vote in favour of the BJP, that is enough to get more than 300 seats (in the Lok Sabha polls). Even for the state legislature, we will secure more than two-thirds majority very easily.
If you go and meet the farmers and labourers, they will certainly say that this is first time after Independence that they have been provided with bank accounts, courtesy Modi ji. Now, you see more than 33 crore bank accounts have been opened.
Q: When we travelled across districts, we saw that rural areas are rooting for the BJP. However, the urban crowd is not convinced because of high inflation or crude prices. Do you think this will be a major issue?
A: This is the first time that the entire rural region is with the BJP. The poorest of the poor, who are sitting at the last milestone, were reached out to for the first time by the Modi government. They have realised that this is the first time in the country after Independence that they are getting various benefits from the government.
In the coming years, this trend will continue under the Modi government and funding to panchayats will increase. We are creating a robust infrastructure for the rural areas and there will be no difference.
Today, you see there is a big gap, big divide between urban and rural. There is a need to bridge this gap. So, this development is very necessary, otherwise we will be far behind. This is the reason that even after 70 years of Independence, so many countries are ahead of us.
This is shameful. What were the people who ruled the country for last 60 years doing? They were visionless. They were involved in corruption and they were not concerned about administration and good governance of the country.
The speed and scale of governance in the last five years has been unprecedented.
Q: Maintaining water resources has been an important challenge in Rajasthan. What has the government done about balancing the needs of nature and humanity?
A: If you want to establish a fine balance between nature and humanity, then a few things should be visualised and Vasundhara Raje is the first chief minister in the country who has done it.
This work done by her has been praised not by in our country, by our Prime Minister, but all over the world.
Apart from this, you see rural roads. In every village, you will find cement concrete (CC) roads called Gaurav Path, which is worth more than Rs 50 lakh.
Normally, we see CC roads in urban areas. This is the vision of our chief minister. You see the large pendency of cases all over the country. On account of this, people are suffering. The farmers are suffering on account of non-division of their land and cases remain pending for so many years. They are basically changing the courts and the courts are not in a position to decide on cases as early as possible. So, Madam Vasundhara Raje ji visualised and introduced ‘Nyay Aapke Dwar’.
Through this process, around 1 crore cases have been decided. This is not a small thing. This is a big game-changer and the indirect impact of this vision is tremendous. The Congress are not realizing this effect. We are realizing it. People are also realizing it.
This is the reason why they are not in a position to issue their lists on time. The BJP has issued it as we have full confidence. This is the reason why we issued the list forthwith.
There is also infighting in the Congress, in the leadership. There is no infighting within the BJP. We are working under the able leadership of our Prime Minister Modi, our National President Amit Shah. Everybody is happy because he takes the decision, he takes the decision democratically based on so many surveys, decision is based on the opinion of karyakartas and thereafter, tickets are distributed.
But the Congress, a party of one family, basically this dictates. This is why there is infighting there.
Q: Are you comfortable with some of the unexpected names on the Congress lists?
A: We do not care for all these things. Whatever their list be, we have fielded our candidates. The candidates’ selection is based not only on the karyakartas’ opinion, but also based on voters’ opinion. This is the difference, so we are comfortable with our list.
Q: There is a perception that both parties — Congress and BJP — are not fighting on local issues, but instead raking in issues like Rafale, GST and demonetisation. Do you think so?
A: We are fighting this election on the basis of development over the last five years by the Vasundhara Raje government. We are fighting the election on the basis of the development work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji. We are also fighting the election on the basis of the development work done by the Centre and development work by the state.
Because they (Congress) do not have any issues, Rahul Gandhi’s advisors have asked him to lie 15 times and they think the people will believe them. But they are in fool's paradise.
People will not believe him. They have started realising that he is lying. So all the issues raised by him do not stand.
Q: There are some reports that there is a rift between Amit Shah and Vasundhara Raje.
A: These are misconceived notions. Our chief minister shares a very good rapport with our honourable party president Amit Shah ji and vice versa.
There is no quarrel and dispute. There can be a difference of opinion. And we welcome difference of opinion in our party. But difference of opinion is not respected in Congress. They believe in only one opinion, they only believe in only dictating.
Assembly Elections 2018: Read the latest news, views and analysis here
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