INTERVIEW ‘Let Congress extend support to BJP on Ram mandir’
Blaming the Opposition, mainly the Congress, for politicising the Ram mandir issue and wanting it to remain unresolved, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP G.V.L. NARSIMHA RAO in an interview to YOJNA GUSAI said that it is not the BJP which raked up the issue but it was the Supreme Court’s recent order which coincided with election season. The BJP leader sounded confident of his party retaining power in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and doing exceptionally well in Telangana and Mizoram and also asserted that the party’s main poll plank of development will be a “much stronger” and “potent political platform” in 2019 than it was in the 2014 general elections.
The mandir issue has come up now because the BJP wants it in its agenda. It was the Supreme Court’s decision which in a sense is a coinciding factor. We have not asked the honourable court to postpone the matter.
Five states are going to polls, and many see them as the semi-finals before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. How will be the performance of your party be?
Of the five states going to polls, including Mizoram and Telagana, the BJP is in power in three states and these are the states which we swept in 2014 (general elections). In the three North Indian states where elections are taking place, Rajasthan is the only state which has been swinging from one party to the other and therefore, the state itself has exhibited a tendency to vote for a different party in successive elections. Some states have such a tendency and therefore, given that factor, Rajasthan is a slightly bigger challenge for us whereas the party is very confident of winning with a bigger majority in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in a row. In Rajasthan also, though it remains a challenge, we are confident of retaining power though with a reduced majority.
Why are you confident of winning Rajasthan when most opinion polls have predicted otherwise?
The manner in which the people vote in bypolls is markedly different from the way they vote during the general elections and for the state assembly. So a lot of observers who expect Congress to bag Rajasthan are banking on the recent bypoll results. Bypoll outcomes are not a reckoner for any election outcome. Given the popularity of our national leadership, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is an advantage for us. In states where we never had any chance, we have come to power, like in Haryana, Tripura and even in Karnataka
But what about Telangana and Mizoram?
In Telangana, the incumbent chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has still not been able to explain why he favoured an early assembly election when the simultaneous polls with the Lok Sabha elections were expected anytime in May. Certainly the fear of the Modi factor coming into greater play during simultaneous polls prompted KCR to call for early polls in the state. As the TRS government has not been able to live up to the expectations of the people and given the natural decay of the Congress nationwide and its opportunistic alliance with the TDP (Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party), the BJP has emerged as the favourite among a large section of the voters, in particular, the socially disadvantaged groups, which got a raw deal, both from the TRS and the erstwhile Congress government in united Andhra Pradesh. We expect the Telangana elections to throw a hung verdict given the nature of the multi-cornered contest and the BJP expects to play a pivotal role in the next government in Telangana. As far as Mizoram is concerned, the Congress is set to lose yet another government in the North-east, which would signal its near eclipse from the region.
Why is the BJP’s election campaign focused so much around Mr Modi?
It is natural for the BJP to leverage its most potent assets in the form of Mr Modi’s image and credibility. Today, the Prime Minister symbolises positive governance and selfless service, which are unique attributes as compared to the family-run political operations of rival formations in all these states. While the BJP had come to power in many of these states even earlier on repeated occasions, Mr Modi’s campaigns have a plus factor which give the additional edge to the party to trounce political rivals. It further helps the BJP in these states that the principal rival is the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi, whose inability to lend a touch of credibility to the campaign and whose ineffective leadership has helped the BJP’s cause in expanding into areas which were hitherto to be Congress’s strongholds.
Development has been your main poll plank. Will it continue to be in 2019 as well?
Absolutely. To me the developmental plank of the BJP in 2019 is going to be a much stronger and potent political platform than it was in 2014. In 2014, it was a promise that appealed to the people but in 2019 it is the track record of Modi’s governance that will give the BJP a huge leg-up. Election victories to various state assemblies in the interm period, notably in Uttar Pradesh and Tripura were a manifestation of public approval of the Central government’s performance. More than 22 crore families have directly benefited from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance and this has a direct bearing on their preference for voting for a party that has pursued positive politics and a positive governance agenda.
If development is and will be your party’s main poll plank, why is the Ram Mandir issue being ignited and some of your party leaders have been staunchly campaigning for it?
Well, if you remember in the last Lok Sabha polls, there was no mention of Ram Mandir, even in Uttar Pradesh, which was a very crucial election for us when Mr Modi was the Prime Ministerial candidate. The mandir issue has come up now because the BJP wants it in its agenda. It was the Supreme Court’s decision which in a sense is a coinciding factor. We have not asked the honourable Court to postpone the matter, as it was the Court’s decision. So this issue has not come to the fore because of the BJP but because of the inordinate delay in resolving this longpending legal dispute.
But the Opposition party claim that the BJP is raking up the issue because it is not confident of retaining power in 2019?
If this is the question, then the Opposition parties, lets say the Congress and other parties, should come together and unanimously decide about the construction of Ram Mandir. Then it will not remain a political issue anymore. Let, the Congress say that it favours Ram mandir construction in Ayodhya. Let them extend support to the BJP and there can be a national consensus on this. We will be extremely pleased if there is a national consensus.
Actually, it is the Congress which wants to play politics over the Ram Mandir. The Congress went to the Court saying that they want the decision to be delayed, which has been pending for sixseven decades. What was the need to prolong it further? You can be a fake Ram bhakt or a Shiv bhakt. Rahul Gandhi fakes being a Ram bhakt but when it comes to fulfilling the aspirations of crores of Hindus, he suddenly wears a different hat. If the Congress does not want this issue to linger or become a talking point, it should support the temple and let there be a national consensus on this. Congress wants to use stealthy means to delay a court verdict and wants to conspire against the creation of the temple, and on top of it, indulges in false propaganda that Hindus do not want a temple. The Congress and its leaders like Digvijay Singh and Shahsi Tharoor try to play votebank politics over it. For the BJP, it is not a political issue, but certainly an emotive issue and a matter of faith and belief. The Congress should not indulge in hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus by making absurd comments about the Ram mandir.