‘Beneficiaries are our new voter base’
Shepherding the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election campaign in Rajasthan, where anti-incumbency and reports of factionalism pose challenges for the ruling party, Union minister Prakash Javadekar insists the delivery of social welfare schemes will ensure the BJP’S return to power and the beneficiaries of these programmes will act as the state government’s ambassadors.
Ahead of the December 7 Rajasthan election, Javadekar spoke to and
Amandeep Shukla Smriti Kak Ramachandran
about what will propel the party win back the state, the threat from Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and the new national education policy being prepared by his human resource development ministry. Edited excerpts: a younger woman has been given a mobile for ~100, which is prepaid for six months. The family was so happy. On the third day, I went to see the food served through the Annapurna Rasoi Yojana, where mobile vans offer a sumptuous breakfast for ~5 and a full meal for ~8 to the needy. Our slogan in the state is ‘Na Baton Se, Kaamo Se, BJP Phir Se; Phir ek baar, BJP Sarkar ‘ (Not just words, through work, BJP once more; once more, a BJP government). Beneficiaries are present in every poor household, and their testimonials are our campaign. Not only targets, they are the new addition to us (our voter base). wanted. And at the same time, we don’t do politics on the basis of caste. We consider all castes as part of society. It is the Congress that faces this problem (of caste groups being upset) because Rahul (Gandhi) wants Sachin (Pilot) to be the face but he is not able to say it openly since it has political ramifications. Congress is in a dilemma, we have made our choice very clear —the BJP under PM Modi and CM Vasundhara Raje is marching ahead. tionship has never been like a sycophant to the family. When I went as in-charge of Karnataka, all the parties were saying it’s a clean sweep for the Congress. But we practically snatched power from the Congress and they are reduced; they then surrendered to the JD(S) [Janata Dal - Secular] and gave them the chief minister’s post. They are not gelling well, and the Tipu Sultan jayanti showed the cracks within. Unprincipled alliances have no future.
There is an expiry date for all such opportunistic alliances. The essence is that the BJP on its own is the single-largest party in Karnataka, and in the Lok Sabha bypolls we contested two seats, of which we won one. So, it’s not a complete rout. The BJP has made it clear umpteen times that the Ram Janamabhoomi issue for us is a matter of faith and not an election issue.
We say a temple at the birthplace (in Ayodhya) is already there and it only needs to be made magnificent. You have to ask the Congress, in their new role in Madhya Pradesh, they are talking of Ram and Gau Sarakshan while in Kerala they want to organise beef parties. Their member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor is opposed to a Ram temple at the birthplace. The new education policy is practically ready now. The final draft will be ready in a few days. After the code of conduct (imposed because of state elections), it should see the light of the day because final consultations are also practically over. It is in the discussion stage. Once the Cabinet takes a decision, it can be introduced. UGC, AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) and NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) are three education-sector regulators and these should work in the same way, follow the same processes, rules and methodology. What we are trying to do is to provide the ease of getting permissions, and at the same time, maintain the quality of higher education.
The second aspect is, all these three regulators are different but as part of UGC (University Grants Commission) reform the grants function should be separated and placed under a body headed by academicians.
It will not be bureaucratic, but a body of academicians. One body will deal with grants and another with regulations. That is the whole idea. But we have not finalised the draft because it is in process. It is the empowered committee (headed by N Gopalaswami) which gives its recommendations. I do not know the dates they have decided... The empowered committee has already seen presentations by 117 applicants.