‘Prime Minister talks but he does not listen’
STRAIGHT TALK In an interview to HT’s Umesh Raghuvanshi, the Congress V-P attacks BJP’s Kashmir strategy and claims Modi refuses to listen to those who are experienced in the area
What is the idea behind the Deoria-Delhi Kisan Yatra?
The role of an opposition leader is to represent the voice of people. Farmers are in pain. Agriculture has suffered tremendously in the past two-and-a-half years. Cities are expanding, there is scarcity of water and other factors contribute as well. Some of these are structural problems others are not. The UPA government’s approach was to help farmers as there was an understanding that they face severe difficulties and need support. This understanding was reflected in our response at Bhatta Parsaul when we amended the land acquisition act , in our loan waiver scheme, in the increase of Minimum Support Price for farmers and the formulation of a job guarantee scheme under MNREGA.
Has it changed?
Yes of course. The BJP’s approach in the past 2.5 years has been to abandon and betray farmers. This will not only have an adverse impact on agriculture and rural India, but it will also affect the entire country. A large part of the UPA’s economic success came from rural India. Experts will affirm this.
Funds that were injected in to the villages pushed the economic cycle in the villages. This in turn fired the national economic cycle. The BJP agricultural policy is wrong on two counts. Firstly: it’s inhumane and cruel. You are letting down large sections of our countrymen who are genuinely in deep distress. Secondly: it is not strategic. You are harming India economically.
How do you propose to bring the lost vote banks to the Congress?
Vote banks matter when there is an attempt to extract something out of a state like UP. We do not want to take from the people of UP. We want to give them a vision of their huge potential. We want to tell people that if you support this vision we can change the lives of people. We can change UP.
How to bring about the change?
UP’s agriculture has huge potential but it is dying. If we do not provide a fair price to farmers, if we do not create foodprocessing units, if we do not create a cold chain that links farms to the end customer, if we do not efficiently link the farmer to the national and international markets, it will be impossible for the state to progress. Indulging in extraction and extortion from farmers will only bring the state to ruin.
Giving farmers a vision, strengthening their capacity and enabling them to utilise their full potential will create prosperity. The same applies to the youth, women, professionals and labourers. Nobody has actually believed in UP in the past 27 years. I have a lot of faith in the people of UP. I am absolutely convinced that they have the potential to make UP the number one state in India.
What are your views on the Samajwadi Party government?
The UP government has failed. The people of UP gave a huge opportunity to CM Akhilesh Yadavji but he failed to fulfil their aspirations. They wanted change. He should not have tolerated corruption and goondaism. If he had taken a strong stance he might have succeeded in transforming UP. Although I am a leader of the opposition, it makes me sad that a young leader like him was unable to deliver. I too was hopeful that he would bring about change. It is a pity that five years have been wasted.
Will the Congress have any alliances?
We want to give a vision to UP. We want to show a path of development and change to the people of the state, especially the youth. I feel the Congress should stand on its own and fight the 2017 assembly elections on the basis of its ideology and policies without compromising with them.
What is the Congress’ vision?
The Congress party is everybody’s party. This is embedded in our DNA. It will decentralise power away from a single person or family. We will fight the criminal network that controls UP and steals from its people. We will bring industry in and provide them with the requisite infrastructure thereby creating jobs for the youth. We will develop a health care and education system accessible to all, especially the weakest and poorest sections. We will revive UP’s agriculture by supporting the farmer and strengthening him and finally, we will ensure that no community or person feels isolated and threatened in the state. The Congress will ensure that everyone has an equal right and opportunity to progress and prosper.
What about the BJP?
The BJP’s vision centres on how to capitalise on people’s fears; they know how to convert the people’s fear and anger into hatred. This is what they have perfected from Savarkar to Mr Narendra Modi. It is their core competence; they are very good at it.
What do you have to say about Mayawati? At a personal level, I have respect for both – Akhilesh Yadavji and Mayawatiji. Kanshi Ramji and Mayawatiji did a tremendous amount of work before she became chief minister. After the death of Kanshi Ramji , Mayawatiji no longer valued his legacy. Unfortunately, she has totally compromised and sold the movement. I have failed to understand why she did this. I believe that the compromises she has made have deeply hurt UP.
But caste politics plays a major role in the state.
What is required is a vision for UP. The people will come out of this only when they have an alternative idea. An alternative idea is — Let’s build UP instead of extracting from it.
Why are we not able to imagine a new UP? Why do we imagine a UP of the past? The only conversation I hear about UP is about its past. Let’s decide what UP can do in the next five years and lets show that we can get it done together.
What are three major challenges for India? Unemployment, water scarcity and corruption. I would add a fourth. The fuelling of hatred and the politics of dividing people to come to power.
Your views on Jammu and Kashmir?
The Congress had a solid strategy for Kashmir. We had put an end to violence in Kashmir by the end of our term. Central paramilitary forces, army personnel and civilians were no longer being killed.
What was the strategy?
The foundation of our strategy was to isolate Pakistan internationally. Close down their space to create trouble in the Valley and engage solidly with the people and youth.
After Bombay (the 26/11 attacks), Manmohan Singhji and our government worked silently to isolate Pakistan. It was a huge diplomatic effort. We convinced the world that Pakistan was a terrorist state and completely isolated them. We made them a pariah state.
We worked diligently to close political space for anti-India forces in J&K. We developed a detailed plan. It included jobs and training for youth through the Himayat and Udaan programs. We took India’s top industrialists there to build trust. We gave almost `1,000 crores to create self help groups and link thousands of women to the Indian banking system.
But by far the most devastating blow we landed against the militants was the holding of Panchayat elections. This simply destroyed their ability to operate
What should be done?
Develop a sound strategy and follow it. Isolate Pakistan internationally and regain the political and operational space ceded to terrorists supported by them. Engage with the people of J&Kshow them we care. Demonstrate that an alternative vision to violence is possible.
Recognise and use our immense assets. How did we isolate Pakistan? Smaller countries play a huge role. The countries associated with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) helped us tremendously. The PM completely walked away from his biggest asset by not going to NAM. The PM should start listening to experts and his ministerial colleagues. There are brilliant people in our bureaucracy and agencies, use their deep understanding. The PM talks but he does not listen. People are afraid of telling the PM what they think.
Will Priyanka Gandhi Vadra play a more active role?
I do want that. I have told her to actively help me. I trust my sister, she’s a good friend to me and I would love to work with her. Read the full interview with Rahul Gandhi here