‘Don’t think Himachal has the mood for another party’

In the run-up to the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections at the end of this year, the focus is on the incumbent BJP’s main challengers: the Congress, which tasted success in recent bypolls, and the Aam Aadmi Party, looking to repeat its stellar performance in Punjab. Chief minister Jairam Thakur tells Sunetra Choudhury that the AAP is unlikely to play a spoiler and the main battle remains against the Congress.

You have said that AAP cannot be successful in the hills. Why do you say that?

In a mountainous region like Himachal, you have to be acquainted with the area and they have no idea how things work there. Their Delhi model may have worked, but they don’t have a long-term model for being successful. The model cannot be replicated everywhere as each place has a different set of characteristics. It worked in Punjab, but in Himachal, other parties have failed. Mayawati tried, Samajwadi Party tried, Sharad Pawar tried but none of them succeeded. Late Pandit Sukhram even tried launching his own party and though he managed 4-5 seats, he had to wind up too. So, I don’t think Himachal has the mood for another party.

Would you accept, however, that AAP does emulate some of your party’s qualities? For instance, nationalism.

It’s true that people do equate BJP with nationalism and the Anna Hazare movement emulated that. They also took up BJP’s anti-corruption call, which is one of our party’s foundational themes. They were able to get mileage from this strategy and influence people. However, they are getting exposed as they have no real ideology or commitment. In Delhi, their government doesn’t really have any major financial strain as law and order is handled by the Centre and civic work is also not their responsibility. In Punjab, they said that they will give Rs 1,000 to each woman but where will this money come from? They promised 300 units of free electricity but they have no extra power to distribute there. So, they will be exposed very soon and similarly, they are trying to mislead voters in our state but people are politically very sharp here.

Who’s your challenger?

I am of the opinion that we are contesting against the Congress here. That’s because you can see the state of AAP in HP. The entire state unit had to be dissolved. They can’t even decide who to make the head of the state unit, they don’t trust anyone. So if there is no organisation, no leadership, how can they work?

Congress has chosen Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh as state head. What impact will this have?

Congress has made an effort. Pratibha Singh is the wife of Congress’ tallest leader in the state. Now that he is no more, Congress is trying to get the sympathy vote. However, there’s a difference and Virbhadra Singh can’t be compared to anyone else. They are trying to mobilise all together but they have four working presidents and they all have CM aspirations, so it is chaotic. They are trying but won’t succeed much.

What led to their win on all bypoll seats, that too in your area, just a few months ago?

I admit that there was a certain degree of miscalculation on our part there. First, the Congress party was supposed to give the ticket to someone else and then at the eleventh hour, they gave it to Pratibha Singh. The entire poll became a sympathy election for Virbhadra Singh, and Mandi was part of his area as an erstwhile royal. The death of someone who’s seen as king by certain people does impact the poll outcome, although they won by 1% or just 4,000 votes. So, it was a big lesson for us. We realised that we hadn’t focused on polling as much as we should have and the turnout wasn’t satisfactory. This time around, it’s not a bypoll and so the election will be on issues. One of them is the fact that the BJP is at the Centre too and Modi ji has a special connect with the state.

We’ve seen a change of CMs in Tripura and other states. Is it unnerving for CMs to have that as a possibility?

No, no, we don’t take that stress on ourselves, we just do our work. In Himachal, we worked as you can see from the work done during the pandemic. All development works have been fulfilled. In the four-and-ahalf-year tenure, the Opposition has only been able to raise a couple of issues because they have to. There isn’t much anger against the government. However, since 1985, no incumbent government has won in the state, whether it is BJP or Congress. So, it is a challenge but we feel that we are up to it. If you look at the recent elections, the people have voted the BJP back in four states. This is the first time since Uttarakhand state was formed and in UP, the first time in 37 years. So, this is no longer a time when we just have five years to work. The party high command has also clarified that we have done well and will fight the elections under Jairam Thakur’s leadership. I am grateful for that.

As an RSS man, how do you view the Gyanvapi issue?

We are all very clear on this issue that we were wronged there. Now there is evidence emerging and so it is just getting exposed and proven. So, the society is accepting this and while we don’t want to force anything, things are organically moving towards the truth. This is a sub judice matter, so I don’t want to say much, but the Shivling being found proves my point.

Are you saying the Places of Worship Act, 1991 should be changed or repealed?

We can’t suppress history but accept it.