HARI SHANKAR VYAS, senior Journalist and anchor of the popular programme Central Hall on ETV, speaks to the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi about his vision and plans for a new India
What is the significance of the slogan, ‘Congress-free India’? Why not, corruption-free India, unemployment-free India or poverty-free India?
I have one satisfaction; the country knows me at least for one thing: Whenever Modi speaks, he speaks frankly without inhibitions, and from the heart, with conviction. When I speak about a ‘Congress-free India’, I mean freedom from the work-culture that the Congress has given to this nation during the last sixty years. I refer to freedom from the politics of vote bank, the politics of grabbing power through these means. The country hasn’t witnessed such a naked dance of corruption that it has seen during the last 10 years. Thus, a Congress-free India necessarily means an India free from bad governance, dynastic rule, misuse of Constitutional institutions, inflation and so on. But, I want a ‘Congress-free India’ by democratic means.
So, in the light of shortcomings of the UPA what is your perception regarding the current crisis; your vision, blueprint?
First, people have lost their confidence not only in the Congress or the institution of the Prime Minister, but in the very institution of the Government. No nation can survive without a sense of confidence. So the foremost priority is to restore their confidence in the system, to bring them out from an environment of trust-deficit. And this election of 2014 does not leave any scope for negativity. This is an ‘election for hope’. People of the country know Modi very well. The Vajpayee-led NDA Government’s intentions and performance are still fresh in their minds. Sterling performance of the BJP Governments in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Goa has rekindled their hopes. It’s the cumulative effect of all these that people in every nook and corner of the country believe that the BJP’s intentions are good and honest and they want to work for the poor.
Today, the Governments of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have got an opportunity to serve 40 per cent of the total tribal population in the country. The Governments headed by Vasundharaji, Shivraj Ji, Raman Singhji have by their schemes and actions instilled a sense of confidence and trust in the society that the BJP doesn’t believe in making hollow promises. It gives results. It works for the poor.
There is a general feeling that you have turned this election into a presidential kind of election. And, therefore, people see in you an image of a nayak (hero).
I do not consider myself a nayak, a hero. I have a commitment towards the nation. Towards its people. Who is my priority? It’s the poorest of the poor; the youths who are in despair; the women who are unsafe; our farmers; our forces on the borders. The late Lal Bahadur Shastri had given us a slogan, ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’. But the way they are decapitated and the farmers are forced to commit suicide; it seems that the Congress has changed it to ‘Marr Jawan, Marr Kisan’. They have brought the nation to this sorry state of affairs. In such circumstances, our priorities must change.
Where do these policies and programmes figure in the framework of your blueprint, ideology?
Is it not the demand of time that the productivity of our land is increased? If we want to make our farmer self-reliant, we will have to multiply the productivity manifold. We just need to create a system to take care of the health of his soil. Make a health-card for his farm. Educate him about the health of his soil. In the absence of such a system, he would use fertiliser randomly and pesticides indiscriminately. He needs a scientific back up.
Same is the fate of infrastructure for irrigation. It is the misfortune of the country that it still lacks in irrigation infrastructure even after over six decades of independence. Atalji had taken a lead in this direction. He envisioned linking of rivers across the country. But the UPA Government put it in the cold storage. Now the Supreme Court has taken it for a task for sitting over this scheme. If the rivers were interlinked, we would be spared of the misery of floods as well as drought. Gujarat was never counted among the agricultural states. But today, we have carved a place for ourselves in this sector. The same way, we made strides in the milk sector. Unfortunately, this revolution remained confined to Gujarat. There is a need for synergy between agriculture and animal husbandry to raise the income of the farmers.
Also, agriculture sector cannot be seen in isolation. It has to be done in a holistic manner. There are three activities in this sector that can be dovetailed together to make it a viable and profitable pursuit — the first is farming, second is animal husbandry and the third, growing trees on the fences. The last will reduce our dependence on imports of timber over a period of time. We need to think new. It is the misfortune of the country that the poor farmer has to resort to distress — sale of his product in the absence of storage facilities. Even expression of annoyance and displeasure by the Supreme Court fails to move this insensitive Government. They let the crop rot and finally the poor farmer has to sell it to distilleries for a pittance.
People have so much expectations from you that on the social media one can see that when you become the Prime Minister, the dollar would be equivalent to Rs 40 and petrol will sell at Rs 50. Do you ever feel the burden of such expectations?
Their expectations are not to bring in stars from the sky. They are not asking for Rolls Royce in front of their houses. They are asking for basic minimum things. It is the responsibility of the Government to provide its people basic amenities after 60 years of independence.
Seven years from now, we shall be celebrating the platinum jubilee of the Independence. A time has come to introspect whether we can give our martyrs an India of their dreams for which they sacrificed their lives.
Shastriji had connected himself with the countrymen when he gave the nation the slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’. At that time, we used to import wheat from abroad. He urged farmers in the country to grow more to meet the domestic demands. His appeal that came from his heart had a magical effect and the same farmers made India self-sufficient in no time. Wheat is not grown in the Government offices. It was the sincerity of the leadership and people’s confidence in it that produced wonders. This is how changes can be brought about. One needs to understand the strength of the 1.25 billion strong countrymen. We are fortunate that 65 per cent of our population is younger than 35 years of age. Leadership should provide opportunities to fulfil the dreams of the youth.
But you will acknowledge that the youths lose their patience very fast. If they don’t get results soon, there could be serious consequences of the same.
I do not subscribe to this view. Today’s generation understands and analyses the situation dispassionately. If they are convinced of the intentions of leadership, they would never lose patience. Please do no underestimate their ability of reasoning. You just need to remain connected to them.
The foremost thing is employment. Jobless growth is the biggest crisis staring at our face. Creation of jobs should commensurate with the growth in the agricultural sector or the industrial sector. Then tourism industry has such a large potential for employment generation.
Today, the irony is that we have to outsource our developmental activities. We lay very little emphasis on research. Research and innovation should be our priorities. We lag behind in the matter of patent registration. Do we not have enough talent? If we provide congenial atmosphere for our youth, they can excel in the fields of IPR and holding patents.
The present generation is craving for value for merit. Reservation should take a backseat. What’s your take on this?
When I came to Gujarat, there were 13000 seats in engineering. There were tensions on the issue of reservation. Today, there are over one lakh seats. The problem of reservation has vanished. Development should be such that everybody gets an opportunity. Nobody is interested in grabbing. But if we don’t provide opportunities, what will they do? Every poor person, or a Dalit or a tribal, or anybody for that matter, must get his right.
What is your vision of national issues, particularly of security and foreign policies?
The central Government has failed on every front. Be it the internal front or the external front. Have we ever seen tension between the Defence Minister and the armed forces earlier? Even in the Indira Gandhi regime, was there ever any enumeration in the forces on the basis of Hindu or Muslim? Our submarines are drowning. Our jawans are being killed. The decision-making process has come to a standstill.
There is urgent need to modernise our forces and equipments. Inculcate discipline among them. With hostile China and Pakistan on our borders, have we realised what will happen after the United States leaves Afghanistan? Are we ready to face these challenges?
The problem is that the UPA does not have a vision. It does not have a commitment to the nation. National security is not their priority. I hold the entire government and the NSC responsible for this sorry state of affairs. We spend billions of dollars every year to import defence equipments. Cannot the youth of this country manufacture such equipment in India? Can’t we urge and facilitate our industry and engineering colleges to work for manufacturing these equipment indigenously?
What do you attribute to the place that you occupy today and you aspire to occupy tomorrow? Did you ever dream of it?
The people of this country will decide my destiny. I have never dreamt to become something. But have always dreamt of doing something. To achieve those dreams, I have decided to dedicate myself to the service of the nation. I left my family and my village to achieve this goal. My country is my motherland and its 1.25 billion population is my family. The foundation plays a vital role in the formation of an individual. I was inspired to live for the nation by my experiences with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS); I believe it inculcated discipline in me. I learnt to work hard, live for others and not oneself from the Sangh.
It’s not rajniti that is important to me, it is rashtraniti. Power is not everything for us. Service of the society is everything. These are the sanskaars imbibed in us. India should regain the status of Jagatguru, is our dream. That should be the dream of every Indian.
Which is your favourite book, which helped formulae your views, influenced you?
In my early childhood, when I was in the village, I was an avid reader. But a stage came, when I could not read further. Unfortunately, I don’t get time for reading.
Your lifestyle, clothing, interests, home, office et al look little different from others. Where did you inherit thesesanskaars?
A lot of myths have been created around me. No one has ever bothered to look into them. I will give you an example. It dates back to those years when the NDA was in power and I was a General Secretary of the party. The editor of a big newspaper called me at 7.30 in the morning and said that he wanted to meet me. I asked him to come to Ashok Road at around 11am. But when he said that he was standing outside my office, I called him in. When he entered my room, I was wearing a saffron lungi. I used to sleep on my blanket. Some newspapers were lying scattered around the blanket. There were some books too. A copper decanter had some water in it. And there was a plastic chair lying in the room. I asked him if he would like to have some tea. He said he would. I got up and went outside to the footpath to fetch a cup of tea.
After he had tea, I asked him as to what brought him here so early in the day. Normally, the journalists do not wake up so early. At first he was reluctant to open up. But when I insisted, he informed that the magazine was doing a story on those RSS pracharaks (full timers) who have come to the BJP. The idea is that their lifestyles have changed ever since they came to politics. I asked him, “What do you think now after seeing me?” He said, “They were wrong”. I then asked him whether they would continue the story. But it’s the misfortune of the country that the story got killed.
I wear these simple glasses, but people say that they’re from an expensive branded! I wear simple khadi. I like an orderly living. And if something suits my physique, it gets a brand name!
You boast the legacy of the RSS. There, they work in a team, take collective decisions. But in your case, there is a general perception that you believe in going alone, taking your decisions without consulting your colleagues.
This is another big lie about me. Since they are unable to trap me into any serious charge, they spread such kind of misinformation about me. Can a single person bring such a big change in a large state like Gujarat? It could not have been achieved without the effort of the Team Gujarat. If you don’t have a good team, if you don’t listen to it, you cannot succeed. The secret of my success is that I listen to my team, work in tandem with its members. And once we reach a consensus, I work with full force to implement it.
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