Ram Vilas Paswan, minister for steel, chemicals and fertilisers, speaks to Nistula Hebbar and Saubhadra Chatterji about economic policy, politics and dalit leadership.
The BJP is holding its National Executive meeting and anticipating early elections. The Congress Working Committee is also mulling elections. What is your take on the timing of the next general elections?
Well, there was a situation just recently when international trends in oil prices and recession hit us hard, with high inflation and (economic) slowdown staring us in the face. With inflation figures seeing a downward trend and industrial production figures showing a rise, I expect that inflation will come down to around 8 per cent by February-March. Ideally, that should be the time elections can be called. If they are called earlier, any other party coming to power will claim that the lower inflation figures have been engineered by them. Why should we allow anybody to walk off with our credit? This is not to say that inflation will be the only issue in the elections. There is the nuclear deal, on which both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhiji stood firm for the energy security of the country, and the aam aadmi policies of the UPA government.
Now that, as you say, prices are coming down, isn’t it time for export duty on steel to be eased?
Let’s see if the trend continues.
What about the mining policy? It was supposed to be announced soon.
We are also awaiting the notification of the policy. This lies in the hands of the mines ministry and not the steel ministry. The Cabinet has already cleared it, only the notification is required.
The pharma policy is stuck at the level of the GoM and people say there are serious differences over the administrative control of the Central Drug Authority (CDA) between your ministry and the health ministry.
That is not true. The real bone of contention is not the CDA but the list of essential drugs, around 354 of them. The pharma policy proposes control of prices of essential drugs and the industry is disputing the list. We say it is the Supreme Court's orders on life-saving drugs which should be enforced. We are eagerly awaiting the policy. I can’t say when it will come out.
Karnataka has been complaining about shortage of fertilisers
Their main problem, as far as I know, is the availability of complex fertilisers. For the last four years, we have not raised the price of complex fertilisers. Therefore, the demand has gone up and there is a shortage. Earlier, farmers used to mix DAP with urea in the fields to create complex fertilisers. Now, due to the low price and the tight supply situation, there is a shortage of complex fertilisers. We have agreed with the Karnataka government that we will raise its quota of DAP as we are comfortable with the supply of DAP, Muriate of Potash (MOP) and urea.
Political analysts are saying that only when the LJP (Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party) ties up with Lalu Prasad’s RJD, the UPA will have any chance to retain a large chunk of its current seats.
Right now, my party is busy in relief works after the flood. We haven’t given serious thought to devising an election strategy. But as of now, I want to go alone. I don’t wish to form an alliance with Lalu Prasad. Last time also, we fought alone and had good results. In Bihar, there is a mood for change as the people have tested various alternatives. They have seen how the RJD works and now they are witnessing that the JD(U) is a total failure. We have to keep in mind the aspirations of the people when we formulate our election strategy.
You have just come from a meeting of the disaster management committee of the UPA government. How does the Centre assess the relief work in Bihar?
The management of the state is very poor. We have suggested that there should be high-level central teams at district levels to monitor the ongoing relief operations. Officers will be deployed both from the state and the Centre. We must keep in mind that only around 15 per cent of the Kosi river’s water has come so far. We fear that in the future, Kosi will release more water and we must be prepared for that. Unfortunately, the state government lacks manpower and so the Centre has to take charge.
Coming back to the national political scenario, while the NDA is consolidating its allies and even getting newer allies like the Asom Gano Parishad (AGP), the UPA is continuously losing political partners. The Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) have left the UPA. The BSP and the Left have also withdrawn support.
Arre bhai, you all know the relationship between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). When the SP came forward to support the government, it was untenable for the BSP to continue supporting the UPA. The two parties are like the north pole and the south pole. The MDMK left because of local issues, they have some problems with Karunanidhiji. The TRS had issues related to its demand for Telengana. But for the Left, it is a different situation. They will have to come back to the UPA. They may fight a lone battle during the elections but after the results come out, the Left will have only two options — either support the UPA or support the NDA. What will they do? They can’t support the NDA.
The Left is trying to form the third alternative.
That will never happen. Uska fuse ud gaya hai. Third front, as the name itself suggests, is destined to be at the third position. As long as that prefix “third” remains, nothing will ever happen in that political group.
But Mayawati has emerged as a prominent leader in national politics. Are you not scared of her growing popularity among different castes?
Where is Mayawati? Where is she outside Uttar Pradesh ? After she became the UP chief minister, there have been three state elections. In Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, she managed to get just 2 per cent votes. In Karnataka, she had 1.5 per cent votes. She came to power in UP because of the high anti-incumbency against Mulayam Singh Yadav. And what social engineering is she talking about? This was the Congress’ old stand. She is simply encashing the political legacy of Kanshi Ram. If she were truly into social engineering, would she have announced that her successor would be someone from her caste, like sadhus announcing their successors at various religious orders? She is just a one-state phenomenon.