How will you change Uttar Pradesh (UP), if the Congress party does not have the majority?
I have said during my meetings that we have come here not to form an alliance with any political party. We are here to change UP. Our strategy will be very simple... Our alliance will be with the people of UP, and not with anybody else. The biggest problem in the state is that the honour of the people is at stake. Here the government and the leaders do not respect the voice of the people. We run a government at the Centre and we respect the voice of the people. We go to the people and listen to them. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is not our concept, but the concept of the people in this country. The concept of waiving loans of farmers is the concept of the farmers... We just listened to them and implemented the program accordingly. Same is the case with Bunkars’ package or any other policy made by us.
But, here for the past 22 years, the government formed has represented just 10 per cent of the people — sometimes thieves and sometimes goondas; nobody is there to listen to the aam aadmi... Please go to any village and ask whether anyone from the government came to them... They will say no representative of the government ever visited them. There is no shortage of strength to bring about changes. If any state or region is not progressing, it is only because the strength of the people is not being used properly.
The caste factor...
First of all, do not get confused. Caste in UP does exist; if anybody says caste system in the state does not exist has not walked on the streets of UP. What I was doing with Sam Pitroda was telling a small community that there is hope for them in this country, that this gentleman who happened to be from your community and has many other attributes, has fundamentally transformed this country. All you youngsters who believe that you cannot transform this country, are wrong. There is one person who has done it, you can do it, too. It was you who interpreted it as a caste message, it was a message of hope to a community.
Aim is the important thing. My target is to induce hope into the people of UP. I want to go to the people and tell them: “There is no one like you... If you free your hands, you can change not only this state but the entire world...” Because I myself realise this. What I am telling you is what I learnt in the last three months. The state has such good people who go to Maharashtra and work there, fighting with the Shiv Sena. They run taxis there. Or, go to Ladakh or Delhi. Now you say it is a number game... The answer is very straight... The Congress will stand up high in this election... Once it stands up, it will decide political activities in the state... Whether it gets 100 seats, 200 seats, it will stand up...
About division of UP, as proposed by Mayawati…
These decisions are complicated. I am not an expert in this matter. But there are experts who can be consulted with. We should take their opinion.
About the complaint that the Congress Members of Parliament (MPs) are not performing well…
It is not correct that the people are not happy with our MPs. A vast majority of our MPs are performing well and some of them are not performing well. UP is faced with the fundamental question: Are we going to grow like Kerala, or are we going to stay where we are? That is the question. UP is not going to transform in six months... It is going to take time, you can make a huge beginning: With just one thing that your Chief Minister decides that we want to change... With due respect, Mulayam Singh Yadav ji and Mayawati ji — I am not going to mention the Bharatiya Janata Party, as they frankly don’t exist in the state — don’t want to change UP.
I am blind, I am not seeing anything else now... You are going to ask me questions about A, B and C, but I am blind. Right now, I see only one thing: What I have seen in the last years in this state is criminal... I am going to fight it and change it... When you working on an idea, all the other things are secondary... I am absolutely convinced, not 99 per cent, not 99.99 per cent, but 100 per cent that this state can be transformed. The youngsters in the state have the energy to transform the state. Whatever the questions I had about this disappeared six-seven months ago. Now, I am absolutely convinced that UP can transform itself. All that UP needs now is someone to hold its hands and say, “Come on, let us do it, it will happen...” I am from UP, but an Indian. The cause of India’s pain is for what is going on in UP.
Don’t underestimate the state, this is the biggest state in the country, the most powerful state in the country, the largest amount of money is spent here. It is slowing India down and it is not the fault of people. It is the fault of the leaders for the past 22 years. We are not going to tolerate this anymore... Full stop... End...
More From This Section
About Priyanka Gandhi’s comment..
If Priyanka ji said she is like a mendak (frog) during the rains, I am like that as well, because I am her brother.
Whether you will be the Prime Minister...
Every senior political leader has an obsession, to become the Prime Minister. Rahul Gandhi does not have this obsession. I have another obsession: To end the criminal act of not listening to the voices of the poor; I have no strength, if you think that Rahul Gandhi possesses great strength, no… I just do one thing... Listen to the people and take it to Parliament and Assembly. I am a transmitter. Beyond that, I do not have any power. The only thing I have that some people of this country believe in me... I don’t want anything else... If one person of this country believes in me, that is good enough for me to start... I am not talking lies here... I am talking about the truth... Normally, there is an obsession for the posts. But there is nothing in a post. The strength is with the people. Go to them, listen to them and do accordingly... This is what I do...
Edited excerpts from a press conference by MP and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in Varanasi on February 6