 "Congress will bounce back in Rajasthan in 2018: Sachin Pilot")
Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot tells Amit Agnihotri about the Bharatiya Janata Party's partisan politics on corruption charges, issues facing the Vasundhara Raje government in the state, and the suspense over when Rahul Gandhi will take over the reigns of the party.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are locked in a bitter fight over politicisation of the Army's "surgical strikes" against terrorists across the Line of Control. What's your take on the issue?
In their very first reaction after the strikes, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the party supported the government on "surgical strikes". After that, the ruling BJP has been politicising the issue by taking credit for the Army action in poll-bound states, particularly Uttar Pradesh. They are playing petty politics over the sacrifices of our soldiers. This issue needs to be dealt with sensitivity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, used a religious platform in Lucknow to talk about terrorism and used a lot of religious slogans. This is unbecoming of a ruling party.
The BJP came to power in 2014 on the basis of false promises to farmers that their incomes would increase. That has not happened. Farmers are in an unprecedented debt trap. Instead of addressing their concerns, the BJP has been busy raking up the issue of cow protection to divert focus from the government's failure in handling the farm crisis. They are neither talking about the issue nor executing any policies to reduce farm distress. In Rajasthan alone, there have been 60 farmer suicides. Nearly one million farmers are awaiting relief and compensation in the state. Beneficiaries of the Food Security Act are facing discrimination. Differently-abled people are demonstrating against the government with their demands but the regime is careless and is not looking at them. The Congress, as a responsible Opposition, is humbly taking up the cause of the farmers.
You have been accusing the National Democratic Alliance government for allegedly using central agencies to harass the non-BJP state governments but not taking any action against its own CMs....
Yes, we have been highlighting this issue time and again, but have seen no action. The BJP-ruled Centre is using all the agencies to harass the non-BJP state governments. It used the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to raid Arvind Kejriwal's office in Delhi. But no action has been taken against corruption charges on BJP chief ministers.
For instance, the CBI has not questioned Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the Vyapam scam and the scores of deaths related to it. The Centre is not taking action on the corruption charges against Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. They used their muscle power to topple the Arunachal Pradesh and the Uttarakhand governments and are now trying the same tactic in Manipur. During the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, the BJP was hitting us over graft charges against Union ministers, who were our alliance partners. But here, no action has been taken against BJP leaders.
What are the three main issues on which you are targeting the Raje government?
The biggest issue in Rajasthan today is poor law and order. If you talk about atrocities against Dalits, the state is number two after Uttar Pradesh. Those who are behind such crimes are being protected by the BJP. Rape of girls, too, is on the rise. It is an irony that the chief minister of the state is a woman, yet crime against women is rising.
Corruption is the second issue. When the Congress flagged the large-scale bungling in the allocation of around 600 mining licences, the state government cancelled them. There have been many cases in which state officials have been caught with crores of rupees in cash. Further, the state government is trying to privatise the health and the education sectors. Already, 17,000 government schools have been shut to benefit the education mafia. Recently, we held statewide protests against a 37 per cent hike in electricity charges. There is a need for fixing political accountability on corruption in government departments such as mines, urban development, public works. The state Anti-Corruption Bureau has detected a scam in the purchase of submersible pumps. We are pressing for the resignation of minister Kiran Maheshwari.
Wha's your take on the removal of references to India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru from school textbooks?
We have demonstrated against the move, saying that it reflected the mental bankruptcy of the Raje government. It is working in a vindictive manner by deliberately eliminating the names and contribution of big leaders. Nehru was a visionary leader and was recognised the world over for his leadership qualities.
There are reports of infighting in the Rajasthan Congress. Is the dinner diplomacy concept, which was started recently to bring senior leaders together, working at all?
(Laughs) There is no infighting in the state Congress; all of us are working together. I would like to credit all the leaders and workers for it. We had been meeting informally in the past, too, but now it is being made more structured. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot hosted the first dinner on October 2. I will host the next one on November 8.
The Congress performed poorly in the 2013 Rajasthan Assembly polls. Much of it was blamed on a weak organisation. Has there been any progress on that front?
We have covered a lot of distance in the past few years. For instance, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress polled 30 per cent of the total votes compared to BJP's 56 per cent. In the panchayat polls held in August, we got 45 per cent of the votes against the BJP's 46.5 per cent of the BJP.
The gap has narrowed. We also did well in the Assembly bypolls and won seats, which were the stronghold of Raje and her son Dushyant. We are reviewing the performance of local units to send out the message that we need to fine-tune our strategy. We plan to give chance to newcomers, who are excited to work with the party. In the next Assembly polls in 2018, the Congress will bounce back to power, winning the hearts and minds of the people. I have travelled across the state and asked local leaders to remain in constant touch with their voters.
The question that keeps coming back to senior Congress leaders is when will Rahul Gandhi take over the party?
Frankly, I do not know. That is a call to be taken by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. I have said earlier that a large number of party workers want Rahul Gandhi to become party chief, but he alone will decide the timing of the move.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are locked in a bitter fight over politicisation of the Army's "surgical strikes" against terrorists across the Line of Control. What's your take on the issue?
In their very first reaction after the strikes, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the party supported the government on "surgical strikes". After that, the ruling BJP has been politicising the issue by taking credit for the Army action in poll-bound states, particularly Uttar Pradesh. They are playing petty politics over the sacrifices of our soldiers. This issue needs to be dealt with sensitivity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, used a religious platform in Lucknow to talk about terrorism and used a lot of religious slogans. This is unbecoming of a ruling party.
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Rahul Gandhi has been highlighting the farmers' issue across the country. Is it a genuine plank?
The BJP came to power in 2014 on the basis of false promises to farmers that their incomes would increase. That has not happened. Farmers are in an unprecedented debt trap. Instead of addressing their concerns, the BJP has been busy raking up the issue of cow protection to divert focus from the government's failure in handling the farm crisis. They are neither talking about the issue nor executing any policies to reduce farm distress. In Rajasthan alone, there have been 60 farmer suicides. Nearly one million farmers are awaiting relief and compensation in the state. Beneficiaries of the Food Security Act are facing discrimination. Differently-abled people are demonstrating against the government with their demands but the regime is careless and is not looking at them. The Congress, as a responsible Opposition, is humbly taking up the cause of the farmers.
You have been accusing the National Democratic Alliance government for allegedly using central agencies to harass the non-BJP state governments but not taking any action against its own CMs....
Yes, we have been highlighting this issue time and again, but have seen no action. The BJP-ruled Centre is using all the agencies to harass the non-BJP state governments. It used the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to raid Arvind Kejriwal's office in Delhi. But no action has been taken against corruption charges on BJP chief ministers.
For instance, the CBI has not questioned Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the Vyapam scam and the scores of deaths related to it. The Centre is not taking action on the corruption charges against Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. They used their muscle power to topple the Arunachal Pradesh and the Uttarakhand governments and are now trying the same tactic in Manipur. During the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, the BJP was hitting us over graft charges against Union ministers, who were our alliance partners. But here, no action has been taken against BJP leaders.
What are the three main issues on which you are targeting the Raje government?
The biggest issue in Rajasthan today is poor law and order. If you talk about atrocities against Dalits, the state is number two after Uttar Pradesh. Those who are behind such crimes are being protected by the BJP. Rape of girls, too, is on the rise. It is an irony that the chief minister of the state is a woman, yet crime against women is rising.
Corruption is the second issue. When the Congress flagged the large-scale bungling in the allocation of around 600 mining licences, the state government cancelled them. There have been many cases in which state officials have been caught with crores of rupees in cash. Further, the state government is trying to privatise the health and the education sectors. Already, 17,000 government schools have been shut to benefit the education mafia. Recently, we held statewide protests against a 37 per cent hike in electricity charges. There is a need for fixing political accountability on corruption in government departments such as mines, urban development, public works. The state Anti-Corruption Bureau has detected a scam in the purchase of submersible pumps. We are pressing for the resignation of minister Kiran Maheshwari.
Wha's your take on the removal of references to India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru from school textbooks?
We have demonstrated against the move, saying that it reflected the mental bankruptcy of the Raje government. It is working in a vindictive manner by deliberately eliminating the names and contribution of big leaders. Nehru was a visionary leader and was recognised the world over for his leadership qualities.
There are reports of infighting in the Rajasthan Congress. Is the dinner diplomacy concept, which was started recently to bring senior leaders together, working at all?
(Laughs) There is no infighting in the state Congress; all of us are working together. I would like to credit all the leaders and workers for it. We had been meeting informally in the past, too, but now it is being made more structured. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot hosted the first dinner on October 2. I will host the next one on November 8.
The Congress performed poorly in the 2013 Rajasthan Assembly polls. Much of it was blamed on a weak organisation. Has there been any progress on that front?
We have covered a lot of distance in the past few years. For instance, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress polled 30 per cent of the total votes compared to BJP's 56 per cent. In the panchayat polls held in August, we got 45 per cent of the votes against the BJP's 46.5 per cent of the BJP.
The gap has narrowed. We also did well in the Assembly bypolls and won seats, which were the stronghold of Raje and her son Dushyant. We are reviewing the performance of local units to send out the message that we need to fine-tune our strategy. We plan to give chance to newcomers, who are excited to work with the party. In the next Assembly polls in 2018, the Congress will bounce back to power, winning the hearts and minds of the people. I have travelled across the state and asked local leaders to remain in constant touch with their voters.
The question that keeps coming back to senior Congress leaders is when will Rahul Gandhi take over the party?
Frankly, I do not know. That is a call to be taken by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. I have said earlier that a large number of party workers want Rahul Gandhi to become party chief, but he alone will decide the timing of the move.