'Pawar should demand sports miniStry'

Q&A: Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena working president Uddhav Thackeray tells MAKARAND GADGIL that Indian agriculture is in the ICU.

You have been raising the issue of loan waiver for the last year or so. Now the government has announced the loan waiver. Don't you think you committed a political blunder by taking up the issue too early and allowing the government to walk away with the credit for it "" just like when the Sena demanded free power for farmers much before the Assembly elections, giving time to the state government to send zero amount bills to the farmers and taking credit for doing so?

First of all, we did not voice the demand to gain any political mileage out of it. Farmers in Maharashtra are committing suicides, they are caught in a debt trap and I felt there was a genuine need to raise the issue. If the main Opposition political party does not highlight the plight of the community that is in an overwhelming majority, then who will do that?

And I don't think the government will be able to take the credit for the loan waiver, as the loan waiver scheme in its present format has left out a large section of the farmers in Vidarbha, Marathwada and north Maharashtra. We will continue our agitation till the government accepts our demand of giving clear land title back to farmers, free of any encumbrance on it.

But don't you think solutions like the loan waiver scheme are too simplistic to solve the agrarian crisis of the country?

Indian agriculture is in the ICU. It first needs to be given life-saving drugs and loan waiver is one of these life-saving drugs to be followed later by initiatives to increase productivity and mechanism to give remunerative prices to farmers. We are often accused of not understanding agrarian issues and that we are too urban to understand them. Even if I were to concede this charge, I would like to ask the question: When we have people like Sharad Pawar at the helm of affairs of the agriculture ministry, who are supposed to know everything about agriculture, why is Indian agriculture in the current state of crisis?

It seems he is more interested in cricket than agriculture. If his heart lies there, he should ask the government to give him the charge of the sports ministry and leave agriculture for someone who is interested in doing the job.

Do you fear the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) agitation against North Indians will cut into Sena's vote bank, and that is why the Congress-NCP government in the state is going soft on Raj?

I don't know who is taking what action and with what motive. But I do not see offshoots like the MNS as a threat to the Shiv Sena. The Marathi people know the difference between the real and imitation version. It was the Shiv Sena which fought for jobs for Maharashtrians in public sector banks, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai's five-star hotels and airlines like Air India and Indian Airlines in the 1960s and 1970s, and that is why you are seeing some Maharashtrian names in these organisations. Even today, Sena continues to fight for a fair share of jobs in retail, new private airlines and in other emerging sectors.

As the Marathi people know this, we never worry about which party is doing what. Every day new parties are born and to remain in the limelight, they keep taking up various issues.

In the recent past, your ties with the alliance partner BJP were strained. The BJP was very upset over the fact that you supported Pratibha Patil for the President's post and declared support to Pawar for prime ministership.

That is in the past now. Currently, our relationship with the BJP is excellent. The support to Pawar's candidature for the PM's post was in a particular context. But now Pawar himself is saying he is ready to support Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for prime ministership. So, if he himself is pledging support to someone else for the prime ministership, the question of our supporting him does not arise at all. And Balasaheb himself has declared our support to L K Advani as the NDA's candidate for the prime minister's post. Therefore, as far as Sena is concerned, the issue is closed now.

Sena is opposing the SEZs. Are you against the idea of SEZs or are you ready to support them subject to certain conditions?

We oppose any compulsory land acquisition for SEZs. All SEZs are being developed by some large industrial houses to earn profits. What public purpose is going to be served by compulsory land acquisition?

We also oppose the acquisition of fertile land. The country is facing threat to food security now due to a decline in food production. If we start diverting the fertile land, this problem is going to get aggravated.

As far as we know, there are not going to be any labour laws applicable in SEZs, so how you are going to protect the interests of the workers? How is the government going to ensure that workers are paid not only minimum wages but decent wages? How is the government going to ensure labourers are not forced to work in hazardous conditions? If there is any resentment among them, how they will be allowed to express it?

You are a wildlife photographer. After taking over as Sena's working president, do you still get the time to pursue this hobby?

Currently, my cameras and lenses are locked up and I only take them out to clean them to ensure they don't gather moisture and dust. But recently I did some aerial photography "" taking photographs of Mumbai and forts of Maharashtra from a helicopter. I will hold an exhibition of these photographs soon. But beyond this there is hardly any activity on this front. Sad, but that is life!