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Journalism of Courage
As in-charge of the BJP’s Delhi unit, party national vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda has the onerous task of trying to bring the party to power in the Capital after a gap of more than two decades. Panda speaks to The Indian Express about what is at stake for the BJP in the polls, the preparations behind the campaign and challenges, among other issues.
From my meetings with people, not just politicians but the common people in RWAs, slum clusters, auto drivers, gig workers, etc, I have seen an overwhelming sense of disappointment and anger over broken promises. The sense we are getting is that the people have given the Congress a chance for many years as well as to what we call the ‘AAP-da (trouble)’. Now, they want to give a chance to the BJP…
In Delhi ‘AAPda’ managed to win with a lot of promises. However, during this period, the BJP’s vote share has been increasing… From 32%, we kept increasing our vote share in the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls, where we hit 38%. In the municipal elections of 2022, for the first time we breached the 40% mark, while in the Lok Sabha polls, it was over 50%, irrespective of a united Opposition.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, we always set a target of 50% and we have started achieving it in many states. When the AAP first formed the government, the difference in vote share was double digits but it came down to 2.5% in the 2022 municipal polls.
Moreover, in the last two years, AAPda leaders have lost their sheen. The ‘kattar imaandar (hardcore honest)’ have gone to jail. The CAG pointed out corruption of over Rs 2,000 crore… There is huge anti-incumbency against them. The BJP’s track record on delivering promises will work in our favour. Our manifesto is taken seriously and people trust Modi’s guarantees.
People said the same thing about my home state of Odisha, but this time we proved ourselves (the BJP won 20 of 21 Lok Sabha seats and secured a majority in the Assembly for the first time in Odisha). Nobody gave us a chance seven-eight years ago.
When the AAP came in 2011, they used Anna Hazare as an icon, gained credibility on that basis and to many people, they seemed like a breath of fresh air. However, they made financially untenable promises due to which Delhi is in the red for the first time. To me, these were the main reasons they put together such a vote bank.
They (the AAP) have no shame in making false promises. The leader of the AAP did not have any shame swearing on his own children that he would live in a two-bedroom apartment and not have VIP culture. Then, during the Covid-19 pandemic, they made a “sheesh mahal” with gold-plated wash basins, toilets and curtains worth millions, and got exposed. People got seduced, but it is going to change this time.
The shoe is actually on the other foot. The former chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) cannot occupy the post as his bail conditions are stringent. He cannot go to the CMO and sign files. He himself has described the person who is the current CM (Atishi) as temporary. They have to now answer who will lead their team…
The reality is that in the last 10 years, the BJP has been following a pattern – at the national level, we have the world’s most popular leader and in states, it is collective leadership during polls… We are a party that takes a tea seller and makes him the PM for a historic three times. This is a party that takes a tribal woman from Odisha (Droupadi Murmu), makes her a Governor and then the President of the Republic. So, any karyakarta has the right to be the CM.
That is not true. Our campaign is about what we are going to do for Delhi. We have held thousands of street-corner meetings, meetings with women, youth and an outreach programme in slum clusters. We have committed to them that we will solve their issues.
But the AAP is desperate. The former CM is trying to make the election about himself and playing the victim card.
Let me demolish this argument in one minute. Their arrests on corruption charges were not done by the BJP. Them not getting bail for a long time was not done by the government or agencies, but by judges. Bail is not denied unless there is a money trail or prima facie evidence.
The AAPda has been putting up a drama and pointing fingers at others for a long time. There is around Rs 75,000 crore that the Modi government is offering to the people of Delhi and around 51 lakh beneficiaries have been deprived of its benefits since 2017 ((under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which is not implemented in the Capital).
A total of Rs 70,000 crore is available for infrastructure development, but they have not been taking it for political reasons. It is pure hypocrisy to blame the BJP… and claim bizarrely that the Centre is interfering in governance.
The AAP is nothing like the BJP. The CAG report showing corruption of Rs 2,000 crore is not a copy of the BJP. Not utilising Central funds for cynical political reasons is not something that the BJP would ever do. Vote bank pandering is not something that the BJP would do. We reach out to every section of society. Their (AAP’s) sudden discovery of Hinduism during the elections is nothing like the BJP. Their top leaders, denied bail by the High Court, continue to be CM. This is something that the BJP would never do.
The AAP announces welfare schemes mainly because they cannot answer many questions like why roads have not been built, water is still not good, Yamuna has not been cleaned, etc. We do have welfare schemes as India is a developing nation and we have a large population that is still in the developing stage. We have foodgrains for the poor, health schemes, Ujjwala scheme. But we are fiscally responsible. Any scheme that we announce with Modiji’s stamp on it is vetted thoroughly to see that it is fiscally tenable… But AAPda has made Delhi see red.
The BJP under Modi has done more for women than any party or leader in living memory. From yojanas like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao to the women’s reservation Bill, our government has taken numerous steps. The BJP has the first full-time woman Defence Minister, and a full-time woman Finance Minister. We also have the first woman tribal President. Look at Delhi, there used to be one woman MP. This time we have two.
Irrespective of who is on the ground, the BJP is targeting over 50% of the votes. People saw the Congress and threw them out. To me, it looks like both the Congress and AAP are fighting a battle of survival. The Congress has lost credibility. This time they have put up some well-known names in several constituencies. In their fight for survival, they may put up a strong fight, but it doesn’t matter to us.
The BJP sets very high standards for respecting women. We expect our workers and candidates to be responsible. In this incident, the person has already expressed regret. I think we should let bygones be bygones.
