Three years after Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, the BJP had replaced the Congress in power. It had 15 years of uninterrupted rule till it was swept aside in 2018. Ahead of the Assembly elections, the first phase of which will be on November, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel appears confident of a return to power, banking on his support base, his popular welfare schemes and his Chhattisgarhi regional pride plank, pitting this against the BJP’s Hindutva push. Baghel speaks to The Indian Express on the state finances, tribal issues, government exams and Naxalism. Excerpts: The state government has pending loans of over Rs 82,000 crore. Will the new promises of loan waivers, revival of the Old Pension Scheme, and dearness allowance to state employees, etc, not burden the state treasury further? We are well within the guidelines as per total interest on loans goes. Our debt to GSDP ratio at 16% is also below (the benchmark) of 25%. The sales revenue in the automobile sector has increased. The fees in our registries in the real estate sector show an increase from Rs 1,100 crore to more than Rs 2,000 crore. Pump connections were around 10,000, now the number is 35,000-50,000 because of the borewells we installed. The use of electricity in peak hours during the BJP rule was 4,100 MW; it has crossed 6,100 MW. All of these indicate that we are moving towards development. Your critics say that a lot of money is being pumped into social welfare schemes but not infrastructure. We have spent Rs 16,000 crore on roads. If you go to the interior parts of Bastar, you will find good roads, bridges. But the tribals seem to be angry over the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (or PESA) rules notified by your government last year. They only point out the weaknesses. Why do they not support us in implementing the Act? The rules are lengthy and they cherry-picked just one word (while an earlier draft talked of taking the “consent” of a gram sabha, it has been replaced with “consultation” in the new version). In any case, the law has not been implemented yet. We have not misused PESA. Currently, committees are being formed and work is being discussed. If there is any criticism following this, that can be brought up in the Tribal Development Council and, accordingly, taken up in the Cabinet. Your government has taken a stand in the Supreme Court against forest land being diverted for mining in the Hasdeo forest. However, activists say your government could have used its powers to deny clearance and consent to the Central government? This means they can say this to me, but not to the Central government. They will protest here, but why do they not sit at Jantar Mantar (in Delhi? When I give an affidavit (in the Supreme Court), it means we accept it as a matter of policy. Those who criticise me cannot see the 1,950 sq km of forest land protected from mining work. This is a big jump from 450 sq km in 2007. But not even a single positive word came from them (the activists). It is my duty to protect the forest and environment. The Central government’s notification has been removed. So, we are trying continuously to save Hasdeo forest but they (activists) are creating a certain atmosphere. You now say that banning liquor is not practically possible, after having once promised it. The question is that we need to stop all kinds of addiction. If I ban liquor, people will switch to drugs, which has happened in other states. I am not backing down on liquor ban, but first a favorable environment needs to be there. Suddenly I announce it like demonetization where no arrangement was made and people suffered and died. So, I will not take a step where people can die. People can give up on liquor, but what if they die by drinking spurious liquor? Life will not come back. The BJP has raised the issue of alleged conversion of tribals in Bastar. Will tribal parties like Hamar Raj and Sarva Adi Dal eat into Congress votes? A few months ago, our minister Kawasi Lakhma challenged the BJP to prove even a single conversion that took place in our rule. They (BJP workers) attacked a church, assaulted the police and created fear in Narayanpur (in January 2023). This was done for political gains. Hamar Raj and other (small) parties are on the BJP’s payroll. The BJP also claims fraud in selection via the Public Service Commission. During BJP rule, the PSC results never came out. The matter had gone to the High Court and is now pending with the Supreme Court. In our five-year tenure, the results came out three times. But I agree more transparency must be there. We decreased the number of people coming for the interview, we are trying to make the PSC format similar to the UPSC one and we are making answer-sheets public. Our motive is clear: there should not be injustice with Chhattisgarh’s children. The BJP has fielded your nephew Vijay Baghel against you in Patan. He is my nephew just for votes. He (Vijay) did not invite me to his daughter’s marriage. People know all this. In Patan, we have done a lot of developmental work. A university and a food processing plant have also come up. My vote share will only increase this time. In Kawardha, which saw communal violence, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma targeted sitting Congress MLA Mohammad Akbar using his religion. Would such polarization help the BJP? After Sarma got notice (from the Election Commission), he changed his statement. He is paltu-ram. After Kawardha’s communal violence, four municipal elections took place in nearby places and we won all of them. Like monkeys can jump branches and cannot hunt, and like tigers who can hunt but cannot jump branches, the BJP has mastered only politics over communal and conversion issues. Now there is an Enforcement Directorate probe over your government giving 'exponential hike' to rice millers. Since 1999, when Digvijaya Singhji was CM in undivided Madhya Pradesh, the rate given to rice millers had been Rs 40 per quintal. Two decades have passed! The rates of electricity and labour have gone up. Due to this, paddy was getting wasted. The Chhattisgarh State Marketing Federation Ltd takes loans. If the process gets delayed, the interest rate on loans increases. The rice millers came to me and asked for help. Hence, we calculated and gave them the correct price. The paddy which was not milled last year was milled in March. We prevented damage and saved Rs 2,000 crore. We are seeing an increase in rice mills. I am procuring more rice, so I must ensure rice mills have to be there. The reality is the Central government is raiding these rice mills so they cannot do milling and we get defamed and suffer losses. The number of women voters in the state is more than men. What is your message to them? They have benefited from all of our welfare schemes, whether it is education, Self Help Groups, ‘gauthan’ committees as part of the Godhan Nyay Yojna initiative, and the Rural Industrial Park. Why the last-minute announcement of a loan waiver for farmers? The farmers demanded it, so I gave it. If farmers are strong, the entire system will be strong. While the BJP is following crony capitalism, we are helping the poor. How do you see the issue of Naxalism in the state? There were two ideologies to dealing with the issue. One approach is bullet-for-bullet. Second is seeing it as a social, political and economical issue. We follow the second ideology and have gained people’s trust. Giving them what they want, that is jal, jungle and zameen (water, forest and land). We gave them rights, education and strengthened them economically. We worked on health and culture by developing their religious places. Due to this, Naxals have been pushed into a corner. We concentrated on the ideological fight and gave the tribals what they wanted and so the tribals stopped going to the Naxals. Now they use tractors, not guns. We gave Masahati patta (land deeds) to them in Abujhmad and now they are getting benefits of government schemes and are busy with work. You have said a bigger issue than Naxalism is anaemia and malnutrition. Through our policies, anaemic women in all villages are getting hot food for free. Two lakh children and 1.5 lakh women have been brought out of the malnutrition bracket.
