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Journalism of Courage
Union minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh is again contesting from his Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency, which will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13. Giriraj, who had trounced the then CPI’s nominee Kanhaiya Kumar in the 2019 polls, is now taking on the CPI’s INDIA bloc candidate Awadesh Kumar Rai. In an interview with The Indian Express, he speaks on a range of issues including the induction of turncoats into the BJP and the fish row between PM Narendra Modi and the Opposition leaders. Excerpts:
Q) PM Modi’s attack on Tejshwi Yadav for posting a video of his eating fish during Navratri — Tejashwi says he did so before Navratri – has drawn fire from TMC, with CM Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee saying that the BJP has a problem with fish being a part of the diet and even religious rituals of Bengalis and would erase diversity in the country. Your comments?
Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee are nervous. They are frustrated. They don’t know that in India language and water change as per regional variations. In North India, the cultures of Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, etc, are different from Bengal or Tamil Nadu. In Bengal, fish-eating is part of the culture of the masses, but in Bihar, to which Tejashwi Yadav belongs, fish isn’t eaten as part of religious ritual.
Q) You have recently said how will the Opposition give jobs if it opposes the Agniveer scheme. But critics of Agniveer say that it hires young people only for four years following which it retains only 25% of them while asking others to leave with just a lump sump.
What is Agniveer? You should interview the young people who are associating themselves with the scheme. In Agniveer, if one person is required in the Army, they appoint five. For four or five years, they keep them. They make all of them trained for the job and then retain one in four. The three others are now trained. In sectors like aviation, banking, and many other sectors, they are ready for jobs. They also get a package when they part. The requirement in the Army was only one out of the four selected, and that one was retained. But three got additional training and became job-ready. This needs to be understood.
Q) With the Ram Temple established, what are your views on the two other temple-mosque disputes in Kashi and Mathura?
It is not just my opinion but the whole country’s opinion. Had the Congress solved the dispute over the Ram Temple just after Partition and Independence, there would not have been such a long-running court cases. In Pakistan, our temples were destroyed. No one went there to ask why. The issue of Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya is the demand of the Sanatanis of India, which the Congress deliberately delayed.
Q) Are you saying that the Opposition parties should now seek an agreement among communities for the Kashi and Mathura temples and advise people against litigation?
This (the delay) was done by those who believe in the politics of appeasement. Muslims taking such a line were far fewer than political parties engaging in appeasement politics. For their votes, they kept these pending. The main role behind this was that of the Congress. Apart from the Congress, some regional parties also kept these issues pending for vote bank politics.
Q) Kanhaiya Kumar contested unsuccessfully against you on the CPI ticket in Begusarai in 2019. This time he is contesting from North-east Delhi on a Congress ticket. What is your take on his candidature?
The Congress has become bankrupt. Their local leaders have also gone bankrupt. So, they pick up people from the “tukde tukde gang”. They have no one; so they are relying on rejected goods.
Q) The Opposition has been demanding a caste census, the template for which was provided by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who is now your ally. What is your position on the issue now?
We are not opponents of caste census. We were never its opponents. But in the country Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen four groups – farmers, youth, women and the poor – to strengthen democracy.
Q) Pakistan has said that it suspects India was behind the killing of a militant close to Hafiz Saeed there. What is your response?
In our Bihar, there is a saying – choron ko saare nazar aate hain chor (thieves think everyone is a thief). Pakistan has always sponsored terrorism in India. When Narendra Modi government came, jisko bhi bheja usko dhool chataane ka kaam kiya hai (we have made everyone sent from across the border for terror bite the dust). Now there are many terrorists within their own country. Boye babool to aam kahaan se hoyi (what you sow, so shall you reap). They are clashing within (Pakistan) now. So, when it cannot accept the inside reality, Pakistan is trying to blame India.
Q) The BJP calls itself an ideological party. Yet, so many people from other parties, including the Congress, are joining the BJP each day. Those parties you criticised are also in alliance with you now. How do you reconcile these things?
India is a place where people of different communities live. We have a dharma wherein the caste of whoever became a sanyasi does not matter any longer, and they become just sanyasis. Ganga mein jo milaa wo Ganga ho gaya (Whoever gets immersed in the Ganga becomes the Ganga).
Q) What are your main issues in this election in Bihar, and what do you think will be the outcome?
Our issue is only vikas (development); nothing except development. The main face of our opponents is Lalu Yadav. He was the symbol of loot, violence and jungle raj, and never gave employment to the youth. Now his son is trying to claim that he gave employment (to the youth) in 17 months while in government here. But he doesn’t say how many jobs were given in the five departments that were under him. So, NDA’s issue is vikas, vikas and vikas, and no tushtikaran (appeasement). We will end appeasement. Our opponents are holding aloft the flag of appeasement.
