Congress leader Sachin Pilot. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)
In an interview with Deep Mukherjee, Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot says that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has betrayed the people of the state and the BJP’s chances of electoral success are diminished after naming Raje as the CM candidate. Excerpts:
What are the top election issues for the Congress?
The most important issue that faces Rajasthan is the severe agrarian crisis that Vasundharaji has pushed the state’s farmers into. Farmers committing suicides have never happened in Rajasthan but the fact that more than 150 farmers have committed suicide, it shows the death trap and economic tragedy that farmers are faced with currently. For us, the number one issue is the economic and agrarian crisis that looms large over farmers. Number two is joblessness. Job creation has come to a halt as there are no investments to create employment and due to this youths are running helter-skelter despite the BJP’s promise to provide 15 lakh jobs. We are not only exposing the 611 promises that Vasundharaji made before she took office in Rajasthan but also exposing them in terms of what they have not delivered.
You have spoken about issues pertaining to farmers and employment being the prime focus in the Congress manifesto and have also said that the farm loan waiver announced by CM Raje in this year’s budget was not adequate. Which would be the top priorities of the Congress if the party comes to power?
The chief minister announced the loan waiver only under political pressure. If she wanted to resolve the crisis that farmers are facing today, she didn’t have to wait for four-and-a-half years to announce it. She even announced certain sops for farmers just hours before the code of conduct came in, knowing very well that her party won’t return to power. It tells you that she is insecure and scared of the farmers’ wrath.
If Congress comes to power, how will it be different in terms of governance than the incumbent government?
Vasundharaji’s government is actually an arrogant one that is cut off from the people of the state. The first thing we will do is to have a people’s government with them as stakeholders. The public will feel that it’s their government. For the past four years and 10 months, she has chosen to close the doors to the common man, sitting in ivory towers. The sense of arrogance and centralisation of power has also caused a lot of disappointment among the people. When the Congress forms the government, it will be a people’s government with their participation in decision making and as Rahul Gandhiji has said many times, our government will have its doors open all the time for the people. At the moment, all the power rests with the chief minister’s office (CMO) and there’s nothing that MPs, MLAs or ministers can do.
In his rallies in Rajasthan, BJP president Amit Shah has repeatedly said that the Congress is a divided camp and he has targeted the party over not deciding a CM candidate and alleged differences between you and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
When Amit Shahji comes to Rajasthan, he knows that he has no way of defending Vasundharaji’s report card of five years. Therefore, alleging things about other parties is a very common tool of the BJP as they have no answers for the current CM’s five years of misgovernance. For 75 days, the BJP in Rajasthan was headless because Amit Shah and Vasundhara Raje couldn’t agree on the name for the party’s state president and ultimately appointed a compromise candidate… Rajasthan government was camping in Delhi to stop Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from becoming the BJP president. When you talk about camps, there are no clearer camps today than the ones in the BJP today — the Vasundhara Raje camp and the central leadership of the BJP. Every single leader in the Congress, including Ashok Gehlotji, CP Joshiji and others, all work as a team and if there were any differences at all, how could the party be so strong? I am a very fortunate Congress president who has got the support and collaboration of all my colleagues in Rajasthan. All of these rumours are planted by the BJP because if there had been any truth in this, how could we have performed so well in the past five years?
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat recently alleged that the Congress is selling tickets for the Assembly election. Supporters of different Congress leaders from Tonk recently had a minor clash over tickets outside the party headquarters. Is there consensus in the party over the candidates?
We are only discussing and the announcements are yet to be made… It is a very satisfying thing for us that people want tickets as they know that the Congress party is winning hands down. The tickets we give out will be after taking feedback and general consensus. Leaders will share their views and we will come up with a person whom everyone is in favour of and will help that person to win. Mr. Shekhawat alleging things that are appearing on social media are all diversionary tactics. On the other hand, the BJP is planning to not give tickets to 120-125 of its sitting MLAs. If they don’t have any faith in those MLAs who helped the party win in the last election, how can they have faith of the people? This means that they are making scapegoats out of their own sitting MLAs.
Since you took charge as the Congress president after the BJP won a landslide victory in 2013 to this February when it badly lost the bypolls, what do you think has changed in the state and if the incumbent government has performed badly, in which areas?
I took charge exactly five years ago at a time when we had only 21 seats out of the 200 in the Assembly. It was a very challenging time but from day one we were in campaign mode. I didn’t wait for the last six months of the election season and focused on touring the state and winning smaller elections such as the nagarpalika, panchayat polls and other local polls because these elections form the bedrock of our strength. They helped to get grassroot support for the Congress. We have won 20 of the 22 bye-elections that have taken place in Rajasthan since then. The incumbent government has privatised education, law and order has completely collapsed and there are 8-10 rapes happening every day in the state despite a woman chief minister. Atrocities against Dalits, tribals and women have increased manifold. Investments are not coming, giving rise to unemployment. The government had claimed with a lot of pomp that MoUs worth Rs 3 lakh crore have been signed under Resurgent Rajasthan but even 3 percent of those have not been realised. A gag order was brought in and the day she (Raje) introduced a law for securing a house and staff for ex-chief ministers, people realised that Raje knows she won’t come back again.
The BJP has announced Raje as its chief ministerial candidate. Can not having a CM candidate create confusion among party workers before the elections?
She may have been able to arm twist them but whatever one or two percent chance that the BJP had of giving some fight (in the elections), that has also gone away with the official announcement of CM candidate. Barring a few rare exceptions, we have never announced a CM candidate in the Congress party. The worker is the face of the party, Rahul Gandhi is our leader, we are fighting together and whenever we get a majority we will decide on it.
Does the Congress have any specific plans for farmers if it comes to power?
We have to ensure that we give them relief from the financial crisis that farmers are currently facing in Rajasthan. But it has to be done right in the beginning and the whole ecosystem of access to credit and market, agricultural imports, seeds, fertilisers and technology has to be recalibrated. We will do that as soon as we take charge in Rajasthan.
The BSP has refused any alliance with the Congress in Rajasthan. The Rashtriya Loktantrik party of Hanuman Beniwal and the Bharat Vahini Party of Ghanshyam Tiwari have advocated for a third front in the state. Won’t they eat into Congress votes?
Rajasthan is a bipolar state and the contest is always between the Congress and the BJP. Earlier too new parties have been formed but in Rajasthan there is no scope for any third front. People have decided to vote for the Congress and it is not merely anti-incumbency. It is a positive vote on the basis of the hope that people have from us. Vasundhara Raje has betrayed the trust of the people of Rajasthan even after getting a huge mandate.
Will the Congress include issues such as mob lynching and cow vigilantism in its manifesto, as in the past few years the state has witnessed such incidents?
We want civility in society, peace, and prevalence of law and order which has currently collapsed. We will restore that. If someone breaks the law, he or she will be taken to task. You can’t start hitting, killing or maiming people in the name of suspicion. This sort of mob mentality and vigilantism that results in the law being broken, we won’t allow it. The current machinery is allowing this violence to get political dividends by turning a blind eye to it and we saw attempts of polarisation before the bye-elections in Alwar.
The BJP has maintained that it has learnt from the bye-election losses in February and has strengthened their ground level machinery which will help them avoid defeat in the Assembly polls. Tell us something about what Congress workers have been doing since February.
The Congress has done the Mera Booth Mera Gaurav programme in 196 constituencies. We have done district level meetings, Sankalp Rallies, roadshows, farmers’ rallies. Rahul Gandhi has visited the state several times. For the BJP, going to people’s homes, having tea and eating pakoras is not going to change the mind of the public. Our workers and party cadres are extremely strong and we will have a resounding victory.
You have said that it will be a historic win for the Congress in this year’s elections. Do you have a margin in mind?
I can’t predict numbers but it will be a historic win and we will get overwhelming support of the people of Rajasthan.