THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI

SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2016

DANCE of DEMOCRACY | DECODING THE VERDICT

19

Speaking exclusively to TOI after his partys impressive performance in the Assam assembly elections, BJP president
Amit Shah asserts the mandate was not only a fallout of anti-incumbency, it was a vote for a positive alternative

Just two schemes, for LPG and Mudra

bank, will benefit 10 crore families
T
appeal to the well-off to voluntarily give
up subsidies on LPG.
The plan is to supply clean fuel to 5
crore families. LPG will be given free of
cost. Can you imagine saving the women of 5 crore families from the threat
of TB, protecting their eyesight, their
lungs... to create a healthy oxygen-rich
environment for children to study... to
prevent stunting of mental growth.
This will be seen on the ground.
Till now, we equated employment
with jobs. No one can provide full employment for 100 crore people. Self-employment is the solution. So, we have
the Mudra bank. In the past year, Rs
1 lakh crore loans were disbursed. In
the current scal, this will go to Rs 1.8
lakh crore. Some 5 crore youths will be
employed. Just these two schemes will
benet 10 crore families directly. We
have time-bound objectives to electrify
15,000 villages too.

aking time off after a busy

election schedule, BJP president Amit Shah looked relaxed and rested when TOI
met him at his Delhi residence on Friday. The partys breakthrough in Assam is not just because of
incumbency against the Congress, but
the result of a positive vote for the BJP.
The partys profile has risen in Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, Shah told
Diwakar and Rajeev Deshpande.
Excerpts:

You would have reasons to feel satisfied

with the results of the state elections?
Naturally. The results are a cause for celebration and will enthuse the BJP and
the NDA. There have been seven elections since the Modi sarkar assumed ofce. Of these, we won ve, in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and
Kashmir and now Assam. We increased
our votes in Bihar. In Delhi, we lost, but
saved our vote percentage.
When you took charge, you said the BJP
should strive for long-term political ascendency. How is this plan progressing?
I didnt make predictions about the future. I said the mandate we got due to
the efforts of PM Narendra Modi and
party workers meant that all of us are
duty bound to try to take the party to
all parts of the country. We should
work for this, I said.
Some say BJP won Assam as it did not
raise divisive issues. It helped draw votes
from sections that might have hesitated.
There is no divisive issue in our ideology.
What were the main issues that resulted
in the BJPs success in Assam?
For a long time after Independence, the
country remained under Congress administration. In Assam, the Congress
was in ofce for 15 years. The people
of Assam, and those of several other
parts of our country, are in a position
to compare BJP and Congress governments. It has been seen that BJP governments have been able to retain popular support for long periods of time...
in Gujarat, MP and Chhattisgarh. We
have won the popular vote repeatedly.
You feel the Congress did not lose because of anti-incumbency?
Anti-incumbency alone wont do. The
alternative has to be a positive choice,
only then anti-incumbency will convert into votes. Two years of Modijis
government has strengthened peoples
faith in the BJP. People feel the nation
is headed in the right direction and all

Anyone
who tries to
make this
(working in close
coordination with RSS)
an issue should know
that BJP has been tied to
RSS since inception. I
dont know how this is
talked of. But it is a
reality that I am an
RSS swayamsewak
will be treated as equal, will get equal
opportunity and those who are lagging
in the race for development will receive
more attention from the government.

The BJPs Assam win is being seen in the

light of the state having 34% minority population that hasnt supported you. But the
party has still won...
We never see the voter as minority and
majority. This is the job of the media.
We consider a voter as a voter, a citizen
of India.
The election results have been interpreted in the light of the slogan Congress-mukt
Bharat. How do you see it? The Congress
feels the celebration is premature as it still
got more seats than the BJP in the latest
round of polls?
If you dont consider the exit of two

The PM seems to be laying a lot of stress

on use of technology...
This has brought in transparency. Just
think, delivering subsidy directly has
saved Rs 14,000 crore... It was going to
the black market which has no right to
this subsidy.

governments as defeat... I would not

even want to comment on this.

But as we approach two years of Modi

government, how far has the BJP succeeded
in realising this slogan?
All the states that went to polls are now
Congress-free.
Your success can be the reason for moves
to create a grand alliance, like in Bihar, as
your opponents come together.
Our work is to give a good administration on the basis of the mandate we got,
to give an accountable government. To
make sure the depressed classes and
the poor are brought to the same level
as the average in society. If this results
in a win in elections, we cant prevent
this. And politically... when the reaction to our work manifests itself... we
will consider our game plan. I think
this election has proved that whoever
goes with the Congress loses. Like in
Tamil Nadu, the DMKs success ratio is
56%. The Congress success is 19%. The
Congress pulled down the coalition.
You must have begun thinking of the 2019
LS election. Who will be your main rivals?
No need to begin predicting this now.

This theory that all will be against us is

in the imagination. In Assam, no one was
with the Congress, everyone was with us.

Many felt that you did not need the AGP

in Assam.
The AGP has twice formed government in Assam. It has taken up the
problems of Assam. The AGP and the
Bodo Peoples Front helped us.
BJP raised the debate over Bharat Mata
ki Jai and JNU in the context of nationalism.
This was the first election after these issues
were raised.
This was also the rst election after
Westland! All issues affect elections.
Also, without doubt, the entire nation
believes and has reached the rm assessment that Modi sarkar isnt being
allowed to function in Parliament. Because of this, lots of work related to development is stalled. After such a massive mandate... not to respect such a
mandate is an insult to democracy. And
people have taught a lesson to those
who believe in being obstructionist.
But will things change?
It is for those concerned to learn the
right lesson.

Lets look at
Kerala and
Assam. We are
not looking at short-term
goals. We are a cadrebased party. We have
worked out a schedule of
six programmes annually.
Some 11 crore people
have joined BJP due to
Prime Minister Narendra
Modis popularity and
the partys image

In the Kerala election, minority votes

moved to the Left front... even those who
usually voted for the Congress-led front.
I havent examined the results boothwise and wont comment on the basis
of media reports.

Parties not aligned to BJP or Cong

bagged 465 of 643 assembly seats

Rahul focused
only on his
own image

Continued from P1

eat tallies can be a misleading indicator of political dominance. This

is not only because a party
can get a lot of votes but hardly any seats in the first past
the post system, but also because an MLA in, say, Sikkim, represents a much
smaller population than one
in Uttar Pradesh but both
count as one in the tally.
A better indicator, therefore, is how many votes each
party has won. Here again,
BJPs combined tally of 12.6
crore votes from the 30 polls
beats the Congress 11.8
crore, even if the gap seems
much smaller than in the
seats. Again, though, the rest
with 33.5 crore votes comfortably beat the combined
tally of the two big national
parties. BJP and Congress
put together have won 42%
of the votes polled, 58% going to the rest.
Some of this 58% has, of
course, gone to allies of BJP
or Congress, like Shiv Sena
or Akalis in the case of BJP,
or DMK and RJD in the case
of Congress. Nevertheless,
these are not votes won by
the two national parties on

If the governments initiatives begin to

show results, will that help the BJP renew
its mandate in 2019?
We have a mandate till 2019. Naturally,
when you have a full mandate, you make
plans. But leave aside 2019. We have already succeeded in taking the benets
of government schemes to people. Lets
take two schemes. The PM turned the
petroleum ministry, seen as a corporate
ministry, into a people welfare ministry.
The Jan Dhan accounts were used for
direct transfer of subsidies (Pahal) and
this stopped theft of subsidy worth Rs
14,000 crore. Then the PM made a moral

LIKE THAT ONLY

their own.
More importantly, the
bulk of the 33.5 crore votes
polled by the rest has gone to
parties like Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(AIADMK) and the Left in

JUG SURAIYA

Kerala or Tripura which are

not aligned with either of the
two national parties.
In the latest round of elections to five states, for instance, Congress won 115
seats, BJP 64, but others won
643. Of these 643, as many as
465 were won by parties that
were not allies of either BJP

&

AJIT NINAN

or Congress.
Thus, while BJP may
have replaced Congress as
the largest national party in
terms of both seats and votes
in state assemblies, regional
parties and others not in the
BJP or Congress camps retain a majority of the political space in India.

Can we ask you again, who will be your

main opponent in 2019?
I dont think we should think too much
about this. I am concentrating on making our organisation more effective.
Lets look at Kerala and Assam. We are
not looking at short-term goals. We are
a cadre-based party. We have worked
out a schedule of six programmes annually.
Some 11 crore people have joined
BJP due to Modijis popularity and the
partys image. We have to try and turn
them into cadre. The objective is to consolidate the partys dominance and extend it from Parliament to panchayats
across the country.
You have been working like a machine
since you became BJP chief. Do you take a
holiday?
When the scene of work changes, it
serves the purpose, like Kerala, and
then before that, the Northeast.
Digvijaya Sigh has spoken of the need for
a surgery in the Congress.
I dont want to comment on their internal matters.

The entire
nation believes
that Modi
sarkar is not being
allowed to function in
Parliament. Because of
this, lots of work related
to development is
stalled. After such a
massive mandate... not
to respect it is an insult
to democracy
Can anyone challenge the Gandhis in the
Congress?
If you see the structure of that party, I
feel this is the way it will be... It works
on dynastic lines. Thats how it works.
Its been alleged that BJP is anti-Dalit, like
in the case of Rohith Vemulas suicide.
I think we are working sincerely in the
right direction. And the results can be
seen. If we work correctly, this propaganda will not stick.
It seems you have a blueprint for a big
expansion keeping the 2014 win as the
cornerstone.
This is not a secret. After becoming party
president, I said we should aim high. We
should work to carry our message far and
wide and try to ensure that this government continues for a long time.
How will you assess the Uttarakhand central rule episode. Did the courts not accept
the rationale for central rule?
Dont misinterpret the court. The court
has not yet decided whether central
rule was correctly imposed or not.
Politically, how do you view the decision?
Politically, it is for the party concerned
to take care of its MLAs.
But when the (rebel Congress) MLAs
came to you...
No one came to us. We voted against
the nance bill, so did these nine people. The government lost majority, see
the numbers.

Himanta Biswa Sarma has spoken of

the styles of functioning of Rahul

Gandhi and you. He says you pay
attention and even take notes.
This is Sarmas personal opinion.

We have
succeeded in
taking the
benefits... to people. The
Prime Minister turned
the petroleum ministry...
into a people welfare
ministry. The Jan Dhan
accounts were used for
direct transfer of
subsidies and this
stopped theft of subsidy
worth Rs 14,000 crore

How has the government fared in handling the economy?

The government has done very well
handling the economy. Our GDP is better than Chinas. Retail and wholesale
ination are under control. All parameters are looking up. We are improving
on the ease of doing business index.
Our foreign reserves are at the highest.
There are reports that you have worked
to coordinate closely with RSS.
Anyone who tries to make this an issue
should know that BJP has been tied to
RSS since inception. I dont know how
this is talked of. But it is a reality that I
am an RSS swayamsewak.
It can be said that you wont be able to
repeat the sweeps in several states in 2019,
you will surely lose some seats.
When we work well, why think of losing
seats. But still there are seven states,
Kerala, TN, Andhra, Telangana, Odisha, Bengal and Assam, our base and
work is on the rise. I am condent that
by the time 2019 comes we will convert
our support into seats.

ADR: 36% of new MLAs have

crime record, 50% crorepatis

Yogesh.Kumar@timesgroup.com

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Dehradun: In a blistering indictment of the party he left to

join BJP, former Uttarakhand CM Vijay
Bahuguna on
Friday said he
was disappointed with the
central
leadership of the Congress, including vice-president Rahul
Gandhi, accusing them of not
listening to local rumbles of rebellion against Harish Rawat.
Bahuguna, who led the nine
rebel Congress MLAs in the tumultuous events of the past two
months,said,In the last two years, ever since he took over, Rawat has been focused only on
building his own image. Illegal
mining, liquor policy, transfer
postings, all of these have frustrated leaders and MLAs. The
first task of BJP in Uttarakhand is to wipe out Congress.
The former CM also said
that the ruling Congress was
finished in Uttarakhand because of Harish Rawat.
Significantly, Bahuguna
said he had informed the central leadership of BJP that he
will not be fighting assembly
elections in 2017 and was not
in the running for CMs post.

New Delhi: More than half

the winning candidates in
the recently concluded assembly polls in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, West
Bengal and Puducherry are
crorepatis and over onethird face criminal cases.
Analysis of candidates
affidavits by Association for
Democratic Reforms (ADR)
found that of the 812 candidates, Puducherry had the
maximum number of crorepatis (83%) followed by Tamil Nadu (76%). While Assam boasted of more than
half its legislators in the crorepati club (57%), Kerala has
44% followed by West Bengal
with 34% crorepatis.
The number of crorepatis have seen an upward spike. In 2011, Assam had 39% of
crorepati MLAs, while Kerala had 25%, Puducherry
(63%), Tamil Nadu (51%) and
West Bengal (15%). In Puducherry, 30 MLAs were analysed of which 25 are crorepatis, while in Tamil Nadu 223
MLAs were analysed, with
170 emerging as crorepatis
this year.
A total of 186 MLAs have
declared that they have never filed income tax returns.

NEW LEGISLATORS
36% MLAs (182 out of
294) have criminal cases in
5 states (TN, Assam, WB,
Kerala and Puducherry)
Highest no. in Kerala (62%)
Highest no. in WB (32%)
53% (428) are crorepatis;
Puducherry has the
maximum number
Kerala has the highest
(83%) followed by
MLAs have
number (60%)
TN (76%)
serious criminal
followed by WB (20%)
23% (186) MLAs
charges
Only 9% of the MLAs
have not led their
are women
income tax returns;

176

Kerala has the maximum

percentage (60%) of MLAs
who have not filed income
tax returns, followed by West
Bengal (20%).
About 36% (294) of the
winning candidates have criminal cases against them. Of
these, 176 have declared serious criminal cases like
murder, attempt to murder,
kidnapping and robbery. Kerala had the maximum number of legislators with criminal cases (62%) followed by
Puducherry and WB at 37%
and Tamil Nadu at 34%. WB,
however, had the maximum
number of MLAs with serious criminal cases (32%).

Puducherry has the highest average assets (Rs 13.45

crore) of MLAs followed by
Tamil Nadu with average assets of Rs 8.21crore and Kerala with average assets of Rs
2.82 crore. The number of
women MLAs is only 77 out
of 812 analysed in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, West
Bengal and Puducherry assembly elections.
On analysis based on age,
the survey said that five
MLAs are above 80 years of
age, while 38 are aged 71 to 80
years, 187 (61 to 70 years), 278
(51to 60 years), 212 (41to 50 years), 87 (31 to 40 years) and 5
(25 to 30 years).