‘BJP ready for Lok Sabha elections, Congress in disarray’: Jai Ram Thakur

People know corruption is impossible under Modi’s leadership... The Congress has not been able to take the Rafale issue to the people

Updated on: Jan 28, 2019, 08:06:45 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan

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Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur took office in December 2017 after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in Himachal Pradesh. As he completed a year in office last month, Thakur spoke to Hindustan Times about his tenure so far and the 2019 general elections. Edited excerpts:

Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur (HT photo)

What are your preparations for the Lok Sabha polls?

We are fully prepared. We have held meetings of our workers from two Parliamentary constituencies and those with the remaining two in the state will be held soon. I have visited 64 out of the 68 assembly constituencies and our ministers are holding public darbars [gatherings] at the district level. In December, we held a meeting of the beneficiaries [of the Centre’s welfare schemes]. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the meeting, which gave a momentum to our campaign.

What are the major poll issues?

The development that the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] governments at the Centre and the state [have carried out]… that the Congress is in total disarray will be an important issue. We have got R10,000 crore from the central government - for horticulture, irrigation, and tourism [sectors]. The previous Congress government was able to get only R500 crore. We have also started several new schemes for the people’s benefit… all residents [have been covered] under the Atal Ayushman Bharat Yojana [National Health Protection Scheme].

Is the BJP on the defensive over the Rafale fighter jet deal and farm loan waivers. How are these issues playing out in Himachal?

Rafale and farm loan waivers are not issues in Himachal Pradesh. A large number of people here do not understand why the Congress is crying itself hoarse over the transparent Rafale deal. It is an issue only among a few elite, who do not have much influence among people. People know corruption is impossible under Modi’s leadership and the allegations are being levelled only for political reasons. The Congress has not been able to take the Rafale issue to the people. Farm loan waivers are not an issue. The Congress has been unable to deliver on its promise of loan waivers within 10 days [of taking power] in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh... People know that the BJP has worked hard to improve the income of farmers.

How do you plan to address unemployment?

We have got R1,900 crore from the Asian Development Bank to create new employment avenues. We are also holding an investor summit in Dharamshala for the first time to attract the industry to the state. Adventure tourism is among our focus areas to create jobs.

How do you respond to the Congress’s criticism that your government has been ineffective?

That is misinformation. There has been no major controversy or agitation during the tenure of my government. In fact, the Congress leaders are fighting among themselves. The party is in total disarray. Everyone knows what happened at the Congress Bhawan in Shimla recently [when three people were left injured as former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and former state party chief Sukhwinder Sukhu’s factions clashed]. The Congress has no issues that it can to raise against my government and its leaders are busy fighting each other.

What would you consider the big achievements of your government so far?

The BJP’s new leadership in the state understands the ground issues well. We have taken our government to people’s doorstep and have organised Jan Manchs [public forums], where grievances are resolved immediately. We have taken several small steps such as giving subsidised gas cylinders for improving the lives of people and health insurance to all under Atal Ayushman Bharat Yojana. We have also decided to give a pension of R1,300 to all senior citizens above 70. We have provided R200 crore for road maintenance and the Shima-Parwanoo highway widening will be completed in two-and-a-half years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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