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Challenge the Congress to make SIR, alleged vote theft an election issue: Sanjay Jha
Jha said younger leaders from the opposition cannot match the energy of the septuagenarian Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
Working president of the Janata Dal United, Sanjay Jha on Monday said the opposition’s allegations about deletion of voters through the Special Intensive Revision has no resonance on the ground in poll-bound Bihar. He challenged the Congress to make alleged “vote chori” (vote theft) an election issue.
In an interview with HT, Jha, who is also a Rajya Sabha lawmaker, said younger leaders from the opposition cannot match the energy of the septuagenarian Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. While the opposition has questioned the CM’s health, Jha said Kumar’s track record and policies will hold the NDA in good stead.
Edited excerpts from an interview
What will be the main poll plank of your party in the forthcoming election.
Our track record speaks for itself. In addition to what was done by the state government using its own resources, the central government’s policies and additional budgetary allocation has also been of great help and that has allowed us to take up big ticket programmes. Take the example of the Metro in Bihar… Today Patna is getting a new Metro. There was a time, before Nitish Kumar became CM, when people would prefer to spend the night inside the Patna railway station if their trains arrived past 5 p.m. Everyone in Bihar knows this. Today we are talking about the inauguration of the Metro which will run past 10 p.m.; this is the change that has taken place.
Industries and investment are coming to Bihar, new development projects are taking off. These (past) five years are important because they have set the tone for where Bihar is headed in the next two decades and whether it will be among the top ten states. For our part we have endeavoured to provide more than just the basic sadak, bijli, paani (road, power and water)…we are talking of big ticket investments and projects.
You broadly mentioned the development agenda, but are there any particular achievements of the government you will highlight; and what are you promising the people of Bihar ?
A big step that was taken by Nitish Kumar in the last five years was getting industry and investment to Bihar and creating jobs for Biharis. He wanted to stop migration of people from Bihar and work has already started… We are getting investments. The results will be seen in a few years … The second big initiative was looking at women as voters. Earlier, parties used to only think of voters on the basis of caste or religion not gender. Giving ₹10,000 (under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana) to poor women will set off a revolution. If 60-70-% of these women start their own business with the help of the government that will transform the rural economy. We will ensure this happens.
The next sector that will see a revolution will be IT and creation of new townships such as Patliputra…
Your alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata party has been emphatic that this election is the NDA versus the others. Will there be a common minimum agenda or a common manifesto for the NDA?
We are discussing this… we will work it out. There will be some common agenda.
What about the seat sharing discussions. Have the allies reached a consensus on who gets what ?
We are already talking and in about three or four days, we’ll be able to make announcements about the seat sharing decision.
The BJP has already announced that chief minister Nitish Kumar will be the face of the elections. The opposition, particularly the RJD, has been targeting him for his failing health. Do you think the CM’s advanced age and concerns about his health will be an issue?
Nitish Kumar is the face of the NDA alliance…this issue is settled. As far as other issues are concerned, I want to say those who claim that they are younger in age or are next-gen politicians cannot match the energy and the effort that Nitish Kumar puts in everyday. Today he inaugurated the Metro and he’s going to Muzaffarpur. They are making fun of an elderly person and the people of Bihar will respond to that.
What is your take on your opponents the RJD and the Congress and the issues that they have raised…
We have a 20-year track record of our work and those in the opposition today are the same people who gave Bihar a bad name. A few faces may have changed but otherwise these are the same people who misruled the state for 15 plus years. Ask the Congress what they did when they were in power for nearly 50 years. Their misdeeds gave the entire Bihari community across the country a bad name and Nitish Kumar had to make amends for that. But even today they are organising rallies and inviting people who abuse Biharis.
There is an attempt by your ally to make illegal immigration an election issue. How do you think the issue will pan out in Bihar?
If there is an issue along the borders then it has to be tackled. After all, nobody wants an intruder or an illegal immigrant. Only legitimate citizens should be there.
The issue of SIR has dominated the political narrative in the state. The opposition is confident that it will resonate with the voters.
SIR is not an issue. They (the opposition) stalled Parliament even though SIR was being conducted only in Bihar and no other state. I challenge the Congress party and their leader Rahul Gandhi to contest the polls on this issue. They travelled across the state for 16 days (vote adhikar rally) claiming vote chori… then let them make this issue their campaign mainstay. Let the people of Bihar decide.
I want to add, these are the same people who stole titles from our leaders. In Bihar we have an icon Jananayak Karpoori Thakur. They (Congress) even stole his title and now they are calling Rahul Gandhi the Jananayak. They have nothing to offer to the poor and the marginalised but they will steal titles …
The opposition says most of the deletions that happened from the electoral list are from the minority dominated areas such as the Seemanchal?
People had enough time and enough opportunity to make amends and get the Election Commission to make corrections. If somebody has died or permanently migrated or there’s a wrong address it has to be corrected. It is a good thing to get such names deleted from the list.
There is a new entrant this time, the Jan Suraaj, do you see them making any difference on the ground?
No, no I don’t think so. Ultimately, it will be a bipolar election.
