‘Congress misled people... we will easily win Maharashtra polls’: Nitin Gadkari
Union minister Nitin Gadkari said he was sure that the Mahayuti would win in Maharashtra
NEW DELHI: Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari was in conversation with Hindustan Times’ national political editor and bureau chief Sunetra Choudhury at an online session of the 22nd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. Their conversation spanned infrastructure, environment, and the politics of his home state, Maharashtra, which goes to polls on November 20.
How much are roads a factor for voters in an election?
A country where water, power, transport and communication are developed attracts capital investment which leads to an increase in industries, trade and business. Per capita income increases and poverty reduces. Therefore, better infrastructure is important for the country’s development and progress. For example, we reconstructed the old highway between Delhi and Dehradun which increased the number of pilgrims by 2.5 times. This led to the creation of a (business) ecosystem of taxis, buses, restaurants and hotels and created employment.
When we build roads, it brings industries and townships. My ministry has taken two initiatives to work towards the development of the country. We are making 36 green express highways which will shorten the by-road distance. We have built the access control green express highway from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and also increased the capacity of the existing roads. The second initiative taken was to prioritise biofuel and alternative fuel in place of petrol and diesel, therefore, we have encouraged ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel, bio-LNG, bio-CNG, electric and hydrogen. Through these initiatives, we will definitely bring down the current logistic cost from 14-16% to a single-digit value. We can become more competitive in the export market. Our exports will increase by 1.5 times and I believe these two initiatives will be helpful in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aspiration to become a 5 trillion dollar, as well as the world’s third-largest economy.
Do you think that there is a disadvantage to the multi-modal development which is causing damage to ecosensitive areas and how will you balance that out?
This insinuation is completely wrong. You tell me when it took nine hours to reach Dehradun from Delhi burning fossil fuel (petrol and diesel), how much pollution was it causing? And now that electric and bio-fuel vehicles will be driven, how much less pollution will it create? The time that will be saved will also lead to less pollution and savings on fuel which will also be cost effective. Secondly, isn’t it important to increase the number of tourists in the country for its development? Such thinking doesn’t prevail anywhere else in the world.
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The country imports ₹22 lakh crore worth of fossil fuel which causes pollution, what are these people, who are questioning the highway projects, doing about that? I have been working on biofuel for 25 years. We reduced the height of Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill and used the debris in the Delhi-Mumbai highway, urban extension road (UER) II, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. We used 80 lakh tonnes of garbage in it.
Development and environment both should go hand in hand. Our society has three pillars – ethics, economy and ecology and environment. We have increased the domestic happy human index by protecting the ecology and environment and also by reducing air, water and land pollution. We need to think in an integrated approach where our country progresses as a pollution-free society, where everybody has developmental employment and with better ecology and environment.
Have you thought of a solution to tackle rash driving on highways?
We have improved the road and automobile engineering that was in our hands. We brought the Motor Safety Act to improve the law which ensures good governance and enables deterrence. Another thing is human behaviour. Not fearing or respecting the law is a peculiar matter and this become the foremost reason for road accidents. Not wearing a helmet, jumping lights, not following lane discipline. This will not change if people’s behaviour doesn’t. Around 5 lakh accidents and 1.5 lakh deaths take place in our country, a loss of 3% of the GDP is incurred. I accept we haven’t succeeded in reducing road accidents. Media is helping and if every stakeholder in society works towards respecting laws, especially if we specifically train students, then future generations will be better. When I was in Switzerland, I ate a chocolate and kept the wrapper in my pocket. People generally do that there, but we throw the wrapper (on the ground) when in India. We have to change our behaviour and the media has a crucial role in this.
Your ministry hinted at changing the policy to scrap 15 year-old petrol cars and 10-year-old diesel ones. Can you tell us more about it?
Technology has changed and there is a benefit in this. We are gradually heading towards the gas economy and alternative fuel, ethanol-based vehicles are coming to the market. These vehicles will need ethanol which will be made by farmers. It will benefit the farmers and poor in the rural villages and the pollution will be near-zero. The transformation that is going to happen in the future is for everyone. Don’t we need to reduce the pollution? Shouldn’t we allow our farmers and rural population to become not the annadata but the providers of energy, fuel, bitumen, aviation fuel and hydrogen? Will it not be beneficial for the Indian economy?
Therefore, we should scrap vehicles older than 15 years and buy new ones to get rid of pollution. We also brought a policy to provide a 2-3% discount for buying new vehicles after scrapping the old ones. I am working on getting banks to provide some interest-saving options for post-scrapping buying vehicles. It is for everyone’s benefit.
You are saying that there would be no change in the policy to scrap older vehicles
We are open to improving the scrapping policy with a practical approach based on the suggestions received.
Moving to politics, we are seeing blocs of three parties on each side in the Maharashtra election – Mahayuti vs Maha Vikas Aghadi. For the first time, there are two parties that have split into two factions. Do you think this election is unique?
Our strength has increased in Maharashtra. Three forces have joined. The Maharashtra government has done a good job, the Ladki Bahin Yojana has made a good impact. Therefore, I am sure there will be a definite victory for the Mahayuti and our government will be formed. The work that the central government did for the poor, women and rural population under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 10 years, the Congress couldn’t do in 60 years.
You are saying your strength has increased, why couldn’t we see it in June during the general elections when the BJP’s numbers went down in Maharashtra? What is the difference that you are observing between then and now?
The public was misled by the Congress through wrong publicity that if we get 400 seats then we will change the Constitution. Neither will we change the Constitution nor do we have the desire to do that. On the other hand, the Congress party attempted to change the Constitution repeatedly. We had to face some losses due to the disinformation. Now people have understood that the Constitution has not been changed. I believe we will win this time with a good margin.
The family factor is quite visible this election. People are perturbed to see a split between families for power. Ajit Pawar joined hands with you (BJP) after splitting from Sharad Pawar.
I respect (Sharad) Pawar but if there’s anyone who attempted to break the political parties in Maharashtra that is Pawar. He broke the Congress, Shiv Sena and other parties. A person matters more than money; a party matters more than a person; and a philosophy matters more than a party. I entered politics inspired by JP Narayan during the period of emergency . I won’t compromise on that. It is important to prioritise ideology- and philosophy-based politics to strengthen our democracy and bring quality change to it. It has become common for political parties to undergo splits and defections. There are some who contest every election under different poll symbols. Every party should try to change this trend.
There are many rebels this time. How is BJP dealing with this issue?
Neither rightist nor leftist, we are known opportunists – this has become the story of today’s politics. Nowadays, politics has become a career. In our times, we did politics for society, nation and poor, rural areas and farmers.
How will the Maratha factor play out in the assembly election? What is your personal view on the demand for a caste census?
My personal view is no one can become great based on their caste, religion, language and sex - but only on the basis of their qualities. The untouchability and casteism in society must be ended and socio-economic equality must be established. Backwardness has become a political interest, everyone wants to prove that he is backward. Whoever talks about this is not speaking for the development of their community. We will prosper if everyone understands what leads to the country’s development. We do not see an actor’s caste, we see his acting, we do not consider a doctor’s caste when we go to him for medicine, we check the effectiveness of that medicine. We check the taste of food when we go to a restaurant. We must not work towards breaking the society instead we should work for integrating it.