BJP’s divisive agenda dangerous for the country: Sharad Yadav

Sharad Yadav (70), recently disqualified as a Member of Rajya Sabha following his expulsion from the JD(U) after he opposed Nitish Kumar’s decision to join hands with the BJP, is a veteran parliamentarian, having been elected seven times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha. Although he does not enjoy a mass following like Mulayam Singh Yadav or Lalu Prasad Yadav, he is known as an astute political observer.

In a candid conversation with National Herald’s Vishwadeepak, he accuses the BJP of failing to fulfil its promises to the people while advancing the divisive agenda of the RSS. Excerpts from the conversation:

1. BJP has won the assembly election in Gujarat for the sixth time. How do you interpret the Gujarat verdict?

BJP has recorded win in big cities of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot among them. In the rural areas of Gujarat, BJP has lost. A major part of Gujarat has rejected the BJP. Not only in rural areas but also in small towns the BJP had to face defeat. I would like to say that the Gujarat verdict has actually determined the nature and contours of future politics in India.

2. Do you believe that opposition unity like in Bihar in 2015 could have yielded similar results? Has the invincible image of Narendra Modi taken a beating?

If all opposition parties come together, then anyone can be defeated. No one is invincible. But I would say that like Bihar, a Mahagathbandhan( a grand alliance) could not take place in Gujarat. My former party JDU actually tied up with the BJP. The Election Commission gave the JDU election symbol to Nitish Kumar. So, we had to form a different party to fight election. We formed the Indian Tribal Party and fought the election in Gujarat. We had an agreement with the Congress under which we were given four seats. We won two of them. I think it is a very encouraging beginning.

If we talk about the 2014 General Elections, BJP had secured only 31 per cent of the votes while the opposite parties had received the remaining 69 per cent of the votes. Because there were so many parties in the opposition, the votes were divided. The BJP was the beneficiary of this division.

As far as the Congress’ defeat in 2014 general election is concerned, I do not agree with the opinions of senior leaders of the Congress. AK Antony had mentioned in his report that the main cause of the Congress’ defeat was its pro minority image. But this is not correct. I would like to tell Mr Antony that we have to talk about minorities in politics. We can’t give them up. In fact, leave aside total unity, if we decide on even a partial opposition unity, even then the country can get rid of the BJP.

3. Why should the country be relieved of the BJP? What’s the problem if BJP remains in power?

Under the leadership of Modi, BJP promised to create 2 crore jobs every year and held up the promise of employment and better life to the youth. So according to their promise, they should create 10 crores of jobs in five years, but where are the jobs?

A large population in the country is agrarian. With regards to farmers, Modi government had said they would provide minimum support price of their crop which would be one and a half times more than the cost. Where has that promise of one and a half times more MSP gone?

These farmers and youngsters constitute more than half of India’s population. It’s obvious the Modi government has failed in fulfilling the promises made to more than half of the population of the country.

They said they would bring back black money deposited abroad and distribute it among the people, but, instead of bringing back the black money, they declared notebandi and allowed black money to be made white. It also took away whatever savings people had to the banks. Modi government is doing everything other than fulfilling their promises. That is why the country should be relieved of the BJP.

4. You have been working towards bringing all opposition parties together on socio cultural platforms through ‘Sanjha Virasat Bachao Abhiyan’. Will this campaign take a political form in future?

This is not a campaign on just socio-cultural fronts. This campaign is aimed at forging a political coalition. It is kind of a preparation for facing the struggle in future. What form it will take, who would be part of it, who will not, who will take the leadership etc. cannot be said as of now.

At present my only target is to put BJP out of power. If they remain in power, the country will face severe trouble. The sacrifices made by freedom fighters, gains of Independence, the carefully nurtured democracy and our Constitution will all be ruined.

These people engage in Hindu-Muslim enmity all the time. Our country has already been divided in three parts. Has there been any other country in this world which has witnessed this kind of partition? At times they divide people in the name of Islam and at times in the name of castes. They themselves indulge in divisive politics of caste and religion and blame others for it.

Caste is a social reality in our country. Castes are social institutions. But if we talk about reservation to the backward and deprived sections of society, they then start accusing you of spreading casteism.

While the fact is exactly opposite. We try to establish and encourage harmony and peace between two castes while they try to snap it. They work towards not only creating differences between communities but disharmony among them. Rahul Gandhi is absolutely right when he says all talks by the BJP and Modiji are based on the foundation of lies.

5. You mentioned Rahul Gandhi. In Gujarat, the Congress gained almost 100 per cent increase in its seats. Do you believe that it all happened because of Rahul Gandhi’s leadership or was Gujarat already ready for this change?

After 1985 this is the first time Congress has done so well in Gujarat. This is true that people of Gujarat were ready for change. They were out on the roads protesting against the BJP. But Rahul Gandhi gave a political face to this protest. The credit for this victory of the Congress definitely goes to the party’s leadership. Rahul Gandhi should definitely be credited for the better performance of the Congress because he was leading the election campaign of the Congress in Gujarat. He had started working there even before he became the party president. During the campaign he worked hard on the ground level in Gujarat, tied up with smaller parties and groups and created a movement.

(To be concluded)...