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Our real enemy is China; Pakistan is political enemy,but BJP only targets Pakistan for its vote politics: Samajwadi Party president
ET BureauLast Updated: Jan 24, 2022, 01:15 AM IST
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has allied with smaller parties and hopes to win the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
He spoke to Kumar Anshuman and Vatsala Gaur on his electoral roadmap, promise to voters, the caste equations, India's stance with China and Pakistan and counters allegations against him and his party. Edited excerpts:
Will It be a bipolar election for the first time in UP?
Initially, we were wondering whether the SP would become an alternative or not. But circumstances changed after we got immense public support and blessings in the rath yatra.
It is the people who want change, we are with them. The work done (by us) in the last term is still visible and the (present) government has not been able to take it beyond that.
We are proud that the PM landed in a Hercules plane on a highway made by us. We built the Agra-Lucknow Expressway on the EPC model. After NHAI, no state government had the courage to carry out such a big project on EPC model.
The world-class expressway in terms of design, alignment and riding quality was built in record time. Now, the NHAI is following our model to build the Delhi Mumbai Expressway.
The Jewar Airport was visualised by the Mayawati government, and I had given the permission. This was not a BJP dream. Kushinagar Airport was built on the budget sanctioned during our government. They just inaugurated it. We built Lucknow, Agra, Kanpur metros. What has BJP built?
You have announced 22 lakh jobs for IT sector. But in Uttar Pradesh, aren't promising government jobs the way forward?
It is the first promise in a series of job-related promises (Naukri Rozgar Sankalp Shrinkhla). Right now, the announcement is only for the IT sector. Vacancies in the police, forest and other government departments are a separate category. In the IT sector, we have a proven track record - 5,500 people got direct employment in HCL. While I have said 22 lakh, looking at the UP market, it can easily be 30-40 lakh too.
Do you support reservation in the private sector?
Reservation should be implemented in the private sector also. It is getting land at subsidised rate. This land belongs to the government, which belongs to the people. But geographical reservation where jobs of a state is reserved for people of that state is wrong. The Centre should intervene on such matters. It reflects a narrow mindset. What if tomorrow you say people of Gujarat cannot fight elections from UP?
Earlier, you aligned with Congress and BSP. Now you are experimenting with smaller caste-based parties. What's the reason for that?
Our experience with bigger parties has not been smooth. Instead of benefiting us, it cost us. Which is why we are allying with smaller parties. About experiments... it took multiple experiments for the bulb to be invented (smiles).
How are you sure that smaller parties will make a difference?
You can find out for yourself that all the big leaders of BJP are calling our alliance partners from Delhi. We would like to congratulate our alliance partners that they are still with us, but they are being threatened. You can see FIRs registered against people as soon as they came to our party. I-T raids took place, and someone else's bounty was unearthed which was their own. Leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, OP Rajbhar and Dara Singh have wide public support, they are adding votes to the alliance.
SP Maurya says this election is about backward-forward. Do you agree?
Until you don't talk about peoples' problems, why will they vote for you? People have been betrayed by this government. The 69,000 aspirants who came to Lucknow were hit with lathis. The government discriminated against Dalits and backwards when it came to recruitments. They say 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas', but how many vice chancellors are backwards? When it was the SP government, people said all DMs and officials were Yadavs, which was a lie. Today, the CM's caste has hijacked everything.
But the central and state governments have OBC and SC/ST ministers...
Those are kagazi pichhde (backwards only on paper). Why are they not going for a caste census then? The BJP belongs to no one. If the party can cheat in the land purchases in the name of Lord Ram, then it belongs to no one. Look at the corruption that happened in land purchases in Ayodhya. Government officials are purchasing lands in the development area. The District Magistrate is part of the temple trust, he is buying land. What can be a bigger corruption than this?
What are your views on EWS reservation?
There is a debate going on in the Supreme Court and High Courts. The EWS reservation doesn't align with the fundamental principle of the Constitution for which reservations were introduced. The Mandal Commission's core principles should not be messed with.
Do you support women's representation?
It should be party-based, we are ready to welcome it.
Women's security and empowerment have become election issues. What's your promise?
Wait for the manifesto. 'Beti, Behen, Maa' (daughter, sister and mother) will be at the core of our schemes. We will ensure safety; we demonstrated that during our government. 1090 helpline was an exemplary project. Even the Supreme Court appreciated it. Asha Jyoti Kendras were built to help them in case of emergency. There were pensions and other schemes for them.
You said you will give 300 units of free electricity but power utilities are already facing huge losses.
Who is responsible for it? In 2016, the Uday scheme came when liabilities of all discoms were taken up by the government. Our government was the first to take on the burden of ₹39,900 crore of interest liability of discoms, we cleaned their balance sheets. This was to be followed by capital expenditure which was not done by the BJP government. Which is why there is this a huge debt.
What's your views on Chinese investments in India?
Dr (Ram Manohar) Lohia and Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) had a clear view on this. Our real enemy is China. Pakistan is our political enemy. But BJP only targets Pakistan because of their vote politics. In the Lok Sabha, only Samajwadi Party raised this question - when will we have members on 24 assembly seats in Azad Kashmir. The then home minister said that we will reach till Aksai Chin. Now we are hearing what's happening in Galwan. They are encroaching our land, encroaching our businesses. The Indian government should think about this and consult opposition parties on how to deal with the situation. On the investment front, we are forced to do business with China. It's a tricky situation where we are having to do business with our biggest enemy. We need to strengthen our own industries. Business ke sath sath fauj bhi chalti hai (Business and Army go hand in hand).
The seat-sharing agreement with your alliance partners is not yet out. Even Shivpal Yadav has demanded five-seven seats...
We have finalised everything. There are some minor issues, which remains in every alliance. With Shivpal Yadav Ji, whatever we had agreed upon is still there.
Our real enemy is China; Pakistan is political enemy... but BJP only targets Pakistan for its vote politics: Akhilesh Yadav
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has allied with smaller parties and hopes to win the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
economictimes.indiatimes.com