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Tamil Nadu BJP upbeat
 ‘India
Shining’ is the advertisement that is sparkling in all newspapers and
magazines nowadays. Is India really shining or is it an election eyewash? To
know more, here is an interview with L Ganesan, the BJP’s all-India secretary.
Your party became a well-known
one at the national-level only after 1980. What do you have to say about its
progress in the last 20 years?
Those who join politics search
for aims only after their entry, but we, the members of the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) entered politics to convey them to the people of India. There are
some who, in order to become a leader, formed a party but in the BJP those who
worked for the party have become leaders. We are united in our aim and all of us
are working towards it which makes it possible for us to achieve more. I think
this is the reason for our growth.
What are the achievements
you are going to project in the coming elections?
 We
have the desire to see India as a super power in the future. Once upon a time,
our country occupied the top slot in all fields. Later, we climbed down in all
except our culture. The reason was attributed to the foreign rule, which is
partly true.
But those who came to rule this
country after 1947 did not try to uplift the country. Even this lack of effort
is not a crime but they never even had the faith that this country could reach
great heights. That is why our country, instead of moving forward, went
otherwise.
But now the scenario has
changed. We have a Prime Minister who has immense faith in our country and who
believes that our country can become a super power. Other countries across the
world have started recognising India as one. This is not the faith arising out
of a single man i.e., Atal Behari Vajpayee, but even a common man of our country
has developed this faith. A country where even a common man reposes faith, is
sure to progress. These are the facts that we are going to project. This is
neither a contest between two parties...nor one between two candidates...Are you
going to stand by a Prime minister who wishes to change this country into a
super power? If yes, vote for us! This is the question we are going to put
forward to the people of India.
All these slogans of ‘India
Shining’ and will be a super power have been raised only in the past six
months. As the opposition parties accuse, were these messages being spread
keeping with the elections in mind? Have the poor been relieved of their every
suffering as you claim?
After Vajpayee became Prime
Minister, he promulgated a plan that in every village people above 62 years of
age and below the poverty line will be given 10 kg of rice or wheat free on a
monthly basis. Apart from that, each person will be given Rs 100 as pension, a
plan which was put into action only in our rule. This plan was called ‘Pradhan
Mantri Anna Yojana’. We have been very particular in seeing to it that there
is no death due to hunger. Today, food production has increased. At one point of
time our country was importing food from America but now it is vice versa. One
can say that this has induced self-respect in our farmers.
Employment opportunities
have dwindled and one can see lot of unemployed graduates now... what do you
have to say to this?
 This
is not so. What you mention as employment opportunity is only white-collar jobs.
Many people were given jobs through our golden road scheme linking Kashmir with
Kanyakumari. Now we are considering linking rivers and when this happens, you
can guess how many lakhs of people will be employed. Our plans will help
increase employment opportunities.
As far as Tamil Nadu is
concerned, the Monsoon has failed and there is drought everywhere. There is no
Cauvery water for the farmers of Thanjavur. What is your party’s stand on this
issue? How are you going to manage this problem?
Karnataka is firm that we have
no right to ask for even a drop of water. It refuses to abide by the decision of
the Cauvery tribunal and told us that they will not give 250 tmc ft of water.
This was the situation when our party came to power. The four riparian states
had opposition parties in power. Vajpayee invited them for talks and for the
first time, Karnataka agreed that we have the right to Cauvery water and
accepted the tribunal also. It also accepted that it has to give 250 tmc ft of
water to Tamil Nadu. That itself was an achievement for Vajpayee.
But when the Karnataka
government refuses to accept the order of the tribunal, or that of the Supreme
Court, it is not possible for the Central government to interfere with the state
government’s power and not possible to punish it.
 The problem is not about a dry
Cauvery there. Though a national party is in power, the ‘national stream’
has become dry in that state. Here, in Tamil Nadu, the DMK and other parties
that have aligned with it should have laid conditions before aligning with the
Congress, that it would be possible only if Karnataka releases water to Tamil
Nadu. They could have at least made such a request. If the Congress high command
gives a directive, the Karnataka government cannot refuse to obey. This problem
has been going on because of the Congress’ refusal to solve the problem. We
will definitely place this in front of the people.
Our party will surely work
towards an amicable solution to the Cauvery problem. This is why we have started
this plan of linking the rivers of India. This may take 10-12 years. But the BJP
is worried only about the next generation and not the next election. Our
river-linking plan will soon be put into operation. Our aim is to make the next
generation water-sufficient. No state can refuse our request as they will
certainly not lose.
Now you have aligned with
the AIADMK. But will you seek support from your former alliance partners i.e.,
DMK, PMK and MDMK after the elections?
I would like tell you two
things: When the MDMK quit our alliance, the resolutions they adopted contained
nothing against our Prime Minister or the National Democratic Alliance or about
POTA. They did not have any dissatisfaction.
Secondly, our party has the
chance of winning more than 300 seats and so the necessity of asking any party
for support does not arise. We are sure that we will win two-thirds majority and
form the government.
The DMK has stated that
yours is a communal party and that they opted out of the alliance because of
this?
 When they aligned with the
Muslim League they lost the right to talk about communalism and that is the
reason they have named their front as ‘Democratic Progressive Alliance’.
When they aligned with the Congress they don’t have the right to talk about
democracy. The Congress was the party which brought in Emergency and strangled
democracy. It was the Congress which confiscated the rights of the state
governments and used Article 356 frequently.
When we are firm in taking this
country forward, these people who should have stood by us decided to leave us.
This itself shows that they are against the country’s progress. This is the
state of the opposition parties.
The Congress says that
liberalisation was started during Rajiv Gandhi’s regime...
When the Congress came to
power, it was confused about the economic policy it should follow. It accepted
socialism and failed in that... Then it said it would try democratic
socialism.... Finally, it came to liberalisation. If it had followed this at the
very beginning, India would have been a much talked about country worldwide. But
we have been firm in adopting the principle from the very first day and the
credit goes only to Vajpayee’s government.
Is it going to be a single
party or multi-party rule?
 Alliances are only temporary
arrangements. But if nationwide the parties and people feel they should also
have a share in the power, it becomes necessary to align with other parties. It
is not because of shortage of majority strength. This is a emotionally united
alliance...
The National Democratic
Alliance will definitely form the government ... We will get two-thirds
majority...This is the situation at present.
Is it not sheer opportunism
to align with a party which was the reason for your government losing the
majority by a single vote?
When our party was seen as
untouchable, it was the AIADMK which came forward to align with us. After that,
many parties came forward to join our front. So we were able to form a strong
front. We ruled for 13 months and then 13 days. Now Vajpayee’s government is
ruling again.
Once we lost by a single vote
but recently we won by 100 votes. This is the situation now. When the AIADMK
left our alliance the DMK filled the gap. Instead of leaving us, the DMK kept
saying it had no links with the party at the state level but only at the Centre.
It was waiting for the elections to be announced to leave the NDA and it left.
The loss is not ours, as they think, but theirs. If they criticise our front on
the election platform, we will point out that it is self-criticism.
Now we have aligned with the
AIADMK and one cannot call it a political alignment. The party has supported us
on various issues and so we can call it an alignment with similar aims.
There is a lot of
discontentment among people due to the strong actions of the ruling party here.
Will this affect your chances of victory?
 The coming elections are going
to be for the Lok Sabha and the people of Tamil Nadu are intelligent.... They
know that the contest is between Vajpayee and Sonia... between the Congress and
BJP... The question is not whether it will be Jayalalithaa or Karunanidhi....
So, it will not affect our victory. The effect of the state government’s rule
will not affect the Centre.
Will you take up Hindutva in
the coming elections? Will Ayodhya raise its head?
We will not take up Hindutva....
I like the thought of saffronisation.... I think the Ramar temple issue will be
solved before the elections. The talks are going on now....
There is a rumour that you
are going to contest in the coming elections...?
I am generally interested in
the party and I have never contested in any elections so far. If my party wants
me to contest, I will.
Has the BJP grown in Tamil
Nadu?
Yes. The growth has been
substantial. Our vote bank percentage has doubled. A recent opinion poll found
that support for Vajpayee has increased.
After the self-respect
movement and Dravidian culture started by Periyar, now one finds that
communalism and religious propaganda have raised their head. What is your
opinion?
Even before Periyar this was
the land where 63 Nayanmars and 12 Azhwars grew and lived. Not only that, this
is the land where Muthuramalinga Thevar was born. Now nationalism and
religiosity have come out in the open again. I feel proud to see this.
K
T Sri
Translated by Radha N
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