Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot says the BJP is running a negative campaign rather than engaging in a debate on issues, policies and governance structures. He says his party is talking about equitable growth while the BJP has resorted to fear mongering and lies. Excerpts:
At the end of two rounds of polls covering 190 seats, where does the Congress stand?
I think it is very clear with the change in tone and tenor of the BJP leaders that the first two phases of polling have not gone their way. Congress and INDIA bloc candidates are certainly ahead.
The voting percentage has dropped in comparison to the previous general elections. What does it indicate?
It is hard to say. I would have liked more voting. It is always good for a democratic country to have maximum participation. And we hope that it improves in the next phases. But one explanation for this drop could be that the famed booth management of BJP has come undone. Also, I think there is little energy and enthusiasm in the BJP vote base to re-elect the same government to power.
Your manifesto is more in the news than the BJP’s manifesto. Do you believe that the Congress could have framed the question of wealth redistribution better?
The intent of the Congress manifesto is in black and white. To blatantly lie about and spread canards about our manifesto shows the desperation of the BJP. I would be happy if the BJP were to debate on issues, policies and governance structures. But that is not happening. We have promised 5 NYAYs and 25 guarantees, we are very clear that India belongs to everyone. There should be equitable growth. But the BJP has now resorted to fear mongering and lies. I am surprised that instead of talking about what they have done in the last 10 years, they are now talking about things that are purely imaginative and running a negative campaign.
The Congress’ campaign for a caste census is less than a year old. But historically the Congress has always underplayed the caste question, including famously burying the Mandal Commission report. Do you think, therefore, it was strategically a wrong move to raise this demand?
Our demand for a caste census is basically aimed at providing an effective tool to frame better policies. There are 140 crore people in this country. The government makes certain budgetary allocation, targeting certain social groups. But if you do not know their numbers or the quality of life they lead, how can you really make effective policies? Right now the government is functioning on ad hoc numbers. We don’t know whether we have done enough? Or whether we need to reorient our policies for a different group? We do a tiger count, a tree count to assess the impact of government interventions but we don’t want to count our citizens!
But isn’t your campaign insincere based on your own past?
How? Fifty years ago our priorities were different. Today, we have come a long way. We have enough resources today to help and support people who are living on the fringes. Our demand for a caste census has riled the government because this government is an anti-data government. In UPA years we used to put forth an outlay and then also lay down an outcome report. In the last 10 years, they have held back or delayed release of data — like the NSSO [National Sample Survey Office] surveys and National Family Health Survey. They claim 25 crore people have been lifted out of poverty but there is no data to substantiate this. They want to continue working in an opaque manner to evade all questions.
You spoke of fear mongering by the BJP but the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instead accused the Opposition of running a false propaganda that the BJP will end reservation.
We have not said anything. In fact, it is BJP leaders themselves who have made statements to this effect. There are certain sections who are worried that the BJP may do things that may harm their rights and privileges. It is for the BJP leadership to issue disclaimers.
The BJP has been using four Ms to attack the Opposition — Meat, Mughals, Maoists and Mangalsutra. What has been the impact so far on your vote base?
The BJP is talking about Mandir-Masjid, Muslims and Mangalsutra. The ‘M’s that we are talking about are MGNREGA, MSP and Mahila. People can see through it. People will weigh their preferences based on the BJP’s performance. It is ironic that after 10 years of power, they are asking for 15 more years, with the PM talking about 2047. But for the young boys and girls who want to join armed forces they are given only four years of tenure under Agniveer. A cross section of people in India feel that they were promised a lot but now the BJP is canvassing votes on the basis of emotive issues. I would be very happy if you were to debate 10 years of the BJP government and 10 years of the UPA government. We made laws like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Right to Information and Right to Food Security. Our policies were aimed at helping the poor people. The BJP government came up with three farm laws which they had to backtrack from. They brought in demonetisation with no clear reason or objective. They wrongly implemented the Goods & Services Tax (GST). And when BJP was in opposition, they opposed Direct Benefit Transfer, GST, U.S.-India nuclear deal, FDI in defence and retail. But once in government, they have been busy back-pedalling from these issues.
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