Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is asking the public to cast its verdict on his political choices. “Sarkar badalkar theek kiya, galat kiya (Did I do right or wrong by changing the government)?” he asked the crowd at a rally in Guna district’s Bamori Assembly constituency on November 3. In March 2020, Mr. Scindia had walked out of the Congress with 22 MLAs, overthrowing the 15-month government led by Kamal Nath, and formed after the Congress won the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election.
More than three years later, Mr. Scindia is campaigning across the State again, especially in the Gwalior-Chambal area once ruled by his family; but this time, on behalf of the BJP. Madhya Pradesh’s 230 Assembly constituencies go to the polls on November 17. Mr. Scindia sat down for an interview with The Hindu before the Guna rally. Edited excerpts:
It’s your first major election after joining the BJP. How different has been the public’s response to you in a new party?
This is not a new party for me. This is a party founded by my grandmother, Vijayaraje Scindia. My father [Madhavrao Scindia] also started his political career by contesting his first election in 1971 with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. For me, this is home. In fact, it’s a perfect match because of the discipline and a complete egalitarian setup. Here, first you are a karyakarta [volunteer] before you are a neta [leader]. It’s my privilege to work under Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is leading the nation in a focussed fashion.
What is the difference between the BJP’s and the Congress’ approach to this election?
The BJP’s approach is ground up, it’s people- and local worker-centric. Here, a ground worker rises to become a candidate. The Congress’ approach is top down, everything is parachuted. Everything is controlled from Delhi in the Congress while the BJP has a boots-on-the-ground approach.
Unlike previous elections, the Congress seems to be putting up a united front this time around. How do you think they managed that and do you think that it will benefit them?
Where is the united front? You see one former Chief Minister giving a power of attorney to another former CM to take abuses on his behalf. It’s a party where one former CM [State party chief Kamal Nath] is asking people to tear the clothes of the other [former CM Digvijaya Singh]. What is united about this?
But the Congress is saying that Mr. Nath and Mr. Singh are a Jai-Veeru duo, [the iconic characters from the movie, Sholay]
This tag is being given by an outside person, Randeep Surjewala [Congress national general secretary in-charge of M.P.). He is not a local Congressi. Someone who is from Haryana is trying to control Madhya Pradesh affairs and telling us what kind of jodi [pairing] it is. The public will decide whether it is Jai-Veeru’s jodi or bhrashton ki jodi [corrupt duo], not the general secretary from Haryana.
You had said on Thursday that one should never include the Scindia family in the race for the CM’s post? What did you mean by that?
We have never been in the race for the CM’s post, nor am I in it today. My grandmother, my father, none of them were ever in a race. We are only in the race to bring development. I was not in the race in 2018, nor am I in it today.
Last time, the Congress won 26 out of 34 seats in the Gwalior-Chambal region and you were at the forefront of the party’s campaign. What were the weak fronts of the BJP in the region and what are you doing to replicate a similar result for the BJP this time?
The last time around in 2018, the BJP got seven seats, the Congress got 26. Post 2020, when the government changed, 28 seats went for bypolls, out of which 27 were of the Congress. The BJP won 19 of them and the Congress was left with a low number of 9. This shows that the great promise on which the Congress came to power, they failed to deliver on it. The 15-month government completely disillusioned the public’s trust that had been imposed on it. It’s not easy, almost impossible, for an incumbent government to lose 80% of the seats it held in a byelection. The result of this was that in the Gwalior-Chambal region where the BJP was at seven in 2018, it now holds 16 seats. I am very confident that the BJP will do well not only in this region but across the State. We are forming the next government to deliver on the aspirations of the people of Madhya Pradesh. Unlike Congress, for us it’s not a fight to regain power. It is a fight to use the seat of power as a means of fulfilling the aspirations of people. Yeh humne liye kursi ka khel nahi hai [This is not a game of musical chairs for us].
