Vishnu Deo Sai interview | ‘When Congress was in power, Naxals believed their own government was ruling’

Hours before the first vote was cast in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai sat down for an interview with The Hindu on BJP’s electoral prospects in the State. He said that his government, unlike the previous Congress regime, has taken a strong stance against the Naxals but is ready for talks to arrive at a peaceful solution. He expressed confidence about the BJP winning all the 11 seats in the State in the Lok Sabha election.

Excerpts from the interview:

Three-months back, the BJP got a historic verdict in the Chhattisgarh  Assembly polls. Today you are facing the Lok Sabha election, which will also, in a way, test your government’s performance in these months. What are your expectations? 

We got a historic mandate in the 2023 election, winning 54 seats and over 46% vote share. This was our highest tally in any Assembly election so far in the State. People put their trust in “Modi’s guarantee”. And within two days of taking oath, we were active in implementing all “Modi’s guarantees”. We have been working towards clearing all the backlogs in terms of bonuses for farmers, clearing the decks to deliver 18 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, which the previous government didn’t do. And many such welfare schemes that we had promised like Mahatari Vandana Yojana giving women ₹12,000 per year or Ram Lalla Darshan Yojana, taking pilgrims to Ayodhya have already been rolled out. All this will impact the electoral choice of the people, the voters have complete trust in BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are going to win all 11 seats. 

Last week in an encounter with security forces, 29 Naxals were killed in Kanker. What will be the electoral implication of this encounter? 

Those killed in the encounter include at least two who had prize money of ₹20 lakh on their heads and another who had prize money of ₹10 lakh. This is the first time our security forces have had such a big success. The Congress claimed this was a “fake encounter”. They had made such claims about surgical strikes too. The fact that such a big group of Naxals came together on the eve of election, clearly shows that they were planning to stall the polls. When Congress was in power, Naxals believed their own government was ruling. We have always taken a strong stance against them.

But is your government prepared for talks with the Naxals? 

It is not as if we want violence. We are ready for talks to arrive at a peaceful solution. We have appealed several times, asking them to choose the path of development and progress instead. 

How do you respond to the growing fear that the BJP will scrap the Constitution and with it reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will also go? 

The Opposition is clearly desperate in the face of their certain defeat. This is why they are running this very deliberate campaign claiming that the “Constitution is in danger” and that “reservation” will be scrapped. This is a measure to mislead the electorate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clarified repeatedly that reservation will not be revoked.  

The BJP has been welcoming everyone with open arms, many of whom have a long list of corruption cases against them. Doesn’t this dilute your attack on the Opposition on corruption? 

Those who want to preserve their self-respect are leaving the Congress for BJP. The BJP is a party of workers and it has a democratic structure where office-holders are changed every three months. It is only here that an ordinary worker like me can aspire to become the Chief Minister of the State and a tea-seller’s son can go on to become the Prime Minister. 

The Hasdeo forests are being cleared on a large scale for Parsa East and Kanta Basan (PEKB) coal mining. When you were in the Opposition, you used this issue to corner the government, but the trees continued to be felled even now. Why hasn’t your government done anything? 

Most of the trees had already been cut during the five years of the Congress government. From the area that has been cleared, mining can be done for a year.