The Hindu : National : “Anti-BJP wave will start from Gujarat”

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“Anti-BJP wave will start from Gujarat”

SHANKARSINH WAGHELA

Can anyone expect L.K. Advani to do a better job than Manmohan Singh?

Union Textiles Minister Shankarsinh Waghela, once a stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi are now sworn enemies. Contesting from Panchamahals constituency as a Congress candidate, with Godhra as his election headquarters, Mr. Waghela does not believe there is anything like the “Modi magic.” In a talk with MANAS DASGUPTA, he oozed confidence that the United Progressive Alliance would retain power in New Delhi

What are the prospects for the Congress and the UPA in this election?

From the reports we are getting, it is clear that this time the voters are going to vote positively. Most of the time, the incumbency factor comes in the way and the voters go for negative voting. But this time, they will vote for the positive steps taken by the UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Rural development, urban progress, farmers’ problems, small and medium irrigation, youth welfare, in every sphere the UPA government has taken so many remarkable steps that the voters cannot ignore.

Can anyone expect L.K. Advani to do a better job than Dr. Singh? Anyone who thinks positively for the country will vote for the Congress and the UPA.

The BJP does not have any positive agenda. We are talking about economic development and the BJP “religious development.” Its manifesto is full of the Ram temple, Article 370 and elusive black money in Swiss banks. India does not need religious development. People want economic development. Because they have no issue to raise against the Congress and the UPA, the BJP is indulging in such rhetoric. I agree with Sushma Swaraj [BJP leader] — she has seen the reality when she said the NDA has little chance to come to power. It is simply cheating the people.

But the BJP is saying the UPA government has done nothing in five years and is a dismal failure on all fronts.

It speaks utter lies. How can we stop it from speaking such lies? But the people will see through the game. There are thousands of people in rural and urban areas who have directly benefited from the UPA government’s welfare programmes, and they will never believe what the BJP says. They are our strength all over the country. It is because of this that the NDA has started crumbling. Nine of the NDA’s allies have left the combination in the last one year. And every other day, new problems are cropping up.

The Congress and the UPA are also facing the same situation.

Ours is a different situation. The differences in the NDA are ideology based, because several parties do not agree with the BJP’s communal agenda. In the UPA, whatever little differences exist are all “convenience-based.” The regional parties have self-interest in their respective States for which sometimes they refuse to concede space to national parties. But the leaders such as Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh or Mamata Bannerjee will never support the BJP and they are very much with the UPA. In the South, either the DMK or the AIADMK can extend support to the Congress in the post-election scenario. Most of these parties are not rigid about the Congress, but many of them will not extend a helping hand to the BJP.

Do you see an anti-BJP wave?

Yes, from Gujarat. The BJP certainly will perform very badly in many States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and many others.

What are your party’s prospects in Gujarat?

As I said, the anti-BJP wave will start from Gujarat. The Congress is certain to improve its position from the 12 out of the 26 seats it won from the State in 2004. The BJP does not have its own candidates, they have taken four Congress defectors. The BJP has no faith in its own partymen and is simply cheating the people.

You expect to do better despite the “Modi magic” which was evident in the December 2007 Assembly elections?

There is no “Modi magic.” It is all artificially created and is vanishing like a mirage. It was created in the name of Hindu-Muslim mania but did not sustain for long. It was there but now it is over. All this harping on development, “Vibrant Gujarat” and what not, spending crores of tax payers’ money, cannot fool the people for long. Gujarat was always number two in industrial development after Maharashtra. In the Modi era, the State has gone down. How long can people be cheated in the name of religious sentiments? The people crave positive results, not mere promises of development.

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