Rania (Sirsa): Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches show that he was frightened because he knows that power was slipping out of his hands and that he was going to meet the same fate that BJP’s India Shining slogan met in 2004, Congress Sirsa candidate Kumari Selja has said.
In an exclusive interview with The Print in the tehsil–cum–grameen nyayalya at Rania town of Sirsa Friday, Kumari Selja said that the BJP’s claims of 400 Paar are nothing more than bravados because even the PM knows in heart that he is not coming to power after these elections.
Selja said that in Haryana too, due to the 10-year “misrule” of the BJP, people have made up their minds to vote for the Congress.
“I know they (BJP leaders) are masters when it comes to giving a spin to the narratives by use of words, but the fact is that they didn’t fulfil any of their promises. They said they would bring the Gujarat Model to Haryana. However, nobody knows till date what is the Gujarat model. Nor has the BJP ever tried to explain to the people what exactly it is. Then they said they would bring lakhs of crores of black money stashed in foreign banks within 100 days and transfer Rs. 15 lakh each to the accounts of people. But when questioned, they said it was a jumla (gimmick),” Selja said.
She said that the BJP promised two crore employment every year. Going by the promise, she said, people should have got 20 crore jobs by now but the question is where are those jobs.
“When the PM announced notebandi (demonetisation) by suddenly calling a Cabinet meeting at 8 in the night and ruined the country’s economy completely and poor people were made to stand in queues for days for their own money, tall claims were made. Claims were made that it would end black money. It will end terrorism. The PM also said that if this doesn’t happen in 60 days, punish me at any chowk. Now, when the PM says such things, people have come to realise that there was nothing in his claims. How will people trust such a party,” she said.
Even after all this, Selja said, the PM would either talk of mandir or some other issues, but would skip the real issues like employment and inflation.
“They (BJP) talk about corruption. But there has been no bigger scam than the electoral bonds. Had the Supreme Court not exposed this… even the SBI was under pressure not to reveal the facts. The central machinery is being misused blatantly. The free ration scheme is a sham. People tell me that the government gives 5 kg of Bajra (pearl millet, a winter food) in the name of foodgrains in the hot weather. The Ayushman Bharat scheme has failed people. The government isn’t clearing bills of the hospitals. In turn, the hospitals deny treatment. Due to all these factors, people don’t see any hope with the present regime,” she added.
Talking about the controversial Mangalsutra statement, the Dalit leader slammed Modi for his communal agenda. “He twists every issue into his communal agenda, and he can go to any level for his communal agenda.”
“What kind of democratic system is this that the prime minister is talking about such things? When we talk to people in the villages about the PM’s speech that the Congress will take away buffaloes, they mock the PM. All these are old habits (of the PM). When the elections come, he tries to create a communal divide. He should know that our country is known for its unity in diversity and diversity in unity. This is our country’s culture and the PM must respect it.”
To a question about the infighting within the Congress, she said pulls and pressures were there in all political parties but to call it infighting would be wrong. “These pulls and pressures are part of the game,” she added.
Asked if she was a contender for the post of Haryana CM, Selja said that anyone can have a claim to a post in a democracy, but in the Congress, the decision is taken by the party’s high command.
Selja is pitted against Ashok Tanwar in Sirsa where the BJP has won only once in 2019. Sirsa will vote 25 May, while the assembly election is due in October.
The Congress leader has represented Sirsa twice in the Lok Sabha after winning in 1991 and 1996. She shifted to Ambala in 2004 after she lost in 1998 and 1999. She then won twice from Ambala in 2004 and 2009, but lost in 2014 and 2019. Selja was a Cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh-led UPA government from 2009 to 2014.
She was appointed president of the Haryana unit in April 2019, a post she held till April 2022. Currently, Selja is a member of the Congress Working Committee and AICC general secretary in charge for Uttarakhand.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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