During the stormy election campaign, CP Joshi, the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Guardian, candidly expressed his views on Lal Diary, nationalism, corruption, and rebellion. Excerpts:
Q: The election campaign of the BJP is in full swing in Rajasthan. PM and other senior leaders are touring the state. How confident are you about the results?
A: The public has made up its mind. The BJP will form the government in Rajasthan with a full majority. Voting is just a few hours away. People are eager to press the lotus button on the EVM. Good days for Rajasthan will begin on December 3.
Q: Dissatisfaction has been seen after ticket distribution. Chandrabhan Singh, who was with the BJP as an MLA in your home district Chittorgarh, is standing against the BJP as a rebel. Now, questions have been raised about your hold in the home district.
A: See, no election can happen without rebels. The party distributes tickets after thorough analysis. All leaders of the BJP are united and fighting the elections together. As for my home district Chittorgarh, the BJP candidate there will register a victory with overwhelming votes. Attempts were made to convince the rebels, however, some of them didn’t agree. They will know their fate in the election results.
Q: Congress has unleashed a barrage of announcements in the manifesto. How will the BJP confront the plans, guarantees, and announcements of Congress?
A: The Congress’s election manifesto is just like how Rahul Gandhi turns potatoes into gold. The attempts to mislead the public that were made in 2018 by spreading lies are evident in this manifesto. You can see that in the previous Gehlot government, the salary of those people who were placed in the Rajiv Gandhi Pathshala was even less than the labourers working under NREGA. They only look for a way to come to power by showing off during elections. The Congress’s manifesto is a collection of hollow promises, and their guarantees have already failed at every level.
Q: The Chiranjeevi Yojana seems to be a key factor. Congress has announced an increase in insurance coverage to 50 lakhs. How do you view this?
A: The Gehlot government has renamed the Ayushman Bharat Yojana of the Modi government to the Chiranjeevi Yojana. People are not getting treatment under this scheme. Instead of increasing the coverage amount in insurance, Congress should have seen whether patients are actually receiving treatment under the scheme in hospitals. Congress is only talking about attractive announcements. Our resolution is visible to the public and does not involve any attractive statements.
Q: Paper leaks and women’s safety are two significant issues in the Rajasthan polls. The BJP has been quite aggressive on this. Will this aggression benefit the BJP in this election?
A: See, it’s not about whether there will be a benefit or not. Some issues are directly related to public welfare. Due to the paper leaks, the future of the youth is ruined and because of the deteriorating law and order, there is a sense of insecurity among women in Rajasthan. Therefore, the BJP has raised every issue from the streets to the assembly. Due to the policy of appeasement, Congress has only benefited a specific class. No attention has been paid to other classes. In this situation, issues like paper leaks and women’s safety have had a deep impact on the public psyche. The people of Rajasthan have already recognized the true face of the Congress. The public’s trust is not in Congress but in the guarantee of Modi Ji. Now even Gehlot’s son talks about the government’s repeat not being certain.
Q: There is much talk about the Red Diary in Rajasthan. Has this Red Diary become a blessing for the BJP, as every leader, including the PM, is mentioning it?
A: Whenever someone does something wrong, it is natural for it to be talked about. This diary is the one in which CM’s son Vaibhav Gehlot has accused government officials of corruption and collusion. He has also said that the Congress government will not be repeated in Rajasthan due to Ashok Gehlot. Now the people have understood that Congress has accepted its defeat. So why is the public being misled in the name of guarantees? This Red Diary not only benefits the BJP but is a boon for the people of the state. The reality of Congress is coming to the forefront through this diary.
Q: In this election, words like nationalism, Sanatan, and religious war are being brought forward by the BJP. Will the BJP’s government be formed based on these words?
A: Congress in the state has indulged in corruption and appeasement for five years. The public sees that when a son of a Dalit dies, the government gives two lakh rupees, and when a son of a specific community dies, they are given fifty lakh rupees. The Gehlot government is blind to appeasement. Congress has put a stop to celebrating Hindu festivals publicly and hoisting saffron flags. At the same time, it allows terrorist organisations like PFI to hold a rally in Kota. This is not just an ordinary election but a religious war against those who abuse and talk about ending Sanatan. History shows that invaders like Akbar, Aurangzeb, Khilji, Ghori, and Ghaznavi came here, but they could not eliminate Sanatan. So, these words, nationalism, Sanatan, and religious war, are not just words but a sentiment that is in the heart of every Indian.
Q: There is no clear CM face declared in either party. It seems that both parties are more focused on making a CM rather than forming a government. What would you say?
A: The fight for the CM’s position is there in Congress and not the BJP. Gandhi’s family comes to Rajasthan with binoculars only to see tigers and seize the lands of farmers.
PM Modi only sees public welfare and development. The public has decided to uproot this corrupt government from the state, so after the election results, Congress will have to use binoculars to find its MLAs, deciding the CM is a distant matter. We will sit together and decide everything here.
Q: Whether it’s Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi, both are doing vigorous campaigning in Rajasthan. They are targeting the BJP. How does the BJP view the activism of both in Rajasthan?
A: The Gandhi family comes to Rajasthan only for tourism and sees the state as a treasure chest. They indulge in illicit land transactions here. During elections, they go among the people, make false promises, and hope that the public will choose Congress again. This is their biggest misconception. The Chief Minister’s son himself believes that his father cannot repeat the government, so how can the public trust them? The same trick works only once. A comparative study of the Congress government in the state and the central Modi government reveals the truth. On one side, where work has been done throughout the term, welfare schemes for the poor, farmers, marginalised, women, and youth have been implemented, and their results are visible. Meanwhile, if the Congress government looks at its five-year report card, only deceit and stuck schemes on paper will be apparent. The announcement of giving cheap electricity, cylinders, grains, and mobiles in the last six months in the name of relief was also not fulfilled by the Ashok Gehlot government.
Now, looking at the mood of the people, the Congress president, the Gandhi family, and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot are feeling uneasy.