Ashok Gehlot became the chief minister of Rajasthan after Congress harnessed the anti-incumbency sentiment in the saffron state to win the assembly elections in 2018. Now the party is faced with the tough task of retaining their momentum going into the Lok Sabha elections.
In an interview with Rajesh Asnani of The New Indian Express, Gehlot spoke on the dangers of granting another five years to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), cheap political speak at rallies, farming crisis and allegations of nepotism.
Here are the excerpts:
- The atmosphere created after the Pulwama attack made the people of the country realise that Modiji and his government spared no effort to gain political mileage out of it.
- The politics of diverting issues is being played for winning elections and this is not in the country’s interest.
- They (BJP) have no achievement to speak of, so they want to win elections by hiding behind the accomplishments of the army, in the name of religion, in the name of nationalism.
- This has been seen for the first time in the country that if anybody criticises the government, the person is accused of being anti-national.
- People are scared of what direction this country will go to if Modiji comes back to power. Only two people, Modi and Amit Shah, are ruling the country and they are intolerant to voices of dissent and protest. In a democracy, criticism has to be tolerated.
- If Modiji comes back, then there is no guarantee that elections will be held in future… They (BJP) do not believe in democracy… Their fascist mindset is a matter of concern… Politics of hatred and revenge is ruling the country.
On Agrarian crisis:
- Our (Congress’s) aim is to improve the condition of farmers so that they move from debt waivers to freedom from debt.
- Rahulji has decided… there will be a separate budget for farmers… In a country that depends on agriculture, the farmer will have his own budget and his problems will get addressed.
- We (Congress) will work on ensuring that the farmer gets the right price for his crop and on setting up small businesses based on agriculture.
- The politics of confusing people regarding Kisan Samman Nidhi was started by the Prime Minister himself by making false promises during his Rajasthan visit in February. The allegations of not giving the list of beneficiaries to the Central government and not letting the farmers take benefit are baseless and unfortunate.
On Nepotism:
- It’s the party that has given the opportunity to (son) Vaibhav. He has been working continuously for the Youth Congress. Last time his name came up… I did not allow that. He wanted to become Youth Congress chief, but I stopped him… This time, Vaibhav’s name was proposed from three-four places…
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