INTERVIEW: Modi wave is bigger now, says Pankaja Munde

BJP MLA and Maharashtra's Minister of Rural Development, Women and Child Welfare Pankaja Munde talks to THE WEEK about her constituency of Parli, the chatter about her aspirations to become chief minister and how she is carrying forward the legacy of Gopinath Munde, her late father.

Excerpts from an interview:

Considering the last term you won with a huge margin of more than 2 lakh votes, this time, the pressure must be more? Last time, there was a 'Modi wave'; what has changed now and how is it going to affect the polls?

See, the Modi wave was always there. It was there in 2014. And, people predicted that it’s not going to be as big as 2014 this time around. Perhaps, they were right. It’s bigger now. It’s more powerful than 2014. Now, even in Assembly elections, the Modi wave is going to be there.

A lot of people believe that we need a secure government, and if a party is at the Centre, it’s secure. It is in full majority and thus the decision making is easier for nation building. If you have Central government support, the state government flourishes and does well. Of course, people will believe that the Central government and state government should be in sync.

Has the 16 per cent reservation for the Marathas affected the mindset of the OBC voters in any way?

Of course, there was a time when the people from the OBCs felt insecure and needed little cushioning. There were huge morchas on the streets for the Maratha reservation. But we being all OBC leaders and our government also was very confident that we will be giving justice to Marathas without touching OBC quota and their rights. We could deliver that.

There is a lot of comfort now. Marathas are also very happy because their leaders could not do it for years. They were promised this [for a long time] and now our government has done it. The Marathas are positive about it. And OBC quota is also not touched, so the OBCs are also comfortable with the idea.

But is this term then going to be about caste politics?

For a change, I feel it’s not going to be about caste. In spite of the Modi wave, I myself faced it during the Lok Sabha elections. But it (caste rhetoric) was not by people, it wasn’t entertained by people. It was by leaders, the campaigning by the opposition. People didn’t go for it. I could sense it. We are a very forward-thinking state. The voters behaved in that fashion. I did not see that casteism during the Lok Sabha elections apart from the campaigning.

I spoke to the people in your constituency. They seemed happy with the developmental work that you have done in the rural areas. What, according to you, still needs to be worked upon?

I am so happy that I could deliver so much. We did not have power in this constituency for the last three terms, 15 years [before I took over in 2014] after Munde sahib’s era. We suffered for 15 years when we were in opposition. We should have been able to get justice by being in opposition because people need development.

Now, in the whole state, my ministry has performed very well. I could deliver. I did some 35 new schemes under the four ministries that I had. Now, I have two. All those new schemes are very successful and well received by people. I won many awards from Modiji’s hands and the Prime Minister's Office.

We have done not just physical development, but also social development. We have included women [in many projects]. Financial inclusion has been done fantastically in Maharashtra. That has penetrated in my own constituency also. In my constituency, I have done development (work). Only the municipality is not with me. I feel very bad when I walk on the municipal street and see a lot of dirt around and feel sad about it. I wish I had that power in my hand; I could have helped. But definitely, I will be able to do something there. My district was known to have the least number of girls in the state. And now the sex ratio has improved from 801 girls:1,000 boys to approximately 947:1000.

How did you change that?

We needed a social churning, a lot of that. When a woman is leading, when the MP is a woman and the zila panchayat head is also a woman, it gives iconic figures to people. We have had many educational programmes and it has really worked. Even at the state level, we have done a lot of monitoring by making laws stricter.

Some of the youngsters mentioned that the job prospects in the constituency are limited. Some want the MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) to be in the district.

The opposition will have only few things to say. What I have not done, they will talk about it. What I have done is huge. If you have roamed around, you would have seen there is no anti-incumbency in my area. You will see a pro-government stand. What isn’t done is because of the local bodies who they have only elected, and they are not performing well.

The MIDC issue is a vast issue; only taking approval of bringing MIDC is not enough. We should have projects coming here and we should be able to give jobs. I have taken out a survey on how would MIDC work. It will only work when you have connections like railway and highways. That’s the only way projects can come here. Then, you should have water.

In the last four years, we are continuously having drought situation. We could not help that scenario. But we took that as an opportunity and built national highways in the meantime. My district (Beed) had one national highway, now 17 of them are passing through my district. My own constituency, Parli, wasn’t on the national highway and now we have taken it. Commuting has become easier. It is on the map of the state, from Google point of view. And, we will be done with the railway line in a year.

But that has taken years to be completed?

[The 261km railway route between Ahmednagar-Beed-Parli was approved in the early 1990s. Gopinath Munde, during his first Lok Sabha term in 2009, managed to fetch a grand budget allocation during that term.]

That is because it is a long route and a long project. It was due in March 2019. And now, it will be done at the earliest. It has been a delay of only seven-eight months, which I don’t think is huge. The first railway budget allocation was given by my father in 2009 when he became the MP. It was a budget of Rs 200 crore. Now, we have an allocation of Rs 2,800 crore.

Modiji, in the first meeting as a PM in 2014, took this as a scheme and approved this project. Now, I have finished it. It will be done in time. This is not a very profitable railway line, but it was promised to the people and it will be done. So, railway, highway and water are what we need. Even if we have a MIDC and not the resources, it will just be a barren land. I want to create infrastructure to entertain projects here.

The agrarian crisis continues. How are you dealing with it?

We have a lot of support of Central schemes. Our crop insurance scheme performed very well. We got Rs 992 crore as crop insurance. It has helped people in the crisis. It isn’t really a good thing to get crop insurance. But that is the only support during such times and in drought situation.

But the suicide rate is still rising…

No. It hasn’t gone very high. Rather, the self-improve movement has made it very comfortable for people to make it through the drought situation.

The crime rate in the constituency, youngsters say, is increasing. There’s a lot of show of power…

I am fighting against that. I don’t want muscle power to be the power of politics. So, here, there is a fight. Me being a woman, I always fight the goons around me. The criminal mentality has really gone down now. I have really worked hard against these things. And, people have supported me, not openly but they are there. I have strengthened my muscles also to take care of these people (laughs)! In rural politics, muscle power has glamour. But we are diverting attention to growth and development.

How tough is the competition for this term? Your cousin is your opponent?

He stood against me last time also. The problem is the person who has lost against me several times is the leader of the party. Imagine the taste, right now, of the leadership of their party (NCP). Personally, I don’t feel there is a challenge. But there are so many factors in the elections—it is not just your merit, how much work you have done, how nice you are, or how educated and devoted you are. There are so many other factors. There are so many malpractices happening, defamation happening. You have to fight all that. In that way, I have the toughest competition in this state.

People in the constituency also see you as a prospective chief minister. Do you have that aspiration?

I never had that aspiration. After my father’s demise [in 2014], I did a huge sangarsh yatra, which was very well received. Because of my father’s early and sudden demise, people were so agitated. There was a lot of agony. To soften that, I had to interact with them. My father loved his people, not his caste people, his people—all those who were deprived he supported them and fought for them. He became their voice.

When I came to politics, he always told me to take care of these people. I don’t know why he kept saying that you have to carry this. Somehow, he was kind of making me ready for his absence. After him, when I was mourning for the 14 days at home, I realised I had to take care of people. It was the only way to keep him alive.

During the rally, a lot of people and leaders from politics came up and said that “Pankaja is really good and she should be the CM of Maharashtra.” That’s how it got stuck. But I never said that. I am political kid. I know how politics work and where I stand. I knew that it wasn’t my time to aspire for something [like that]. But it was definitely my time to contribute to the aspiration of my party to become the largest [ruling] party. I am going to be again working towards that.