'SP, BSP and Congress one party in three names': Keshav Prasad Maurya, dy CM

Q/ How different would 2022 be compared with 2017?

A/ No one should be surprised if we win more seats this time. Uttar Pradesh has benefitted in terms of development from the BJP-led Central government and the state government. As the law and order situation has improved so much, people have decided to re-elect the BJP government.

Q/ What is your main election plank?

A/ Usually, issues are raised by opposition parties. Surprisingly, they do not have any issue. Earlier, issues used to be power, roads and law and order. But those are missing now. The opposition does not have the courage to raise pro-poor, pro-farmer issues. During the Samajwadi Party (SP) rule, people had to pay bribes to get jobs. We have made over 4.5 lakh recruitments with transparency. Our youth are happy, women are happy because of enhanced security, and the elderly get respect and the required facilities. The poor have got 43 lakh affordable houses. Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, over 10 crore people have benefitted. Bundelkhand always had a water problem. But we have sent tap water there.

Q/ Among the SP, BSP and the Congress, who is your major challenger?

A/ These are not three parties, but different names for the same party. In the 2019 elections, they were together in the stop-Modi campaign. Yet, we got 51 per cent votes and 64 MPs in Uttar Pradesh. We then started working on big issues like the abrogation of Article 370, construction of the grand Ram temple and development of all pilgrim places. We aim to provide employment and development to all. That is why our support has grown.

Q/ Opinion polls have hinted at the revival of the Samajwadi Party.

A/ It may appear to the media that the SP is in contention. I have done over 100 rallies. I ask people whether the SP will win in their constituency or any other seat in their district? People feel even Karhal (Akhilesh Yadav’s constituency) may go to the BJP. Akhilesh, who used to talk about 400 seats, is now finding it hard to talk about even 40 seats. He does not have an organisation. He may have a machinery involving gangsters, mafias and rioters, which used to win elections through booth capturing. The Election Commission has taken steps so that people can vote freely.

Q/ Akhilesh seems to be adopting a soft hindutva line.

A/ They are pseudo-secular. Being secular does not mean that you order fire on people chanting Ram’s name in Ayodhya. When we won 73 seats in the 2014 elections, leaders of all parties, including that of the SP, started visiting temples. In 2013, when Akhilesh was chief minister, he did not visit the Kumbh organised by his government. But when Kumbh was held in 2019, he went to take a dip. It shows that only the BJP’s ideology is right. They only held roza-iftaar parties, followed appeasement politics and divided people along caste lines to get votes. But that era has ended.

Q/ The elections appear to be heavily polarised this time.

A/ Akhilesh tried to polarise the state. The first instance of polarisation was when he did not pay his respects after the death of former chief minister Kalyan Singh, thinking that the Muslim vote bank may turn against him. (It was during the Kalyan Singh regime that the Babri Masjid was demolished). The second instance was when he equated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the man responsible for partition. The BJP does not do polarisation. All our schemes have benefitted people equally. The triveni of forward castes, backwards castes and dalits are with us. The SP and the BSP are not in the fight. The Congress does not even have enough people to get photographed.

Q/ Can you elaborate on this triveni of three communities?

A/ The SP and the BSP used to say that the BJP was a party of forward castes. But when the backward communities saw how our governments performed, they realised the propaganda of these parties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi washed the feet of dalit brothers during the Prayagraj Kumbh. He bowed before workers of Kashi Vishwanath and had food with them. The opposition is left with no option but to focus on Muslims and keep them away from the BJP. There were 700 riots during the SP regime, but there was not even a single riot during our tenure. In riots, not only Hindus die, but Muslims do, too. Be it Hindus or Muslims, they are all residents of UP.

Q/ Law and order is a key issue for you.

A/ During the SP tenure, everyone heard about Kairana. But there are 100 other villages where SP gangs forced people to flee their homes. We brought them back. There used to be encroachment of government land and land belonging to farmers and businesses. We took all that land back. If bulldozers are used, it is to raze illegal properties and make affordable houses for the poor.

Q/ In the past few decades, Uttar Pradesh has had a history of alternating governments.

A/ We have focused on pro-people projects. Our popularity has increased. When the SP or the BSP is in power, they loot people. There is no electricity, the road network is poor and law and order is bad. But we have performed. We are a double-engine government. We are returning to power.

Q/ You gave the slogan, ‘After Ayodhya and Kashi, it is the turn of Mathura’.

A/ The plan to build a grand temple in Ayodhya is going on after the Supreme Court verdict. Ayodhya will become a major centre of pilgrims. In Kashi, we have not touched the masjid which Aurangzeb built after bringing down the temple. A grand complex is ready there. We now talk about the development of Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Krishna. But some people object. They wear tinted glasses, which they might have got from Pakistan or Afghanistan. We want to develop Mathura the way we developed Kashi, Ayodhya and Chitrakoot. We can leave the disputed area and develop other areas.