- 3 months ago
BJP's National Spokesperson Tuhin Sinha raises serious questions about the Congress party's stance on SIR and illegal voters in India. In this exclusive, Sinha discusses allegations that Congress may be enabling the presence of illegal voters in the electoral rolls, impacting the integrity of elections. He also speaks on development issues in Bihar, fielding of candidates with criminal background and much more. Watch.
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00:00For a discussion on Bihar elections, my guest today is Tuhin Sinha. He's a National Spokesperson
00:15of the Bharatiya Janta Party. Tuhin, thank you so much for speaking with Asianet News.
00:20Ahead of Assembly Elections, yesterday we saw that Rahul Gandhi led a scathing attack on Prime
00:26Minister Narendra Modi. He actually went on to say that BJP will do anything to get votes in Bihar,
00:32including performing Bharat Nakayam. Your response to that? Great to be on your show, Hina.
00:38Well, as far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, you know, all his speeches nowadays reek of abject
00:44despondency and frustration. So after 49, 59 days when he comes to Bihar, one would have expected
00:50him to conduct himself with more dignity and be abreast or be aware of, you know, the latest
00:56ground issues. But when you're not aware of it, and when you are still in a holiday mood,
01:02holiday mode, you end up speaking like a goon, which is what Rahul Gandhi did. Now, the fact is,
01:07this guy has always, you know, you know, his battle in Bihar is with Tejasvi, honestly. And in fact,
01:15the entire SIR issue, which he has been raising, even he knew that there was not an iota of truth
01:20in his allegations. So after the last press conference that he had on SIR, where he kept
01:25on 18th September, where he kept threatening that he would explode a hydrogen bomb, but eventually
01:31had to fact check himself on Aland details, where, you know, barely three hours after the press
01:37conference, he completely changed his tweet and said, had vote rigging, had vote jury happened,
01:43this would have happened or whatever. He disappeared to Colombia. I don't know what he went to
01:48Colombia for or whether he went to Colombia. Now, when he returns after a long holiday and a long
01:54period of abstinence and absence, of course, you know, in the interregnum, we saw RJD and Congress
02:03battling it out between themselves, Congress leaders being beaten up. So Rahul Gandhi is somebody who,
02:09you know, is nowhere in the game in Bihar. In fact, Congress party has been a non-entity in Bihar for
02:16the last three decades, apart from, you know, Uttar Pradesh, apart from Gujarat, Bihar is the third state
02:21where Congress party is an absolute non-entity. It can't move ahead. It can't, you know, cross double
02:27digits, vote share without the crutches of RJD. So for Rahul Gandhi, you know, to come and suddenly
02:34lash out with the prime minister in the most abusive way, what does he really mean? We have seen him
02:42divide the people of the country on the issue, on the basis of caste. We have seen him, you know,
02:49peddle all kinds of nonsense on, on Operation Sindhuur. He tried to convert a victory into a
02:55surrender. On the other hand, prime minister Modi and, you know, the entire NDA leadership has stood
03:02for the progress of Bihar. So, you know, like prime minister Modi said today in his speeches,
03:07the way Congress party has insulted Chhatt Puja, obviously they would have to pay a price for it
03:14because they really don't know the kind of emotive connect people of Bihar have with Chhatt Puja.
03:20But, you know, honestly, if you ask me, that was expected of Rahul Gandhi because he's not in the game.
03:25So you spoke of SIR. Do you think that SIR is not an issue for the voters of Bihar?
03:31You know, SIR has been taken up in the Supreme Court in the last three months.
03:37Because the Congress party is saying that lakhs of votes have been deleted and this will lead to
03:42under-representation of many people, including women.
03:45So 68 lakhs voters have been deleted. 21 lakhs have also been added. New voters have been added,
03:53which effectively means that 47 lakh illegal voters have been removed.
03:57Now, what is the Congress party trying to convey? Does it want illegal voters to thrive in, you know, the country?
04:06For that matter, whether you call it an SIR or whether it was a routine process,
04:11even on the eve of Telangana elections two years back, 22 lakh voters had been removed.
04:16Given the size of Bihar, vis-a-vis Telangana, I don't think, you know, 47 lakh is a very big number.
04:23So I think, you know, the Congress party needs to answer basic questions.
04:28Why is it so desperately batting for illegal voters?
04:33Are those 47 lakh illegal voters the only vote bank that, only real vote bank, only dependable vote bank
04:40that the Congress party has as of today? I think it's a routine process.
04:44On the one hand, you crip about anomalies in the electoral process and when SIR,
04:49which is meant to clean those anomalies, you have a problem with that also.
04:54But they also have a problem. They say that why these exercises are being conducted right ahead of the elections.
04:59Now, the space two is also going to start on 4th of November.
05:02All of these issues have been taken in the Supreme Court.
05:07They question the timing. The Supreme Court also, in fact, you know, asked the Election Commission about the timing of it.
05:13But at the end of it, what have been the observations of the Supreme Court?
05:17The Supreme Court has validated the exercise number one.
05:20The Supreme Court has never, you know, it never came to a situation where the Supreme Court said, stop the exercise.
05:26The Supreme Court obviously also called it a routine exercise which should take place across the country.
05:31But of course, the Supreme Court also put certain checks and balances, which is the responsibility of the Supreme Court.
05:37Now, after all these checks and balances, if Rahul Gandhi still has a problem, he's casting aspersions on the Supreme Court also.
05:44Please understand that, you know, in the last few years, all that he has done is demonized institutions,
05:50cast aspersions on the integrity of India's, you know, institutions.
05:54Beyond that, if you just carefully, if you have followed the elections, how many times has Dejasvi Adha been raising the issue?
06:02Even Dejasvi Adha realizes that the entire vote-chori campaign of Rahul Gandhi was only a bargaining weapon with RJD to secure maximum seats.
06:12Let me take this discussion further.
06:15You also mentioned very briefly about the infighting between RJD and Congress.
06:20But the Mahagatbandan also says that you are nothing, BJP is nothing without JDU.
06:26Because if you look at the last elections in 2020, we got almost 31 seats, we got nearly 31 seats more than the JDU.
06:33In fact, Nitish Kumar at one point of time very clearly said, I don't want to continue as CM.
06:39We went back to him and said, you have, you know, we fought the election under your leadership and you should be the CM.
06:46So there's a huge difference between Mahagatbandan and NDA.
06:50We work on mutual trust.
06:51We don't need to, you know, when Dejasvi Adha declared himself as a CM candidate,
06:57you must have seen the press conference where Rahul Gandhi's posters were missing.
07:01So, you know, we don't, you know, we don't resort.
07:03You know, this debate happened earlier also, like last time, the Rahul Gandhi's face was not on manifesto.
07:08Yesterday, we saw that it was very much there on the cover page of the manifesto.
07:12So I think that puts an end to the discussion.
07:14It's, you know, had the same, had Dejasvi Adha been declared CM candidate before,
07:20probably we would not have seen the kind of acrimonious fighting between the two parties.
07:26Dejasvi Adha had to virtually emotionally blackmail them.
07:29He virtually had to tell the Congress party that I'm not going to campaign in any of the 54, 55, 56 seats where they are effectively fighting.
07:37Of course, they're fighting, you know, there are friendly fights in five or six more seats.
07:41But he had to eventually warn the Congress party that he will not campaign in any of their seats.
07:46And, you know, the Congress plight will be terrible.
07:49You don't see those things happening in NDA because there is a lot of mutual trust.
07:54You know, even Nitish Ji has repeatedly said this, that he will never go to the other side.
08:00He has already realized his mistake, his poly.
08:03What more do you require?
08:05I think there's a huge difference between NDA and MGB.
08:08MGB, if you look at the kind of songs which their supporters are playing, you know, fantasizing about the return of Jungle Raj.
08:14I really, I'm really worried and concerned for the people of Bihar.
08:20If they ever remotely come close to the power, the kind of anarchy which they are planning to unleash does not bode well for the future of Bihar.
08:29Ataheen, you talked about Jungle Raj.
08:32This seems to be a rhetoric and also not to forget that you yourself, the JDU has fielded Anand Singh from the Mukama seat.
08:40What do you have to say on that?
08:41Anand Singh has been acquitted of all the charges that JDU, you know, a JDU spokesperson will be...
08:47No, that's in one case, but in all the other cases, the trial is pending, but he has accusations on him.
08:51First of all, you know, the Jungle Raj is not a rhetoric.
08:54I have personally lived Jungle Raj.
08:56I have grown up in Jumshetpur, which is a part of Bihar.
08:58I have seen it unfolding in front of my eyes for almost 10 years till 1998.
09:04Of course, I moved out to Delhi for my studies in 1998.
09:07But yes, I have personally lived memories of the Jungle Raj, where suddenly after 6.30, 7 in the evening, it would be difficult to even venture out at your home.
09:16So, number one, it was not a rhetoric.
09:19What about the last 20 years?
09:21If you can talk about the last 20 years when BJP and JDU has been in power.
09:26Well, if you look at statistics, the crime rate is comparatively lower.
09:32But more importantly, like when I say Jungle Raj, that Jungle Raj, number one, the term was given by Patna High Court in 1997 in a ruling where even the Patna High Court was exasperated over the way the state government under Rabri Devi was handling with law and audit issues.
09:49It was not a term which was given by us.
09:51Number two, there was direct involvement of the family members of Lalu Yadav's family.
09:58Whether it was the Shilpi Gautam case, Shilpi Gautam case, it didn't involve the family.
10:03There was the involvement of a political aid of Lalu Yadav.
10:06But in the Shilpi Gautam case, the involvement of Sadhu Yadav was there.
10:11In the Champa Biswas case, which was the wife of an IAS officer, a political aid of Lalu Yadav was involved.
10:17So here, the Lalu, in those days, the, you know, the Gunda Raj was directly promoted by close associates and family members of Lalu Yadav.
10:28You can't even compare the crime which has existed in the last 20 years with that crime which was directly sponsored by, you know, Lalu Yadav's family.
10:37Of course, Bihar has always seen crime, but the crime rate is very much under control and it is not, you know, RJD sponsored, the political party sponsored extortion.
10:47Every time there was a wedding in Lalu Yadav's family, his family members would pick up tata sumos from the showrooms of, you know, these automobile manufacturers.
10:56People have, there are so many qualified, there are so many, you know, popular doctors and medical practitioners who have left Bihar at that point of time only to never return.
11:08So the damage which these people had caused to Bihar was unimaginable.
11:14And like I say, their very own supporters are bringing out YouTube, YouTube videos, eologizing that time and fantasizing about the return of Jungle Raj.
11:24That's, you don't see our supporters ever doing that.
11:28Why can't any party from all the parties who are fighting in Bihar can set an example by not fielding candidates with criminal background?
11:37Just so it can, you know, we can gain the trust of the people.
11:41Every time there is a same debate around elections, why this particular person with criminal background has been fielded from.
11:47You know, Anand Singh is an exception.
11:50And when it is a BJP government, it is the responsibility of BJP to ensure that these elements are under control.
12:00So whether it was UP which saw terrible law and order conditions before 2017 or any other state,
12:06I can tell you it's a responsibility of BJP to ensure that even an Anand Singh, if he gets elected, will conform to law, will subscribe to the law of the land.
12:15Which is something the other side cannot promise.
12:19When they field Osama, the son of Shahabuddin, I don't need to emphasize, I don't need to reiterate who Shahabuddin was.
12:28Shahabuddin, the most dreaded gangster.
12:30By giving a ticket to his son, if being the son of a dreaded gangster is the only qualification for Osama to secure a ticket.
12:40I think that itself reveals the intentions of the Mahagadbandan.
12:44And do I need to reiterate who was Shahabuddin at the prime of his criminal career, which also coincided with his, you know, with his stint in politics as a member of parliament of RJD.
12:55You have police reports, you can still find it on the net.
12:58If the police had confirmed he has links with Pakistan's ISI, his house would, you know, store bombs which would be hurled at political rivals.
13:08And of course, common people who did not subscribe, who did not bend down to him.
13:12So these are the people who, and at least from Tejasvi Adar, when he claims to be different from his father,
13:19one would have expected him to shun the legacy of Shahabuddin.
13:22When he talks about a progressive Bihar, and of course, you know, he reveals a lot of illiteracy.
13:27If I come to his electoral promise, you know, the promise of 2.75 crore jobs, which is absolutely unreal.
13:36You know, the budget of Bihar would shoot up by at least two times only by that promise.
13:41And if you take the rest of his promise into consideration, it would shoot up by almost nine times.
13:46When you talk to him, he says he has been guided by experts.
13:49So who are the experts guiding him? Rahul Gandhi, whose party has any which way unleashed fiscal anarchy in Karnataka, in Tilangana, in Himachal, wherever they get to govern.
14:00So I think, you know, these people have unreal promises.
14:02They don't have a comprehension of issues.
14:06And people seem to realize that on the ground.
14:08Atukhin, what is also ironical is a lot of BJP leaders are talking about the issues of Bihar.
14:13Bihar, despite the fact that the party has been in power for last 20 years, I want to know specifically from you, what will BJP do to tackle the education sector?
14:24There is a huge school dropout rate in Bihar.
14:28Then BJP leaders also talk about, you know, migration from Bihar to other states.
14:33What has the BJP done in the last 20 years?
14:35You know, today Bihar has a GDP growth rate of 14.5% in the last year.
14:40The projected GDP growth rate for 2025-2026 is above 15%.
14:46Where does it translate in job generation on ground?
14:49No, no, that simply can't be jobless growth.
14:52That simply can't be jobless growth.
14:53You have to refer to an article published in the print in the first week of October,
14:57which clearly mentions the number of industries with the names, especially in the food processing sector,
15:02in the textile sectors, which includes upmarket brands like Zara,
15:07which includes food processing industries like Britannia,
15:11food sector industries like Britannia,
15:13which have set up shop in Bihar in the last six to seven years purely because of government intervention.
15:18When it comes to medical colleges, in 2005, Bihar used to have six medical colleges.
15:24Today, it has 20 plus medical colleges, some of which are under construction.
15:27The figure is likely to go up to 26 in the next few years.
15:30I want to come here because you talked about hospitals.
15:34The videos that we are seeing on social media of Darbhanga Hospital,
15:38Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital, the visuals are pathetic.
15:43I mean, the condition of hospitals from inside.
15:45And the health minister of Bihar will definitely be questioned on that.
15:49No, that's an exception.
15:50And nobody can defend that.
15:52In fact, you know, the health minister should have immediately taken all the remedial.
15:57And I'm sure the remedial measures have been taken.
15:59But the very fact that that, you know, issue came to the fore shows that a lot more needs to be done.
16:06See, Bihar has had many legacy issues.
16:08But if you look at pure data from 3,300 kilometers of national highway stretch in 2004, 2005 to 6,000 plus kilometers of national highway stretch in Bihar now.
16:19From 350 kilometers of rural roads in 2005 to 1,20,000 kilometers of rural roads.
16:27From 5 to 6 hours of average electricity in 2004, 2005 to 20, 21 hours of average electricity now.
16:35In fact, if you look at the poverty rate in 2015 in Bihar, it's 40%.
16:40Now it is 4%, which shows that one of the biggest successes among other states in fighting poverty has been of Bihar.
16:47So all of these augur well for the future of Bihar.
16:50On the other hand, you spoke of infrastructure, why do we have crores of rupees of bridges collapsing every time there is a rain in Bihar?
16:59There are four or five of them which have collapsed and definitely, you know, nobody can defend the flawed construction of those bridges.
17:07And, you know, I'm not privy to what the investigation revealed because many of these were state, you know, perhaps many of these were expedited at the time when they just be, yeah, the government was in power for 18, 19 months in between.
17:23And whenever they come, you know, get a hang of power, they indulge in unabated corruption.
17:27But if you look at the overall picture of Bihar, you know, the kind of connectivity, three airports, Simanchal, which these people had made the hub of illegal migration today has a airport right in the heart of Purnia, a distance which, you know, people from the border area of Purnia used to cover to Delhi in 26 hours.
17:47That's being covered in two and a half hours by air.
17:50That's the level of development and airport in Darbhanga.
17:53And all across the state, if you, you know, I would suggest, I would request you travel, you know, since there are a few days remaining for the elections, journalists who have gone to Bihar to cover are mighty impressed with the seamless road connectivity in just the last six years.
18:09That's the pace of development which Bihar has witnessed in the last few years.
18:12You touched upon corruption, the CAG report, which came out recently, it flags that there was a, there was an irregularity of 70,000 crore rupees in government departments in Bihar.
18:24How do you respond to that?
18:25Well, that's, that's still that I don't have much information about that because, you know, that's still being investigated.
18:31And the CAG reports reveal a lot of things, but there are subsequent investigations don't necessarily corroborate the initial findings.
18:38So I will wait for the final report.
18:40Home Minister Amit Shah earlier yesterday spoke on Parivar Vat.
18:44There is a report by ADR India, which talks about and actually it lists out all the leaders from JDU and BJP who are actually the product of dynastic politics.
18:57How do you respond to that?
18:58I think first of all, we need to understand the definition of Parivar Vat.
19:02When we talk about Parivar Vat, what it essentially means is that by virtue of, you know, the, a present leader holding a certain position in a party,
19:13the descendant of that leader immediately or automatically qualifies to hold the same position just by virtue of being his son or daughter.
19:21That does not mean that you have to bar your relatives or family members from coming into politics if they necessarily qualify.
19:31So, you know, a doctor can't bar his future generations from taking medicine as a career.
19:35An actor can't bar his future generations from taking, acting as a career.
19:40But what I can assure you in that is that in BJP, no leader by virtue of holding a certain position currently can expect that his son or his daughter will be a claimant to that position just because he's that holding that position.
19:56That will never happen in BJP.
19:58Of course, if family members have to come to come into politics, they have to fight their way out.
20:02They have to work on the ground and it has to be a gradual process where they, where they qualify on merit.
20:08I think this thing has been also specified very clearly by Hardit Purijis in his recent article in Indian Express, the difference.
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