Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal says BJP will register its best performance in the poll and NDA will secure two-thirds of the seats in Tamil Nadu Assembly, in an interview with Subashini Vijayakumar & Pon Vasanth BA. Edited excerpts:
If you have to summarise your poll pitch in a nutshell, what would you say? What has been your assessment from your visits to many places in Tamil Nadu?
The people are looking for an end to corruption, misgovernance, deteriorating law and order situation, the drug menace and crimes against children and women. They say enough is enough. The DMK-led alliance is fighting like cats and dogs, propagating falsehoods and intending to make Udhayanidhi Stalin the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The people of the state will never accept them.
They have no vision for Tamil Nadu and their entire campaign is focused on attacking Delhi or attacking me personally.
And today their partner (Mallikarjun) Kharge Ji, the Congress president, has called Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi a terrorist. He’s a democratically elected leader of the world’s largest democracy. This crosses every line of political decency. It is a blatant violation of model code of conduct. The Congress and its allies must be held fully accountable and face strict consequences.
On the other hand, you have an alliance (NDA) that works like a family where seat sharing happens seamlessly without a single murmur. What Tamil Nadu people want is a good government. A government which is development-oriented. A government which takes Tamil Nadu to its true potential. We are a strong alliance, which will work in partnership to draw the best of both Tamil Nadu and central schemes, so that Tamil Nadu prospers and the people of Tamil Nadu have a bright future.
BJP will register its best performance and NDA will secure two-third of the seats or more.
One of the repeated poll pitches of the DMK this election has been that every vote for AIADMK is in fact a vote for the BJP. As you have expressed confidence of securing a two-thirds majority, would you like to clarify on whether BJP will seek to share power if AIADMK wins majority on its own?
I have just explained to you how beautifully like a family, everything has been decided in our alliance. Where is the question of any further clarification? Once the results are out, we will sit down just like we have done in the past as a family.
So, you are saying that is something that can be discussed within the alliance later?
These are very minor things. We have come into public life to serve people. For us, power is not the end. Power is only a means to serve the people of India. In the BJP, we say nation first, party next, self last.
How do you see the entry of actor Vijay into politics? Do you see any potential impact to NDA?
About Vijay, the less said, the better. He did not have the courage to fight the Lok Sabha election.
Look at the glorious history of Tamil Nadu. Actor Sivaji Ganesan couldn’t shine in politics, Vijayakant secured 8% votes at the peak of his popularity, Rajinikanth realised that fans are not equal to votes, Kamal Haasan was defeated by our leader Vanathi Srinivasan.
Fans will come to see cine stars. I will also go and see them. But, I will vote for what is good for my family. I will vote for somebody who brings good governance and administration. In any case, political analysts suggest that he will hurt DMK more. So, whatever votes he takes, he is welcome to take.
DMK and other opposition parties are claiming victory over the defeat of the Constitutional Amendment Bill regarding delimitation. BJP is blaming them for preventing the implementation of women’s reservation in legislatures. Do you think this issue has helped DMK in its narrative of this election being a fight between Delhi and Tamil Nadu?
First of all, for us, India is one country. I deplore the DMK’s attitude of trying to divide India as north and south.
Earlier, they complained that if the number of seats are determined by the census, the southern states will lose their share. Prime Minister Modi solved that problem by ensuring that the number of seats for all increases by 50% to provide women’s reservation.
There were 54 crore Indians when we had 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, now the population is 140 crore. I am also a Lok Sabha MP. I just can’t meet all my people, all my voters. And within the state, there are some constituencies with 40 lakh voters and some with 6 lakh voters.
The principle in the constitution is one vote for one person. How can one vote in a constituency with six lakh population have the same power of the one vote in a constituency with 40 lakh population? Out of the 59 seats that Tamil Nadu would have got, we would have corrected these.
It will also be done by an independent Delimitation Commission. So, I think it’s a fake narrative. And they have done injustice to the women of India. They have done injustice to all the southern states.
What about the timing? Couldn’t the BJP wait till the Assembly polls are over?
The timing is immaterial because the bill will apply only from 2029. It is not there for this election at all. The whole process is very long. The more we delay, the more delayed delimitation will be.
Also, isn’t there a bit of a contradiction? On the one hand, you are saying that there is a disparity in the distribution of voters and the Constitution says one person, one vote. That would mean seat allocation as per population and not as per existing share of states..
There is no contradiction. Because, Modi ji believes in protecting the interests of Southern India. Tamil Nadu has 7.18% of total seats in the Parliament and we want to keep it the same and in fact increase it a little more to 7.23%.
We were even offering to bring that assurance in the amendment and Home Minister Amit Shah ji sought one hour time to make it, but the opposition refused.
Isn’t that urgency another problem. For an amendment of this nature with significant repercussions, why should such a change be left to the last minute?
If you read the bill carefully, it already ensures it (50% uniform rise in seats). Only thing is that it is not explicitly written. Since they were trying to create uncertainty and confusion, Amit Shah ji offered to even specifically mention this 50% for each state. But the opposition doesn’t want that. I suspect, for them, everything is politics.
How do you respond to the allegations of discrimination by the BJP government in release of funds, particularly under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. If the union government wanted the implementation of the PM SHRI scheme, couldn’t they just withhold funds for that component instead of for the whole programme?
Every country, every administration has to follow the law of the land. The law of the land stipulates that you have to accept the policy of the central government if you want the central government funds. They cannot dictate that we will not accept central government policy, but we should get the funds.
The National Education Policy 2020 came in 2021. That is the law of the land. It came after six or seven years of consultations after listening to three lakh feedbacks from all over India. It is an afterthought to create uncertainty and confusion that the Stalin family is opposing it now. Show me where the NEP says that Hindi is compulsory. I have also challenged Stalin on this, but he doesn’t reply to me.