IT Minister and BRS working president K T Rama Rao says that it is not a bipolar kind of situation in India where the choice is between the Congress and BJP. Both parties, he says, have failed miserably in their governance. The BRS, on the other hand, offers a credible alternative through its success story in Telangana where ‘real’ issues are addressed, Rama Rao emphasises. Excerpts from the conversation.
First, let us congratulate you on the proposed Foxconn investment in the State and the inauguration of T-Works. T-Works surely should be a shot in the arm for the Make in India campaign. What are your thoughts on Make in India?
Make in India as a slogan is actually fantastic. The only thing is, for it to translate into reality and deliver in terms of actionables, I think a lot more needs to be done. Firstly, a pragmatic policy is needed. What I mean is, during the Covid crisis, when we did BioAsia in 2021 we had a closed-door meeting with Union Minister Piyush Goyal and the medical devices manufacturers. One thing they said stood out in my memory, which was a bit haunting as well. One of them said, “Sir, it is cheaper for me to import gloves or masks made-in-China, pay all the duties and bring it to the Indian market and sell. That’s a telling comment on what all is wrong”. I did mention to Piyush Goyal that there’s something fundamentally wrong if it’s cheaper to ship it here. Either your duty structures or the lack of raw materials or something else completely. So if you look at what has been happening in India over several years, I think we are assembling in India at best. We’re not truly making in India.
What needs to be done?
What needs to be done is ground up innovation. That is why T-Works. T-Works is not only for the elite and the educated. There were three shining examples, which we showcased deliberately at the inaugural of T-Works. We did not talk about Skyroot and how they did the prototype there. We talked about three individuals. Among them was a person named Rajendra Prasad from Warangal. He has passed Class 10. He sent me a tweet that with his limited resources he made the prototype of a sort of a vehicle. It wasn’t a go-karting vehicle. It was some simple thing. So we got him to T-Works and now, he has a proper prototype of a go-karting machine. He’s saying I am not content with this. I’m going to go to the next level and I am going to develop a Pure Play Electric Vehicle.This guy is neither a mechanical engineer, automobile engineer nor an electronics engineer. Just some guy who had an idea to fix, weld and fabricate something. It is a generic Innovation idea of a rural entrepreneur.We showcased the innovation of a girl Sreeja. She could not come as she had exams. We have nurseries in every village and town in Telangana. They use plastic covers for small plants. She instead made a biodegradable pot with husk. She wanted to see how she could scale up. So she came to T-Works. We actually developed a machine for her which can churn out 500-such pots every day. Now she has started a business. It is called Sreeja Pots. .
In which sector do you think a world class innovation can come from India, say in the next 20-30 years?
Sustainable Mobility is one thing that I think is going to be the future because right now sustainability, ESG is the buzzword everywhere you go.Green is the buzzword, right? In that space most certainly I think a lot of innovation is going to come. From India I think sustainability mobility -- at least for the Indian market. From a very early stage, Indian youngsters are told be a doctor or an engineer and that you should not risk debt. The whole idea of T-Hub and T-Works is to create a culture of entrepreneurship and catch them from a young stage. I tell my children to follow your heart, do what you want to do. My parents never told me that. My mom wanted me to be a doctor. My dad actually wanted me to be an IAS officer.
Could you tell us about the proposed Foxconn investment?
They have chosen Kongara Kalan for their project. There is about 200 acres they’ve selected, they’ve already visited the site. They also visited a couple of other sites, but they have chosen Kongara Kalan to begin with. So Phase 1 would be that but I’ll only go into the details of the investment in the days to come because now we are still going through their Detailed Project Report. We have a group of ministers that needs to approve it. Once it is approved, we’ll ground the project.
The good thing about electronics manufacturing is it creates large-scale employment and that too, employment which offers salaries in the range of Rs 20,000-Rs 40,000.
What is the objective of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS)? Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin has said all opposition parties must rally around the Congress to dethrone the BJP at the Centre. What is your party’s stand?
The world view of each and every party and every individual is different. I personally and I think my leader (Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) also personally feels that this is certainly not a bipolar kind of a situation where the toss-up is between the Congress and the BJP. If you look back over the last 75 years, Congress has been given ample opportunities. They have governed this country or misgoverned, to put it more accurately, for over five decades. On the other hand, you have had BJP. The Vajpayee government ruled for six years and now Modi’s had nine years. They also have been given more than a decade-and-a-half. If you think about what has been delivered, we still have villages without electricity in spite of the Prime Minister’s tall claims that he’s covered all in 2018, which is an absolute lie. President Draupadi Murmuji’s village got electricity only after she was nominated for President.
There are villages which are still languishing without drinking water. We are still a third world country with a per capita income of less than USD 2,000. So, all these tall claims of having achieved amazing things by these two parties and their grandstanding is absolute nonsense. It is not a toss-up between the BJP and the Congress. In fact, both parties have failed miserably. Their governance has been abysmally bad.
Therefore, what we believe is, if a credible alternative emerges and if we can actually relay the success story of Telangana. We are not saying we are going to win it all in 2024. We are going to try and do our best to win as many as we can in 2024. Cover as many states as we can. We are not foolish to think we will win on our own 274 or the magic numbers in 2024. We want to ensure that two things happen. One, of course, we want to spread to other states. Second, I think the narrative of this country, more importantly, which is right now about Halal, Hijab and most things that are inconsequential to a third world country, must change. We want to ensure that real issues take centrestage. We want to ensure unemployment, farmers’ distress, drinking water woes of rural India and healthcare needs of rural India and urban India are discussed.
Coming back to what Stalin has said…
Stalin is entitled to his opinions. Why would I differ with him? See, he’s got his opinions. I have got mine. The point of commonality with him is that he said the Modi government should not come back in 2024. We’ll see what happens later.
But, he has indicated that Opposition parties should rally around the Congress?
What rallying around? Nobody is rallying around Congress. I’m sorry. Congress itself is not rallying around Congress! In Telangana, when there was an election, one MP goes to Australia, another goes somewhere else. Congress has failed miserably. Rahul Gandhi, unfortunately, the leader they look up to, call him the Crown Prince or whatever, is not offering hope to Congress cadre. What will he offer to the rest of the country? There was an election in Gujarat, in Prime Minister’s home state, and Rahul Gandhi chose to bypass it and go to Maharashtra! What message did he send across to the Congress cadre in Gujarat? How can you believe someone, who lays down arms even before the war begins, and how can you believe it if anyone says they are going to win with such a person?
Nitish Kumar in Bihar and Akhilesh in Uttar Pradesh also seem to be leaning towards the Congress?
Is Congress present in UP or Bihar? Rahul himself loses his own seat in UP which has 80 MP seats. He has to go to Wayanad to win. RJD and JD (U) are stronger in Bihar which has 48 MP seats. The Congress is nowhere to be seen in 128 seats. Wherever there is a face-off between the Congress and the BJP, the latter has an advantage. Wherever regional parties are strong, we are actually giving a fight to the BJP. The biggest liability today is the Congress.
The BJP on its part seems to treat you as an enemy
We have no enemies in politics. We have opponents. Who’s an enemy, what animosity? We just don’t agree with them. I think the country needs to really rethink as to what this gentleman (PM) has delivered. He has delivered hatred, bigotry and a fractured society. He has delivered squat in terms of real matrix. We have the highest unemployment rate in 30 years, highest inflation in 45 years. These are not my numbers. There are from NSSO and RBI. Where is he now when the rupee has fallen to 83 against the dollar. Where is Smriti Irani who sat on a dharna protesting hike in gas price. What is the price now? The Double engine government has tripled the price of LPG. This kind of empty talk, without talking real issues, and covering it up, it won’t work.Yes, to answer your question, they are treating us like an enemy nation. ED, CBI and I-T are the extended arms of the BJP, Modiji and more importantly, an integral part of the NDA. The agencies are their allies.
Isn’t that a reason for Opposition unity to take on BJP?
I don’t get this whole falsified notion of you people that to take on BJP you need a coalition. First of all you need to understand BJP has come back with only 37% vote. It has no presence in several states. It came to power in nine states by stealth without winning. They say they are in power in 21 states. Why do you forget how it came to power in several states without even having the numbers? They split Shiv Sena, let loose the ED on Soren in Jharkhand, they say they will file an ED case against KCR. I want to ask if Modi is Satya Harishchandra? The Sri Lankan government has directly accused Modi of arm-twisting its President to award a Rs 6000-crore project to Adani? Why is he mum? Why is there no enquiry? The BJP MLA’s son, chief accounts officer in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, was caught on camera taking a bribe of Rs 40 lakh. Have you ever heard of an ED, CBI or I-T raid against any BJP leader? Only the Opposition parties are corrupt?
He (PM Modi) speaks on everything including on exams for students. Why is he silent on the allegations? I have come to your office to be questioned by you. Why should we listen to his Mann ki Baat? Why doesn’t he listen to our Mann ki Baat? The Contractors’Association in Karnataka complained to him about 40 per cent commissions in the State. It has been six years. Did the ED, CBI, I-T come? Mutts also wrote to him about the same. Did he take action? His own MLA said Rs 2500 crore has to be paid to get CM’s post. Where is the ED? Is it alive or dead? Hindenburg, a small team, blew the lid off Adani Group. Rs 12 lakh crore market cap has evaporated. Why are the PM and FM silent? LIC and the SBI have lost money. Who is responsible ultimately if Adani goes bankrupt? Who will pay? Why don’t they agree to a JPC probe? If PM has the guts, let him take a lie detector test. It is easy to speak. Giving water supply to every home is not easy. Giving electricity is not easy. It is easy to say Jai Shri Ram, anti-national etc. The media in this country has lost its spine. They are unable to question his party or him.
But the BJP is winning. It won in the North East elections. Didn’t it?
The joke is Amit Shah called Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangmathe most corrupt CM in the North East not so long ago. Now, they are allied. Is there no principle or ideology? Power is their only end.
How do you see political equations shaping up in 2024?
I don’t know. I am not an astrologer. I am not going to predict the outcome. The fight will be real issues vs fake issues. Union Minister Kishan Reddy claims Modi invented vaccine. What did scientists at Bharat Biotech do? Another says Modi is god. We have to fight with such people. It is our karma! BJP leaders are WhatsApp university students and have to propagate what their vice-chancellor tells them. How am I going to fight? I have to check my WhatsApp!
As it looks now, the BJP seems poised for another term?
I am not going to predict the future. We will put up an effective fight. Let people decide.
BRS has already struck an alliance with the JD (S) in Karnataka. What impact do you think will Karnataka elections have on Telangana?
We did not say anything about an alliance with JD(S). State elections are state elections fought on mostly local issues. In India, people don’t actually select governments, they reject governments. It is mostly that. The BJP government in Karnataka will be thrown out. Who will come I don’t know. Amit Shah had earlier called Yeddyurappa the most corrupt man and now, he says something different.
We’ll certainly do our best and contest as many seats as we can.
What will your role be as working president of BRS?
My role as working president? I have to do what my leader says. That is working president!
What about State elections? Do you see a tough fight?
KCR garu will win 100%. He will in fact become the first South Indian chief minister to have scored a hat-trick. No chief minister has won three consecutive terms successfully on the trot in the south whether it is MGR, Rajasekhara Reddy, Jayalalithaa or Chandrababu Naidu. He’ll become the first Chief Minister to have three consecutive wins, and I’m super confident of that.
Moving on from politics, lately, student suicides have rocked the State. What is your take on the issue?
You have to look at it in a calibrated way. You can’t generalise. There are lakhs of students and institutions. Lakhs of students graduate every year. Ever since I was a student, I used to hear news of students ending life for failing to pass an exam. The fact is even isolated incidents are being portrayed as a trend. In Dr Preethi’s case, as my information, subject to correction, one senior harassed and insulted her intellect, she couldn’t take it. From preliminary evidence, I am told it actually seems like a suicide. Sathwik of Sri Chaitanya residential college died because of pressure. We can’t make erratic or knee-jerk decisions. We have to look at what is really causing all this. I went through a residential college myself. They used to wake me up at 4.30 in the morning. Some people can take it. Some can’t. Even the pressure from parents plays a part. They want their children to be doctor or engineer. So it’s a combination of many things including institutional pressure, abuse etc. There are so many stakeholders… so I think collectively we have to bring about awareness. I think a more calibrated approach is needed to reduce the burden on students and also inculcating the sense that it doesn’t matter even if you fail. But some systemic changes have to come that is for sure.
Recently, a child was killed by stray dogs and your government has come under intense criticism..
Do you think I’m not upset that a kid actually died on the street. Of course, I was pained. It’s truly unfortunate and I have to do something, you know serious, about it. We’ve started working on it the very next day. My special chief secretary called for a meeting with the entire team of the GHMC and our city minister here also stepped in. They have chalked out a plan and they’ve already started executing it. Point is, how the government has reacted. How humanely is what matters. We all felt bad. We all felt terrible. Our heart goes out to the family.
We are the only government in the country that I know of which has animal birth control centres, animal care centres. But is it enough? No. Do we need to do more? Yes. It did make me look bad. Yes, of course. It made me look bad. I want to do something about it. We’re working on it. But solutions will not come overnight.
Despite the Metro etc, we do have a heavy traffic problem. Many citizens are complaining about the same.
Robust public transportation is the only key. I lived in New York.I used to take public transport every day. Even the wealthy use public transport. In Mumbai, 70% is actually public transport. I think the only solution eventually for a city like Hyderabad is expanding our metro which is exactly what we are doing. Again, even there we don’t get support from the Centre.I don’t even get the appointment of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri anymore. I had not just sent a letter. I actually sent my officers to submit the DPR on time but still nothing in the budget. We have realised that they are not going to support us, that’s how they are.