ET BureauAn interview of Sakshi Maharaj by Prerna Katiyar
In the past almost 12 months that the Modi-led government has been in power, sabka saath, sabka vikas (together with all, development for all) — the slogan of the BJP’s 2014 election manifesto — has taken a bit of a beating. Expecting vikas within the first year is, of course, unrealistic and to its credit the government has initiated a string of long-term projects (from Swachh Bharat to Make in India).
But more than sabka vikas, it’s sabka saath that’s turning out to be the problem, with a clutch of BJP members of Parliament (MPs) themselves taking the lead in making hate speeches.
“We will install Gauri, Ganesh and Nandi in every mosque,” said Yogi Adityanath, BJP’s MP from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP), in February at a ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan’ of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
“We are bleeding to get (a) secular tag, our job (is) to make people aware of social threat and ‘love jihad’ is one of them, winning or losing is secondary,” tweeted Giriraj Singh, BJP’s MP from Nawada in Bihar last September.
“It is you who must decide whether the government in Delhi will be run by the sons of Ram or by bastards”, thundered Niranjan Jyoti, MP from Fatehpur in UP at a public rally in December.
And then there’s of course Sakshi Maharaj, the MP from Unnao in UP, who has become a serial offender of sorts on the inflammatory speech front.
ET Magazine recently caught up with the Unnao MP in an attempt to get into the minds of these lawmakers, and what makes them make such statements that can only deflect from the government’s efforts at vikas.
Are they merely echoing what pockets of society believe; or are their statements picked out of context, giving them an exaggerated sense of repugnancy; or are these MPs totally out of whack with today’s realities? You be the judge on this one, after reading this interview of Sakshi Maharaj by Prerna Katiyar.
On his vision for India’s development
In India’s foreign policy, Modiji has already achieved what could not be done in the past 70 years. Wherever Modi went, other leaders paled in comparison. Today, India is in a position of guiding others. Modiji gave the Gita to Obama on his visit. Earlier too India has been a vishwa guru but, under the leadership of Modi, we are in a position of showing the way to the whole world. It was Modi who said all nations must come together to fight terrorism. If something happens here, people call it communal. But see what is happening in Pakistan, Iran and Iraq. India is the biggest democracy in the world. And the BJP is the biggest democratic party at the global level.
On earning a reputation more for his inflammatory speeches than for his development agenda
Both TV and print journalists have made my statements sensational. I have never made a controversial statement. They were made controversial. Take the example of the Godse statement [in which Sakshi Maharaj referred to Gandhi’s killer as a “patriot” and a “martyr”]. A reporter just like you asked for my reaction to Shaurya Divas being celebrated in the honour of Nathuram Godse in Maharashtra.
To this I said, in this biggest democracy where Shibu Soren who has been a CM [of Jharkhand] can worship Ravana, in the same vein if someone is praising Godse, let them do it. What can I do? The context was chopped off and only that line [saying Godse was a patriot and martyr] was highlighted.
Then about my statement that Hindu women should bear four children: A spiritual programme was going on. Some people said now that the Modi yug [era] is here, having four wives and 40 kids should stop. So I said that a common law should be made for all religions.
Then a sadhu said if that does not happen, then Hindu women too should bear four children to save their religion — to this I agreed.
So you did say that Hindu women should have four children…
If having four wives and 40 kids is not a crime then what is wrong in my statement and why was only this line reported. When I said that a law must be made for all, no one reported that.
Even if a law is made for a single child, it should be uniform for all and I favour that. If that does not happen, there will be an imbalance in population; India will become a Pakistan. India can be a democracy only till the point India has a Hindu majority. Else it will become a Kashmir. Only last night, Kashmir had three terrorist attacks in three hours — that happened only because Hindus are in minority there.
I am not saying only Hindus are being killed. Christians too are being targeted. A Muslim is killing another Muslim. All terrorism must stop. When people have to answer who is responsible for the attacks, they are not comfortable. We do not say that every Muslim is a terrorist but we know that every terrorist turns out to be a Muslim.
On whether his speeches deflect the focus away from development
This is very much a part of development. If population of the country keeps on increasing, what will we do? From roughly 30 crore at the time of Independence, we have now hit 129 crore. Is Sakshi Maharaj responsible for it? We should have a common rule for all for population control.
The problem is that the appeasement policy has spoilt the nation. Politicians only care about votes. In Uttar Pradesh, a girl receives `30,000 after clearing class X, but only a Muslim girl. Why not Hindu girls? What crime have they committed?
On what he has done in his constituency (Unnao) in the past 12 months
I received `2.5 crore under the MPLAD (member of Parliament local area development) fund. There are six Assembly seats in my constituency.
I have already submitted projects worth `3 crore for cement concrete roads, interlocking, India Mark II hand-pumps, 50 basic facilities for the adarsh gram [in Teekargarhi in Unnao district] that I have adopted. We have created a committee for each of the Vidhan Sabhas, which suggests what needs to be done for the area. I got work restarted on NH 25 [the Kanpur-Lucknow highway] that has been stalled since a long time. It should be up and running by June 27. I have got the approval for a `30-crore railway overbridge near Unnao court.
On his popularity in Unnao
I try to be in Unnao at least every Saturday or Sunday, if not both days. I can’t speak much on my own popularity but I know that nobody can defeat me in Unnao — Sonia and Rahul too will forfeit their deposit, or for that matter any leader of any other political party. I have never lost an election.
I have always been sent to a difficult constituency. I was sent to Farrukhabad [twice, in 1996 and 1998], where it was said nobody could defeat Salman Khurshid. I won there. Then I was sent to Unnao, for the same reason, where I defeated Annu Tandon.
Credit for my victory goes to the poor people of Unnao. They saw Modi as a chai bechne wala [tea vendor] and they saw me who has neither family nor any big ambition. The people are like my children.
In the past almost 12 months that the Modi-led government has been in power, sabka saath, sabka vikas (together with all, development for all) — the slogan of the BJP’s 2014 election manifesto — has taken a bit of a beating. Expecting vikas within the first year is, of course, unrealistic and to its credit the government has initiated a string of long-term projects (from Swachh Bharat to Make in India).
But more than sabka vikas, it’s sabka saath that’s turning out to be the problem, with a clutch of BJP members of Parliament (MPs) themselves taking the lead in making hate speeches.
“We will install Gauri, Ganesh and Nandi in every mosque,” said Yogi Adityanath, BJP’s MP from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP), in February at a ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan’ of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
“We are bleeding to get (a) secular tag, our job (is) to make people aware of social threat and ‘love jihad’ is one of them, winning or losing is secondary,” tweeted Giriraj Singh, BJP’s MP from Nawada in Bihar last September.
“It is you who must decide whether the government in Delhi will be run by the sons of Ram or by bastards”, thundered Niranjan Jyoti, MP from Fatehpur in UP at a public rally in December.
And then there’s of course Sakshi Maharaj, the MP from Unnao in UP, who has become a serial offender of sorts on the inflammatory speech front.
ET Magazine recently caught up with the Unnao MP in an attempt to get into the minds of these lawmakers, and what makes them make such statements that can only deflect from the government’s efforts at vikas.
Are they merely echoing what pockets of society believe; or are their statements picked out of context, giving them an exaggerated sense of repugnancy; or are these MPs totally out of whack with today’s realities? You be the judge on this one, after reading this interview of Sakshi Maharaj by Prerna Katiyar.
On his vision for India’s development
In India’s foreign policy, Modiji has already achieved what could not be done in the past 70 years. Wherever Modi went, other leaders paled in comparison. Today, India is in a position of guiding others. Modiji gave the Gita to Obama on his visit. Earlier too India has been a vishwa guru but, under the leadership of Modi, we are in a position of showing the way to the whole world. It was Modi who said all nations must come together to fight terrorism. If something happens here, people call it communal. But see what is happening in Pakistan, Iran and Iraq. India is the biggest democracy in the world. And the BJP is the biggest democratic party at the global level.
On earning a reputation more for his inflammatory speeches than for his development agenda
Both TV and print journalists have made my statements sensational. I have never made a controversial statement. They were made controversial. Take the example of the Godse statement [in which Sakshi Maharaj referred to Gandhi’s killer as a “patriot” and a “martyr”]. A reporter just like you asked for my reaction to Shaurya Divas being celebrated in the honour of Nathuram Godse in Maharashtra.
To this I said, in this biggest democracy where Shibu Soren who has been a CM [of Jharkhand] can worship Ravana, in the same vein if someone is praising Godse, let them do it. What can I do? The context was chopped off and only that line [saying Godse was a patriot and martyr] was highlighted.
Then about my statement that Hindu women should bear four children: A spiritual programme was going on. Some people said now that the Modi yug [era] is here, having four wives and 40 kids should stop. So I said that a common law should be made for all religions.
Then a sadhu said if that does not happen, then Hindu women too should bear four children to save their religion — to this I agreed.
So you did say that Hindu women should have four children…
If having four wives and 40 kids is not a crime then what is wrong in my statement and why was only this line reported. When I said that a law must be made for all, no one reported that.
Even if a law is made for a single child, it should be uniform for all and I favour that. If that does not happen, there will be an imbalance in population; India will become a Pakistan. India can be a democracy only till the point India has a Hindu majority. Else it will become a Kashmir. Only last night, Kashmir had three terrorist attacks in three hours — that happened only because Hindus are in minority there.
I am not saying only Hindus are being killed. Christians too are being targeted. A Muslim is killing another Muslim. All terrorism must stop. When people have to answer who is responsible for the attacks, they are not comfortable. We do not say that every Muslim is a terrorist but we know that every terrorist turns out to be a Muslim.
On whether his speeches deflect the focus away from development
This is very much a part of development. If population of the country keeps on increasing, what will we do? From roughly 30 crore at the time of Independence, we have now hit 129 crore. Is Sakshi Maharaj responsible for it? We should have a common rule for all for population control.
The problem is that the appeasement policy has spoilt the nation. Politicians only care about votes. In Uttar Pradesh, a girl receives `30,000 after clearing class X, but only a Muslim girl. Why not Hindu girls? What crime have they committed?
On what he has done in his constituency (Unnao) in the past 12 months
I received `2.5 crore under the MPLAD (member of Parliament local area development) fund. There are six Assembly seats in my constituency.
I have already submitted projects worth `3 crore for cement concrete roads, interlocking, India Mark II hand-pumps, 50 basic facilities for the adarsh gram [in Teekargarhi in Unnao district] that I have adopted. We have created a committee for each of the Vidhan Sabhas, which suggests what needs to be done for the area. I got work restarted on NH 25 [the Kanpur-Lucknow highway] that has been stalled since a long time. It should be up and running by June 27. I have got the approval for a `30-crore railway overbridge near Unnao court.
On his popularity in Unnao
I try to be in Unnao at least every Saturday or Sunday, if not both days. I can’t speak much on my own popularity but I know that nobody can defeat me in Unnao — Sonia and Rahul too will forfeit their deposit, or for that matter any leader of any other political party. I have never lost an election.
I have always been sent to a difficult constituency. I was sent to Farrukhabad [twice, in 1996 and 1998], where it was said nobody could defeat Salman Khurshid. I won there. Then I was sent to Unnao, for the same reason, where I defeated Annu Tandon.
Credit for my victory goes to the poor people of Unnao. They saw Modi as a chai bechne wala [tea vendor] and they saw me who has neither family nor any big ambition. The people are like my children.
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