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Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam & Mohd Ibrahim
Cameraperson: Athar Rather, Shiv Kumar & Amanjeet Singh
Video Producer: Tridip Mandal & Mythreyee Ramesh
The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been in power at the Centre for over four years, and in just nine months’ time, it will face the Lok Sabha elections. How does the government judge its own performance? What does it see as its successes, and admit to as its failures?
In an exclusive interview for The Quint, senior journalist Karan Thapar puts forward these important questions to one of Modi government’s ‘star performers’ – Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
The Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources talks about a wide range of issues from the state of the economy to the mood of the nation, the Kashmir crisis, the prime minister’s role in the cabinet, the much-anticipated 2019 elections, and his chances at being prime minister.
Looking back at the BJP’s ‘acche din’ pitch before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Gadkari said that what was considered “good times” may vary from person to person. Giving examples of the government schemes that have benefited people, the union minister said that people’s expectations are building.
Elaborating on his personal experiences, the Nagpur-born politician said that he has opposed the prime minister many times but has not faced any backlash for it. Gadkari added that Modi had “courage and listened to people.”
When asked about the general impression that the prime minister dominates the Cabinet, Gadkari labelled them rumours, with “no proof, relevance or ground realities.”
Responding to Thapar’s question on his government achieving almost the same or less than the UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh, Gadkari pointed to a few parameters on which India could perform better. He added that the expectation from his government in terms of industrial sector was more.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the creation of 10 million jobs every year, before he assumed office. However, over the last four years, the hunger for jobs has only increased.
While some government bodies like the NITI Aayog claim that jobs have been created, pink papers say otherwise. While Gadkari stressed that job creation was important for his government, he said that the growing population increased the demand for jobs.
The Union minister, however, defended the government’s job creation, adding that the Opposition was playing politics.
When asked by Thapar if he will accept that Kashmir was one of the BJP government’s most worrying problems, Gadkari said that their fight was against the Pakistanis and not Kashmiris.
He claimed that Pakistan was trying to start a proxy war with India by influencing the youngsters in the valley. He also reiterated that his own ministry has undertaken several infrastructural projects in the state to show the people that they were committed to the development of J&K.
Gadkari was the only minister, after Home Minister Rajnath Singh, to speak out in support of his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj, who was trolled in connection with the inter-faith couple passport row.
Speaking to Thapar, the union minister backed Swaraj saying that the way some people attacked her was “absolutely wrong.” However, when asked why she was trolled by people who claimed to be BJP ‘bhakts’, Gadkari said it was the “habit of media to associate the trolls with BJP.”
He said that the party does not stand with those representatives who are making irresponsible statements, adding that they were individual statements and not those of the party.
When asked why the prime minister did not speak out in support of Sushma Swaraj, or when Gauri Lankesh was murdered, Gadkari backed Modi, saying that he did not want to “play politics.”
With the general elections just nine months away, Gadkari expressed confidence that the BJP will win 272 seats alone and will form the government again.
When asked about the possibility of Gadkari himself becoming the prime ministerial candidate if the BJP does not get a majority, as he is “more acceptable to the allies”, Gadkari said:
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