Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister, Vijay Sinha, is focused on fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modie’s task for the Lok Sabha Polls. Sinha states that seeing Modi as the Prime Minister for a third term is not just his dream, but the dream of every Bharatiya. In an exclusive interview with Organiser Special Correspondent Nishant Kumar Azad at his residence in Patna, Vijay Sinha spoke on a range of issues, from employment, migration, infrastructure crisis in the state, reservations for Muslims, and many more. Excerpts:
Four phases of the election have been held. How many seats is the NDA going to win in this Lok Sabha polls from Bihar?
In democracy, the people are the bosses. NDA is going to get all 40 seats. People know the difference between NDA and I.N.D.I Alliance. People have not forgotten Jungle Raj. The people of Bihar know how “Bihari” became an abuse and a contempt under these parties. They are not going to allow their comeback and they have sided with NDA to restore the pride and glory of Bihar.
You look completely assured about your victory. Could you mention five important steps that the NDA government will take in Bihar after the Lok Sabha election?
The NDA Government and the “double engine sarkar” have provided electricity connections to every household, connected every village with roads, made public transport more efficient, and created an environment of technical education for the youth. Today, the state is brimming with energy and efficiency from various engineering colleges, polytechnics, and what not. We are thriving with human capital and skilled labour. We have focused on opening and reopening many closed mills. In the last few decades, Bihar has become the hub for providing unskilled labour to other states. Various governments, and especially those that call them I.N.D.I Alliance today, couldn’t stop the forced migration. We are, on the contrary, trying to stop the migration and retain the human capital of Bihar for state’s own socio-economic development. Thus, to sum up, infrastructure, human resources, employment opportunities, creating an all-inclusive social development agenda, and marketing the aspirations of the state for the whole nation will be our key aspirations and goals.
So, can we say that, for Bihar, in the coming five years, job creation for skilled labour and making unskilled labour skilled will be the top-most priority of the government?
Definitely! Moreover, we are also orienting the youth towards self-employment opportunities. We are creating awareness about the limits of government services, and how several people who fail to enter those services should not give up. There must be a well-charted path towards the opportunities for ‘swarozgar’, and under the able and inspiring leadership of PM Narendra Modi, crores of youth have procured such opportunities. We want a Bharat where youth create jobs not only for themselves but for others. I am sure Bihar will take a lead in this great movement of change!
The Opposition in Bihar, led by Tejashwi Yadav, aggressively charges the NDA Government in the state on unemployment. At the same time, he takes credit for his party, saying that they provided employment during his tenure with Nitish ji but the NDA Government never recognises it. Does the NDA Government in Bihar shy away from tackling and talking about unemployment?
He is a loudmouth son of a boastful father. You cannot sabotage truth and facts backed up by an infantry of script writers for your election campaign. Mr Yadav was leading five ministries when he was in power. It won’t require a great deal of wisdom to find out how many jobs were created under those ministries when he was at the helm. None! Even when there were recruitment drives under previous governments, they weren’t allowed to be completed. His own Education Minister was busy taking immoral jibes on Ramcharitmanas, but he didn’t see the completion of recruitment under his command. Why? Mr Yadav belongs to a political tradition which grabs poor people’s land, promising jobs that never came. He has no moral standing to claim that he provided employment opportunities to the youth of Bihar. The youth of the state will teach him a lesson.
“We are trying to stop the migration and retain the human capital of Bihar for state’s own socio-economic development, infrastructure, human resources, employment opportunities, creating all inclusive social development agenda and marketing the aspirations of the state for the whole nation will be our key aspirations and goals”
What about the infrastructure backwardness in Bihar? It has been almost two decades now, and Nitish Kumar has been in power with both the BJP and the RJD. But the lack of infrastructure, be it a decent sports sector or a hospitality sector, is a sorry picture. How do you see it?
You are right! That’s a lot of work to do. But on the other side, we have the best auditorium in the country, Bapu Auditorium in Patna. Is there no system of computerised digital examination of 10,000 people from Jan Bhawan to one in the infrastructure at the same time? Many of our five star hotels and sports infrastructure are under construction. We have made great progress in constructing national-level highways and improving road connectivity. Aren’t these all part of infrastructure development? We have limited resources and greater challenges. We are tackling five decades of underdevelopment and neglect. It will take time to improve, but we are leading with all our capacities.
“RJD has always played the politics of minority appeasement and Lalu Yadav’s family has mastered Pseudo-Secularism. Their opposition and unjust criticism towards Ramcharitmanas and Ram Mandir show they are desperate and anxious. It is low-level politics that keeps insulting the Hindus in Bihar”
In recent times, we have witnessed a great deal of derogatory remarks for Ramacharitmanas by scores of RJD leaders. It is well known that they openly denounced the Ram Mandir and Sri Ram. How do you see this all?
If you grab power and enjoy and exercise it without ever sharing it with others, you undergo mental corruption. The same has happened with RJD, which is a single-family party. This feudal family, which came to power in the garb of vernacular rise, never shared its power with anyone, not even their own caste and community. This madness of unchecked and authoritarian power has led them away from Sanatani values of fraternity. Why else will the people of Bihar, the land of Maa Janaki, ever oppose a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya? RJD has always played the politics of minority appeasement, and Lalu Prasad Yadav has mastered pseudo-secularism. Their opposition and unjust criticism towards Ramacharitmanas and Ram Mandir show they are desperate and anxious. It is low-level politics that keeps insulting the Hindus in Bihar.
You mentioned minority appeasement. How do you then see the RJD and Congress’ promises to give reservations to Muslims?
RJD and Congress have always fragmented our nation to keep ruling it. They perfected divide and rule to such an extent that even the British would’ve been ashamed. If it requires them to defend an anti- national terrorist to get some votes, they will even do it. RJD and Congress today are talking about something that was never on the minds of our Constitution makers, like Babasaheb Ambedkar or Babu Rajendra Prasad. People will ask RJD and Congress, ‘Why are they so adamant in discarding the Constitution? Why do they want to break the dreams of Babasaheb Ambedkar?
On the contrary, Rahul Gandhi keeps saying that if the BJP comes to power, it will abolish the Constitution. How do you react to it?
The Congress family is scared, aren’t they? History is full of these people insulting and undermining constitutional institutions. They tarnished various bodies of government, imposed emergencies, mishandled institutions like CBI, ED, Income Tax, and others to corner the Opposition, imposed President’s Rule to topple elected governments, and today they claim that others will abolish the Constitution. They say they will reinstate Article 370 if voted to power. After We, the People of India, through the Parliament abrogated Article 370, and the Supreme Court found it correct, what is the basis of saying that Congress will reinstate it? Tell me, who is getting ready to abolish the Constitution? Rahul Gandhi’s gestures and public outcries are not suitable for a democracy. He has an authoritarian posturing, and the people will not accept it.
Compared to other states, Bihar saw a dip in the voting percentage and there is migration somewhere behind it. What are the steps you are taking to check for forced or pushed migration from the state?
First of all, let me tell you that there are many factors contributing to a decreasing voting percentage. One of them is scorching heat. And secondly, the dimming enthusiasm of the Opposition. Being that people are not attracted to the Opposition. They are satisfied with the government in power. There is no anti- incumbency, so to speak. When do we see a rise in voting percentage? When the people wish to change the Government, they come out in larger numbers to make the change count. Or if there is a greater promise from the other side. The people are content and satisfied with the NDA Government, and so be it. Migration is not the only issue here. If I can recall, even during the COVID times in 2020, many people came back and exercised their vote because they wanted change, right? Yes, many people who left the State in the 1990s and early 2000s due to the fear and compulsions of Jungle Raj have still not come back. We must win over their faith again. To sum up, the people vote in larger numbers only when they wish to change the weather: “Mausam badalne ke liye!”
You talked about changing the weather. We come to Nitish Kumar. He has switched sides many times. What is the guarantee that he won’t do it again?
What is the guarantee of life? You declare it every day in your life, don’t you? Faith is a great wealth, one lives by that faith and the world runs on that faith, as do we people. We believe in God and He creates, governs and changes the seasons. I am sure He will take care of the changing weathers.
The Modi Government states that it has done so much work. The Opposition alleges that if that is the case, what is the need to make the elections Hindu and Muslim. What are your views?
There has never been a mention of Hindu and Muslim. Who brought the issue of Muslim reservation when the governance under Narendra Modi, for the first time, never differentiated between anyone based on caste, creed, community, religion, or region. The Opposition (Congress, RJD, SP, TMC, and others), who have championed divisive and communal politics for decades, is now charging Narendra Modi Govt for what? There is no basis in such allegations, and it is only being overplayed so that the Opposition parties can continue to do what they do best: Play Hindu-Muslim card to consolidate a particular “vote bank”. Yes, as far as economic resources are concerned, the people have created these resources from their tax money. How will a party decide about its fate? Who will have the right to that resource? There should be a larger debate on this. There should be open talk because we should learn from the past. The present must be improved, and the future must be created.
There were allegations of irregularities against RJD Ministers in the previous Government in the State. An inquiry was also ordered. Where has that investigation reached and how did it proceed?
There were 1100 tenders in the PHED department, and we have cancelled all of them, in which only two people were managed for the tender. We are looking in all these matters with a great deal of seriousness. And today everybody knows that the corrupt won’t go unpunished and scot-free in the Modi era. Narendra Modi has ushered us in an era of transparent governance where the corrupt cannot continue.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi lost his life while battling with cancer. How do you see the loss of a leader like Sushil Modi for party?
This is a great loss and Bihar lost one of the tallest leaders and loudest of the voices. For three decades, he was the chief crusader against corrupt regimes. And look at his own conduct in public life—despite having decades of political mileage, there is no stain on him even when he was in power. He was an inspiring leader, and he will continue to inspire us.
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