Threat to Amit Shah’s Jind rally was planned by BJP, says BJP MP Rajkumar Saini

In an exclusive, explosive interview with National Herald, Kurukshetra BJP MP and senior OBC leader in Haryana Rajkumar Saini tells Vishwadeepak that people have lost faith in the Bharatiya Janata Party, that there have been only hollow speeches in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule. Saini sad that the threats by Jats to blockade Amit Shah’s Jind rally was a planned episode by the BJP. Saini adds that BJP is running not the government but only a business in Haryana and speaks of his plans to form a new party and contest against BJP.

Right after BJP president Amit Shah’s Jind rally allegedly flopped, you announced that you are leaving the BJP. Have you resigned from the party officially?

I haven’t left the party officially. When I form a political party, then I will resign. I have made the announcement right now. I have started the process to organise the new party. I have been meeting people. I have been listening to their opinions. According to the plan, I will announce my new party in Haryana by August.

Will it be a regional or national party? Will you fight elections?

Our party will be of national stature. We will be fighting Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections with the objective of defeating BJP. We will field our candidates in our base areas.

Have BJP ministers or BJP President Amit Shah contacted you after you announced your decision of leaving the party? Or have you contacted central ministers?

Neither the senior leaders from the party have contacted me nor have I contacted them. I announced my decision amid the people. I don’t give clarifications to anyone.

Even then the question arises, why did you leave the party who took you to Parliament?

The present environment in Haryana makes you feel that the government has given up against bullying. The people who are disturbing the peace of the society, are getting jobs. BJP government is assuring them of reservation. The people who have destroyed government property, who have criminal case registered against them, who should be in jail, are roaming around free. There is a sense of fear in the state. People have lost trust in the BJP. That is why I have decided to leave BJP.

Who are the people you are hinting at?

If I have to say this in one sentence, then all those people who are hungry for power. Jats are also party to this.

Jats ran a campaign for reservation. Talks were held between the BJP government at the Centre, the BJP’s government in Haryana and Yashpal Malik, who on behalf of Jats has reached some agreement with the government.

Yes, I know that. Yashpal Malik is the leader of Jats and he has struck a deal with the government. I don’t have any issues with any community, but the situation which has arisen after his threat, makes one feel as if there is nothing like government in Haryana. It seems like there is only trading and dealings going on in the state instead of governance.

You tell me, what is a government? Government is all about faith, but people of the state have completely lost faith in the Government. People are saying that everything was fixed between Jats and BJP. Jats issued a threat [to block Amit Shah’s rally] on BJP leaders’ suggestions and then the entire drama of compromise was played. There is a BJP government both in Haryana and at the Centre. Then you tell me, how can a person with some hundred people threaten the government and the whole government bows down!

Had there been BJP government in the state only, then one could understand that Centre is not supporting and people like Malik can force the government to kneel, but when there is our own government in the centre, how can a person become so powerful? So clearly, everything was fixed. People now also know that this was a planned episode.

You are saying that people have lost their faith in the government. How?

Any government is like a note. Reserve Bank’s governor writes on the note that I promise to pay the bearer such and such amount of money, and the market believes that this is the value of the note. Otherwise, a note is just a piece of paper but with the governor’s promise in writing, that piece of paper becomes valuable. The same happens with the government. The events that took place in the state in past few days have proved that with force anyone can make the government bend. Anyone can do as he pleases. In such a situation, how can people trust the government. If the faith is lost, then the government is gone.

Are you unhappy about the increasing influence of Yashpal Malik in the BJP?

I want to ask BJP leaders what was the need to talk to Malik? We did not need to talk to him at all. If danda raaj will continue like this in Haryana, then the powerful ones will make a slave of the weaker ones. What will happen, if the government does not do anything about it.

So, you feel that by threatening a demonstration against Amit Shah, Yashpal Malik has blackmailed the BJP?

It happens many times that if the Centre does not cooperate, then the state governments get pressurised in such matters. But in this case, we have our government even in the centre. Then why did they talk to Yashpal Malik? The moment he had threatened that the Jats will take over the stage during Amit Shah’s rally, he should have been arrested and put in jail. But the BJP did not do this. Two BJP governments shuddered on a single intimidating remark by one person.

The same thing happened when the Supreme Court had cancelled the reservation for Jats. A handful of Jats came together and protested and the Khattar government became nervous. In its anxiety, the government even promised that it will file a review petition. The Jats were promised that they will be given reservation. Now you tell me, can everyone get reservation like this? I have this opinion that the BJP government has disregarded the Supreme Court. They have disrespected the honourable Supreme Court. I want to ask them under what provision will they grant reservation to Jats? They all make false promises.

The response of the Khattar government can be understood. But the National President of the BJP, Amit Shah, who is considered one of the most powerful people of this country, why did he get scared?

Only he can say why. I can’t say anything about why Amit Shah got nervous. But one thing is clear, the challenge Malik posed was not meant for [Haryana Chief Minister] Manohar Lal Khattar but for the national president. This challenge was not even meant for the lower rank leaders. The Jats had straightaway challenged the senior leaders. I am surprised at the fact that we have such a large military and security force, then why did our government buckle in? Had our government used force, then neither Malik nor any Jat would have had courage enough to even look up at the stage. The fact is that all this was planned by the senior BJP leaders, government and the Jats together. The positive thing is that people are now able to comprehend all this.

According to you the BJP was seriously damaged in the process. In an effort to save Jat vote bank, they lost rest of the voters also.

Absolutely. BJP suffered a blow. Malik went away after successfully striking a bargain. He got all his people released (from jail). People who set this state on fire, broke law and order, they were released. He only wanted this, that the government gives in. The way Malik forced the BJP [to buckle] with just a handful of supporters, it seems to me that it is Malik who is running the government in Haryana and not the BJP. The BJP government is running on his instructions.

Final question. You are a BJP MP. How do you evaluate the tenure of your party’s prime minister Narendra Modi?

This country has been running on lectures and words only for the last 70 years. It continues even today. At first the Congress ruined this country. They delivered only hollow speeches in the name of poor-farmers-labourers. The painful fact is that this all continues even today. People had hoped that the new government will work in the interest of common man but exactly the opposite is happening. People like [Vijay] Mallya and Nirav Modi are running away with crores of bank money and our chowkidar could not do anything.

People had hoped that the Modi government will end corruption and control price rise. But only speeches and more speeches are running. There is no law and order in Haryana, but situation is same at the centre too. One law for the country and another for Jammu and Kashmir—how can this be. BJP had promised the implementation of [uniform] civil code, which has not been fulfilled till date. The entire country is engulfed in a strange trading. The objective of the BJP is to remain in power and to run the government, no matter whatever happens to the country. Stones are being pelted on the army in Kashmir, serious unrest brewing in Haryana in the name of reservation. The people of this country gave a huge mandate to the prime minister. He should fulfill the promises he made to the people of this country.

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