Akhilesh Yadav: It's in BJP's identity to make promises and then forget

Interview/ Akhilesh Yadav, former chief minister, Uttar Pradesh

AKHILESH YADAV, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and president of the Samajwadi Party, exudes a distinctive calm as we meet him in his party office in Lucknow, which is drowned in the cacophony of leaders and workers. Seated in front of a statue of his father, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, in an anteroom, Akhilesh goes through sheet after sheet of paper thrust at him, ticking names off for door-to-door campaigning, naming those who need to see him personally and asking questions about others. When a woman worker walks in with her children, he is quick to stand up and suggest that the young ones take a photo with him. He offers us a choice of beverages, makes sure we are comfortable before settling in to give his first print interview this election season. In an unhurried chat, he talks about his daughter joining the campaign trail, the pressure faced by the media, his strident opposition to the BJP and the latest alliance with the Congress. Excerpts:

Q/ You have dubbed the first phase of polling as ‘first-day, first-show flop’ for the BJP. How do you back it up with facts?

A/ From the last [assembly] elections to the first phase of this election, our voting percentage has been increasing.... Let me give you one simple calculation. Some 60 lakh candidates have been victims of question paper leaks. (In March alone, there have been three major paper leaks in the state.) They would have prepared for a couple of years, [spent on] food, accommodation and coaching. Yet, when it is time for the exam, the papers get leaked. Their future is pushed into darkness. If we are to consider just these candidates and their parents, it comes to 1.8 crore. Divide this by 80 (the number of Lok Sabha seats in UP). Thus, at least 2.25 lakh votes from every seat are not going to the BJP. In addition, castes and communities which have traditionally voted for the BJP are angry with the party. They have held panchayats (like the Rajputs in western UP) and I thank them that they have decided not to compromise their political consciousness.

Q/ How do you counter the BJP narrative that the party has delivered on its poll promises?

A/ It is in the BJP’s identity to make promises and then forget about them. There has been deep injustice towards farmers. The BJP claims that it has cleared a certain percentage of dues for sugarcane farmers. However, why should there be dues to start with? And why have sugarcane prices not been increased in UP, like in Punjab and Haryana? It is a matter of great pride that farmers have constantly agitated for their right to minimum support price. When the government conferred the Bharat Ratna on M.S. Swaminathan and Chaudhary Charan Singh, it raised hopes that their ideals would be followed, and the demands of farmers would be met. However, voters know that the BJP is a party of lies. Every promise has turned out to be a lie. And to cover up for that, the party puts up a new act during every election.

Can the BJP explain how inflation has risen so much? Why has GST benefited a few, but adversely impacted small traders? Why farmers’ children are unable to get jobs? What happened to its promise of free electricity? Why are tube-wells metered? Why are farming equipment so costly, why is there so much corruption even in fertiliser procurement? Why is it not listening to the opposition to the Agnipath scheme? In the constituencies voting in the first two phases, a number of farmers’ children would traditionally join the Army, but what are their prospects now? We built a 100-bed hospital in the village of Param Vir Chakra awardee, Captain Yogendra Singh Yadav, why couldn’t this government run it? No one wants to listen to the BJP’s false stories or trite dialogues anymore. Their people were even absent from the booths during polling. There is a wind blowing against the BJP, and it will only pick up speed.

Q/ Your manifesto promises pensions and freebies. Are they economically feasible?

A/ What is wrong with any of that? This question should be re-directed. Why did the BJP government allow public sector banks to sink? Why did it merge banks? Did it achieve zero corruption through demonetisation? This is a party which chanted swadeshi before the elections. After winning, what happened to that chant? It was just a ploy for this government which is completely dependent on foreign countries. It is outsiders who are getting loans and businesses; it is they whose loans are being waived off, and then money is taken from them in the form of electoral bonds. We have promised 06,000 to women below poverty line. How is that wrong, but writing off loans worth Rs 14 lakh crore right? If you can help the rich, why should we not help the poor? Research shows that giving money to the poor puts that money back in the economy. Our vision for the PDA (pichde, meaning backward classes; dalits; and alpsankhyak, meaning minorities) includes equal participation for women. The world over, there are schemes to help women grow. It was our pension scheme of 0500 which the BJP adopted for farmers. The poor have been made poorer by the BJP to increase the profits of select rich. This level of profiteering is not good, but the BJP is dedicated to doing so for its own people.

Q/ The manifesto promises to end all paper leaks. Your opponents say this is ironic, given that it was during your time that massive cheating in the board exams took place. 

A/ Whoever says this must have cheated in his own exam and must be holding a fake degree. To say that there was large-scale cheating means that you are doubting the sanctity of your own examination board. The BJP has been in power in Uttar Pradesh for seven years. If the cheating allegations were true, was any action taken? If there was cheating, it means people in the system were enabling that. Has the government been sleeping till now? Under the Samajwadi Party government, [among other recruitments] we had 32,000 new police recruitments. There was not a murmur of protest anywhere. When it came to promotions, I was told that there should be a set procedure of written examination. My question was: What was the need for an examination for those who have spent 10 to 20 years in service? Promotions were made and there were no protests. Now, I see young people protesting everywhere demanding re-examinations after all the paper leaks. Since the government does not want to give any jobs, the easiest way is to leak the paper so that the exam stands cancelled. All those leaking papers have connections with or are enabled by the government. 

Q/ Your manifesto also talks of bridging the digital divide. 

A/ Bill Gates was in the country recently and the PM was discussing the issue with him. The SP’s scheme of laptop distribution has been the single most effective means of bridging that divide. People in villages—the young and their parents—can now operate laptops. This government has replaced laptops with smartphones. Around the world, it has been proved that providing laptops to economically disadvantaged communities is immensely beneficial. (He cites the example of Minneapolis, USA.) Thus, our promise of aata (wheat) and data. 

Q/ In your interview with THE WEEK during the 2022 polls, you said that you had learnt how to defeat the BJP. However, the results proved otherwise.

A/ There is no lag on our part. However, the BJP has a lot of money to distribute. The administration, the Election Commission, the police, the industrialists are all with it. Even the media is singing the BJP’s tune. Yet, we were the only regional party which halted the BJP’s march [in the assembly polls of 2022). We are fighting. The question is how well you fight such a behemoth.

Q/ You have been extremely critical of the media.

A/ The media is as troubled by the BJP as we are and it also wants the party to lose the elections. However, there is immense pressure on media houses and journalists. Jobs and wages are at stake, so no one, barring a few media houses, are able to speak the truth. One journalist reported on the quality of lentils being served at a government school and was jailed. YouTubers get their channels blocked. Journalists are questioned by the police about their writing. But then, if your ‘breaking news’ is decided by the BJP, why are you a journalist? It is so obvious that the media is working according to the BJP’s dictates. Two weeks ago, Sukhois did a landing exercise on the Agra Expressway. That exercise was praised, but did anyone report that the expressway was built by our government? I am not asking that I be praised. But there must be recognition for the work of the socialists.

Q/ Why is there a disconnect between your popularity and the lack of it when it comes to the party?

A/ It always happens that popularity tends to cluster around a person. But then those who connect with me are, at the end of the day, connecting with and voting for the party. If you want a deeper answer, you will have to ask a philosopher or a pundit.

Q/ Yet, your party lost even in Etawah (the birthplace of Mulayam Singh Yadav) in the last elections.

A/ It happens in politics. Sometimes our choices are wrong; sometimes the candidate is unable to win the public’s trust, sometimes the support is not as much as we had expected, sometimes the equations do not sit right. Etawah will always be close to us. This time all equations are right.

Q/ Why has there been so much confusion in candidate selection, sometimes spilling over to the last day of nomination? Is it because you have rectified earlier wrong choices or because you have a very limited pool of willing and able candidates? 

A/  This is a very big fight. The BJP is scared of PDA. Our fight is to protect democracy, the Constitution of Baba saheb, the socialism of Ram Manohar Lohia and the life work of Netaji (MS Yadav). Sometimes you have to take back decisions because how things seem to us and how they are on the ground are different. We have changed candidates, but wherever that has happened, we have hit upon the winning candidate.

Q/ What is your take on the Parivar Development Authority jibe against you?

A/ This is only to grab headlines. If the BJP is so against families, it should not give anyone who has a family an election ticket. Secondly, it should not even appeal to people with families to vote. The BJP has another kind of family― one which creates disunity in the country and works to split it up.

Q/ Why is there such a lack of discipline in the party that every time a candidate is replaced there is great protest? 

A/ When a person has worked in a constituency, s/he expects a ticket. When that ticket does not come through, a feeling of hurt is natural. We respect the right to complain, and we must listen to these complaints. There are many factors- such as the pressure of the local leadership, personal equation with people, etc., at play. This is all part of democracy which is why it is called the dance of democracy. We enjoy and celebrate it in that spirit. 

Q/ We see your eldest daughter on the campaign trail with your wife. Does she have an interest in politics?

A/ The PDA ideals include equality and participation for half the world’s population (women). This new generation has its own dreams, its own ways of moving ahead. I have not pushed my children in any direction. Aditi has a degree in international politics and policy, wherein she has gone through many case studies. But it is only when one steps into the villages, meets people, walks under the sun, sees open drains, understands poverty, interacts with people without food and clothes, does one make any sense of it. It is just as important to know that the fame that one has as a politician is not something that can simply be passed on through a family name, but that it takes a lot of hard work to earn it.

Q/ You were dismissive of the Congress in 2019. Does the present alliance indicate a meeting of minds or is it only because there is no other way to take on the BJP?

A/ The Congress was once opposed to caste census, but now supports it. It is good that the Congress has changed and is now more closely aligned with socialist thinking. Elsewhere, too, it is listening to regional parties which better understand what local issues are.

Q/ Do you think your former alliance partner the Rashtriya Lok Dal has scored a self-goal by aligning with the BJP? 

A/ I have nothing to say about those who have left us. The BJP broke up our alliances even post-election through force of money, government security and government contracts. 

Q/ On ground there is the sense of anti-incumbency kicking in. However, why has the opposition not been unable to harness and offer greater momentum to it? 

A/ There are issues that people are talking about, and the BJP does not have answers. Look at the speeches its leaders are giving—they are all over the place. Where are the questions of inflation, unemployment, injustice, and lack of respect being addressed? The electoral bonds have made us a laughing stock for they are BJP’s vasooli scheme but there is nothing on it. Why not tell the electorate why emergency ambulance services (set up by the SP) are non-functional? The BJP knows that it will stand exposed if it takes up these issues. Not one district hospital has been set up by this government. We set up a 100-acre cancer institute, but it is barely functional; its chief sits elsewhere. We upgraded Lucknow’s medical college, set up the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences—what upgrades has this government done? Has it increased any budgets? It took away land from the cancer institute to set up the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University but has been unable to run it. Why did it not think of setting such a university up in Atal ji’s ancestral village, Bateshwar (Agra)? What does one expect from a government which cannot even run a university which bears the name of its own leader? 

Q/ What is your take on the BSP’s candidate selection in several constituencies where it seems to be in a fighting position? 

A/ I do not see any triangular contests happening. 

Q/ Do you regret not going for the pran pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya?

A/ Not at all. I pray every single day. Not everything is for public image. My belief, my ideals, the paths that I am following are personal to me. Why should I tell everyone which God I worship? It is not a matter of propaganda. The BJP has used the name of Ram and it is now time for the public to say Ram Ram (farewell) to it.

Q/ The election has just started in UP. Do you take any time to unwind?

A/ For the last two years we have been working non-stop. There is no unwinding in politics. Yet, when people say they sleep at 2am and get up at 4, I wonder how they make do with just two hours of sleep. The media should be careful about propagating this. Can you imagine how many people would fall sick if they tried to survive on just two hours of sleep?