Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the BJP stands for promotion of all Indian languages and the allegation that it promotes Hindi at the cost of regional languages is “politically motivated”. in an exclusive interview with hindu, Mr. Shah said that the party will win with absolute majority Karnataka, where issues of regional identity featured extensively in the election campaign. “This is an important election for the BJP, and we will form the government in Karnataka with an absolute majority,” Mr. Shah said.
Rejected allegations of efforts by the BJP and the central government impose hindi In the southern state, Mr Shah said the Narendra Modi government had made arrangements for conducting various recruitment exams in all languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Karnataka is the only southern state where the BJP is in power. How important are these elections to you in terms of footprint in the South and what are the party’s prospects?
This is an important election for BJP and we will form the government in Karnataka with absolute majority. This will be on the back of work done by both Prime Minister Modi’s government and the state government. The basis of my optimism is the support of beneficiaries of 4.10 lakh houses built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 43 lakh tap water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission, four crore people getting benefited under Anna Yojana, 54 lakh farmers being given There is ₹15 crore under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. As far as its impact on the rest of the South is concerned, I believe the BJP is in good shape in Telangana as well. I also firmly believe that as the BJP’s reach in the South increases, we will be able to crack down on corruption in the southern states, especially Telangana.
You mention Karnataka and Telangana as places where the BJP will win elections, what about the efforts being made in Tamil Nadu and Kerala?
It is our endeavor that BJP workers should be present at every booth and for this we are also working in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We may not be as far ahead as Karnataka and Telangana in these states, but efforts are on.
The BJP Christian community in Kerala, especially…
BJP reaches out to every Indian and Christians in Kerala are also a part of that effort.
Given the series of events like rebellion by Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, was it a wrong move to remove Mr. Yediyurappa in 2021?
YediyurappaYes He himself decided that he should give way to some other Chief Minister. There is an age criterion in our party, and he had said that whenever the party wants to implement that criterion, it can. He stood down eight months after that conversation. It is a part of a natural generational change. related to Jagdish Shettar And Laxman Savadi, this is not rebellion. they left different “infatuations” [attachment] to get tickets. The party had a clear logic behind not giving tickets to these two. In Jagadish Shettar’s case, he had made it clear that he would not serve as a minister under Chief Minister BS Bommai, so we figured why should he continue as an MLA, would it be acceptable to him? As far as Laxman Savadi is concerned, his MLC term was to last till mid-2028, which is longer than the term of the assembly to be elected next week, so why should the party not have sought a candidate? Nobody has gone with them and we don’t see it as rebellion. I declare right now that the margin of defeat of Mr. Shettar will be more than the margin of his victory, because the people of Hubli have voted for Kamal and not for any person.
There is talk that the reservation policy passed by the Bommai government is not being adequately defended in court.
The matter is to end the reservation of Muslims and as far as the principle of BJP is concerned, it believes that reservation should be as per the constitution, which has no provision for reservation on the basis of religion. I have publicly said that we may have delayed ending reservation for Muslims, we should have acted earlier.
PM Modi has repeatedly spoken on the undesirability Rewari (freebie) culture yet BJP manifesto has free gas cylinder etc.
please understand the definition of what is Rewari Culture. We have provided housing to three crore people, and will give five crore more, we have provided fluoride free tap water, we have given gas connections, health insurance up to ₹5 lakh to people, free food grains to fight malnutrition All these are not free gifts, these are benefits to improve the long term quality of life and health of people. What is a freebie? If you promise to send ₹3,000 per month to each woman’s account, this type of cash transfer is a Rewari,
But under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, the government is distributing the income support amount.
This is not a freebie. For a long time, it was the practice that various political parties used to promise loan write-off to small and marginal farmers, basically farmers with less than one hectare of land. We got a study done on how much loan is needed by such a farmer to grow two crops on his holding, for seeds, irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides, this figure will come to Rs.6,000 for an average 2.5 acres of cultivated land. So we decided that this amount should be given to the farmers as a measure to make them self-reliant. soul dependentSo that he does not have to take loan for short term. it’s not Rewari, To save small farmers from debt and to save the banking system from financial indiscipline, the government has prepared this program under a scientific approach.
What was the basis for proposing the National Register of Citizens for Karnataka?
NRC is not the right word here. What has been promised is a kind of survey, every state government has the right to conduct a social survey. Only the Center has the authority to maintain the National Register of Citizens.
What do you think about the allegation that the BJP is largely a Hindi party and is pushing that agenda?
This issue of imposition of Hindi is a political allegation often leveled against BJP while the party is working to strengthen all the local languages. Most of the Central Services examinations can now be conducted in local languages. Earlier, someone studying in Kannada medium would find it difficult to crack many of these exams. We’ve designed it so that most of these exams can be taken in multiple languages. NEET can be taken in multiple Indian languages, so the exam can also be taken for constable recruitment with SSC as the core qualification. So our job is to encourage local languages, Kannada, Tamil or Malayalam… including engineering and medical studies. This is also a part of the new education policy and the Congress in Karnataka is opposing it, leading to opposition to studies in Kannada as well.
The Congress in its manifesto has talked about banning Bajrang Dal. What is your reaction as Home Minister?
This is part of the appeasement policy of the Congress. Fearing controversy, he kept the Ram temple locked for many years and is now talking about banning Bajrang Dal. The ban on Popular Front of India (PFI) and the ban on Bajrang Dal cannot be compared. PFI was banned after collecting preliminary stage evidence for anti-national and terror related activities. And the board constituted to consider reviewing the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) consulted 12 state governments under a High Court judge and declared that the ban on PFI was justified. Congress cannot talk about lifting the ban on PFI, so they are making false comparisons between PFI and Bajrang Dal as part of their appeasement policy.
How do you see Jammu and Kashmir almost four years after the abrogation of Article 370?
I look at the situation in Kashmir in terms of three aspects: spread of democracy, development and security.
after removal [special status given under] Article 370, we have local body elections, and 30,000 people’s representatives and Panchayati Raj in Jammu and Kashmir, a sea change from the time when Kashmir had 87 MLAs, six MPs and three families as the only representative of democracy. This is a great success of democracy.
As far as development is concerned, there is tap water in every house, there is electricity in all the houses. Night shows are running in theatres, 1.80 crore tourists have visited J&K which used to be an average of 10 years under Congress rule, there are more than 42 central institutions of which 21 are functional.
As far as security is concerned, terror attacks have seen a drop of over 40%, and things can only get better.