Chandigarh: Solely the occasion’s central management in Delhi can reply questions on a doable revival of the alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Punjab Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) chief Sunil Jarkhar stated Sunday, responding to questions concerning the occasion’s preparations within the state forward of the parliamentary elections subsequent yr.
“It’s not for me to reply this query. I’m merely not within the place to take action. That is for the occasion’s central management to determine. However I consider as a celebration, we will’t hold seeking to others to carry our fingers. We’re a full-fledged occasion and a formidable drive on our personal,” he stated.
In a free-wheeling chat with ThePrint, Jakhar — who was appointed president of the Punjab BJP on 4 July — stated the entire thought of a coalition just like the one with the SAD was to “guarantee communal concord” in Punjab. “With the break within the coalition, the most important fallout for Punjab has been that extremist forces obtained an area to function. The rise of individuals like Amritpal and different extremist components within the state is a direct results of this.”
Jakhar, a three-time MLA and one-time MP who joined the BJP final Might, added {that a} “full vacuum of a powerful management will all the time manifest in such forces rearing their ugly heads” in Punjab. “That’s what occurred with the Akalis additionally. In addition they drew their energy from the coalition and relied on it,” he remarked.
Punjab, he added, is essentially the most secular state and any occasion which tries to divide it on the premise of both caste or faith will discover no takers right here.
Jakhar, who headed the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee as its president from 2017 to 2021, additionally stated that there’s a stark distinction between the BJP and the Congress.
“The extent of dedication, ideological moorings, nationalist fervour that are palpable within the BJP are completely lacking within the Congress,” he stated, including that the Congress was born out of the liberty battle and its nationalistic ideology remained its binding drive for many years. He identified that the identical nationalist fervour was “seen within the Congress within the 60s, till the Indo-Pakistan conflict of 1971”.
“However since then, that keenness and people emotions have steadily light away. And regardless of the passage of greater than two generations of occasion management since then, there’s nothing new that the Congress provides. They didn’t hold the flame alive, so to say.”
In keeping with Jakhar, the BJP, alternatively, “continues to carry on steadfastly to robust ideological and nationalist moorings which might be tangible”. This nationalist fervour, he added, motivates the occasion’s leaders and employees to work arduous and stay dedicated.
“To place it merely, the BJP is a celebration that works arduous and the Congress is a celebration whose existence is now merely due to its model title.”
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‘Akalis didn’t information properly on farm legal guidelines’
Requested about whether or not it’s a problem for the Punjab BJP to discover a foothold in rural areas, he asserted, “Sure, there’s a notion that Punjab BJP doesn’t have a presence in rural areas. However this notion is fake.” He went additional so as to add that this notion was constructed through the years by the Akalis who had been allied with the BJP for a number of many years.
“It suited the coalition dharma as a part of which Badal saab (Parkash Singh Badal) would ask BJP leaders to go away rural areas and villages for them to handle.”
Jakhar stated the BJP management in Punjab would go by the Akalis’ plan owing to Badal’s private equation with prime BJP leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Arun Jaitley.
This, he added, led to the view that the BJP was a “youthful brother within the coalition”.
“However whereas this notion has been constructed, it’s not the fact on the bottom. In spite of everything, throughout the nation, the BJP will get an enormous variety of votes from rural areas as nicely. So why ought to Punjab be any totally different? The problems which individuals residing in rural areas face are the identical throughout the nation,” stated the previous Member of Parliament (MP) from Gurdaspur.
On how the BJP plans to undo the injury precipitated to its picture because of the farmers’ agitation, Jakhar was fast to level out that he was among the many first to have objected to the three farm legal guidelines. “I’ve been on this occasion (BJP) for nearly a yr now and have causes to consider that the central authorities was not guided properly by their coalition companion in Punjab (Akalis) concerning the influence it (farm legal guidelines) would have had within the state.”
Punjab’s objections to the farm legal guidelines, he stated, had been centred across the lifting of grain by the Meals Company of India (FCI) and the difficulty of minimal assist costs (MSP).
“The protest (towards farm legal guidelines) began in Punjab and unfold to Haryana and elements of Uttar Pradesh. Had the Akalis been extra vociferous of their objections throughout conferences held earlier than the three legal guidelines had been handed, the injury might have been prevented. Akalis reacted solely when the protest reached Badal village. By which era it was too late.”
Jakhar, nonetheless, added that he didn’t consider a lot is misplaced for the reason that BJP has carried out “a lot for the farmers through the years”.
In keeping with the state BJP chief, the occasion’s Punjab unit must work on its channels of communication to make sure that all of the work the occasion has carried out for the betterment of farmers is conveyed to them successfully.
“Whether or not it’s the enhance in fertiliser subsidies or the (Kisan) Samman Nidhi scheme, the schemes for farm labourers, there’s sufficient materials for our occasion to strategy farmers in villages and attempt to negate no matter perceptions they may have,” stated Jakhar.
Requested about Punjab BJP’s plan of action within the run-up to the final election subsequent yr, he advised ThePrint, “Step one is for us to grasp and recognise our strengths. Our cadres are devoted, motivated and hard-working. There is no such thing as a lack of dedication or sincerity.
“We have now to speak within the language of the frequent man in order that they perceive our message. We’re a 5 trillion-economy however what does it imply to the frequent man? What’s there in it for him? We have now to speak higher, unpack the layers and speak by way of how the federal government may help them.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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