Bengaluru: No prime minister has completed as a lot for Bengaluru’s infrastructure as Narendra Modi, says Tejasvi Surya, the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) MP from Bengaluru South and nationwide president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).
In an interview with ThePrint’s D.Okay. Singh and Sharan Poovanna, the 32-year-old speaks about why the BJP will “100 per cent” retain energy in Karnataka, how Basavaraj Bommai has carried out properly as chief minister, how the Congress and the Social Democratic Celebration of India (SDPI) — and never the BJP — created the Tipu Sultan and hijab/halal points, and in addition about his personal picture as a ‘Hindutva firebrand’.
The election to the 224-member Karnataka meeting will probably be held on 10 Might, and the counting of votes will happen on 13 Might.
DK: We now have been taking a look at surveys completed by totally different businesses, and the BJP is supposedly lagging. The surveys are giving both a fractured verdict or a result in the Congress. What’s your tackle that?
TS: I’ve travelled to not less than 50-60 constituencies in Karnataka and spent various time on the bottom speaking to our karyakartas (employees), influential voters, and most of the people, and have sensed the heart beat on the bottom. I can inform you with certainty that every one these surveys and studies that you just talked about will fall flat on 13 Might when the true electors will converse.
For the final three-and-a-half years, the state has seen unprecedented growth introduced by the BJP authorities. It has certainly touched the lives of individuals straight. And solely on that foundation of that confidence, I can inform you that the BJP will very comfortably sail by way of the midway mark. The subsequent authorities in Karnataka goes to be a BJP authorities 100 per cent.
DK: You discuss governance and efficiency beneath Bommai however the BJP has not introduced him because the CM candidate. Why this ambivalence?
TS: I see this ambivalence solely with you and political commentators. I don’t see this ambivalence inside the get together, karyakartas nor with most of the people. Mr Bommai is our very well-performing chief minister. He has solved and addressed a number of the most essential legacy problems with the state. It was beneath his management that points like inner reservations, pending for many years, lastly obtained addressed in a really politically dexterous method and delicate method. He has been the CM who has introduced in nice growth by clearing initiatives just like the Higher Bhadra challenge and the Mahadayi challenge.
He ensured that the town of Bengaluru will get the long-pending suburban rail challenge, the infrastructure for Bengaluru metropolis is developed beneath his management, and the ‘Past Bengaluru’ growth initiative, which is an important coverage strategy of the federal government, has obtained an impetus.
So, in actual fact, the management that the prime minister has given to the nation on the Centre and the complementing management that may be very a lot wanted on the state degree has been supplied by Mr Bommai. He’s the CM face as we speak, and he’s a frontrunner of the state BJP for as we speak and for tomorrow as properly.
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‘BJP a cadre-based get together, not leader-based’
DK: We now have seen 10 BJP MLAs and MLCs give up the get together and be part of others. There are BJP employees protesting over ticket distribution. Senior leaders like Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi have additionally give up…
TS: The BJP is a cadre-based get together and never a leader-based get together. So long as the cadre is robust, there may be nothing for the BJP to fret about, and I can provide you in writing that in all these seats that you just talked about, the BJP goes to emerge victorious, as a result of the cadre in all of those seats stays extra impressed and extra charged than ever earlier than.
DK: You’re saying that eradicating B.S. Yediyurappa (as CM) shouldn’t be going to impression the get together…?
TS: This entire terminology of claiming eliminated is itself one thing that I take very sturdy objection to. It is just within the BJP, the place you will have the follow of senior leaders voluntarily making area and grooming the following technology of management. And in Karnataka, this follow, parampara, custom has been led by none aside from our tallest leaders like Yediyurappa.
We now have seen how gracefully Okay.S. Eshwarappa has groomed the following technology of management there. In the identical manner you see all throughout the nation, senior leaders are making manner for the following technology of leaders. As a result of that is once more going again to our core precept {that a} cadre-based get together and leaders are groomed from among the many cadre. You may point out 15 names within the BJP who could be the second, third and fourth technology of leaders. Whereas you won’t be able to say such names within the Congress get together or any of the dynasty-based events throughout the nation. Eradicating anyone shouldn’t be part of the BJP tradition.
About Yediyurappa, he voluntarily gave up contesting elections however to be a frontrunner within the BJP, one doesn’t have to have an electoral publish or win elections. This place is one thing that may be very troublesome for folks outdoors the BJP ecosystem to even perceive, not to mention digest.
DK: You say that the get together promotes next-generation leaders however you’re lacking from the BJPs star campaigners’ listing.
TS: As a result of I’m not any star. I’m a really regular karyakarta. As an MP of Bangalore South, there are 5 meeting constituencies in my constituency which don’t have the bodily presence of a BJP MLA as we speak, the accountability of which falls on my shoulders. Not being within the star campaigners’ listing is a matter for the media. For get together and get together karyakartas, none of those is a matter in any respect.
DK: The truth that many younger leaders like Pratap Simha, B.Y. Vijayendra and you aren’t on this listing…
TS: As a result of none of us is a star. Simha, Raghavendra, Vijayendra, Kudachi MLA P. Rajeev… are all younger leaders of the get together and performing on the bottom. Due to this fact the get together has maybe not put us on the star campaigners listing as a result of the get together needs us to utilise our sources and vitality in numerous actions. Like I stated, this can be a non-issue for the BJP, nevertheless it is a crucial problem for ThePrint. I even keep in mind you wrote a protracted article about this.
‘Faith-based quota constitutional anomaly’
SP: The Vokkaligas and Lingayats have rejected the reservation system given by the state authorities. You’ve got additionally stripped Muslims of their reservation quota. Do you suppose that is legally tenable?
TS: What existed all lately in Karnataka, in my humble opinion, was a constitutional anomaly. The 4 per cent reservation based mostly solely on faith that existed from 1994 is an unconstitutional follow and existed unhindered. We now have now tried to take away this constitutional anomaly and usher in actual social justice by allotting that reservation to individuals who actually deserve it. So the query, somewhat, needs to be to those that practised this as far as to why they practised one thing so blatantly unconstitutional. Was it completed solely to strengthen any individual’s vote banks?
SP: The BJP was in energy between 2008 and 2013. Why was it not completed then?
TS: That’s what I’m telling you. That even all lately, the truth that it remained was one thing incorrect and the second we obtained to know that this a constitutional anomaly, it needed to be set proper. We now have completed that.
DK: The final impression is that the BJP scrapped the Muslim quota and is harping on Tipu Sultan.
TS: The BJP has not been harping about Tipu Sultan. The very first time any individual made Tipu Sultan a hero in Karnataka and introduced this problem to public debate was Mr Siddaramaiah by celebrating Tipu Jayanthi. The BJP speaks of growth. They (Congress) converse of Tipu Jayanthi. When you have seen any of our debates, speeches, it has been a response to this problem of celebrating a tyrant. He’s on this, he’s in the midst of a debate solely as a result of the Congress get together deemed match to rejoice him utilizing state funds. Our response was a response and the BJP didn’t invent this problem.
DK: A number of weeks in the past, Siddaramaiah informed us that Tipu is a freedom fighter and the BJP ought to learn historical past…
TS: The folks of Karnataka who’ve lived right here have reminiscences of the trauma that has been related to Tipu Sultan’s rule. Please go to Madikeri, speak to folks there about what their civilisational reminiscence is about Tipu Sultan. Meet Mandyam Iyengars in Srirangapatna and ask them about their reminiscence, (somewhat) than Mr. Siddaramaiah or me or any historian as a result of they (Kodavas and Mandyam Iyengars) have actually seen his rule. Their ancestors have been killed or maimed. They’ve misplaced their homes and temples, properties vandalised. Historical past ought to by no means be subjected to political prejudices and political agendas. Historical past needs to be nothing however fact and solely the reality.
DK: You’re portrayed because the Hindutva face, firebrand and anti-Muslim. Do you agree with that projection?
TS: I don’t truly place an excessive amount of significance on this projection of media and the media-created picture. I’m a really dedicated karyakarta and have been one from the time I began studying Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, (V.D.) Savarkar, and such different ideological leaders, I’m a quite simple character who doesn’t draw back from carrying my convictions up my sleeve, and the media needs to challenge it in sure manner.
I really feel that the media, together with ThePrint, has not been very correct in presenting even the place that I’ve taken. I truthfully imagine that our work that connects to folks, the work that we do day-after-day that touches the lives of individuals in my constituency, the work that I do inside the get together, within the capability of the Yuva Morcha (nationwide president), which is seen by our management, which is seen by our friends, that’s extra essential than the certificates that any exterior company ever arms over.
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‘No dichotomy between financial & cultural progress‘
DK: So what you’re saying is your precedence is growth, not any ideological pursuit?
TS: You are attempting to say that growth and beliefs are two very various things. For the BJP, or not less than for me, I can inform you that the expansion of Bharat is each the cultural progress of Bharat in addition to its financial progress. Due to this fact, this entire synthetic dichotomy that sure commentators attempt to herald by saying that growth and cultural progress are two totally different parallel tracks is one thing that I don’t agree with in any respect.
After we converse of vishwaguru (world chief) Bharat, a civilisationally resurgent India, it’s an India that’s sturdy… economically, militarily, spiritually… in each manner. And that’s the massive imaginative and prescient that evokes all of us — the Sangh, the BJP, the numerous karyakartas like me — to work.
SP: You talk about this imaginative and prescient of the BJP however minorities proceed to really feel an increasing number of remoted now…
TS: Who introduced all these points up? Even on this debate, I needed to talk on how now we have been capable of clear the suburban rail challenge, pending from 40 years, how now we have solved the inner reservation problem and really in brief, social justice.
We’re right here going to folks telling them that that is the state authorities which has taken growth really outdoors of Bengaluru by way of the ‘Past Bengaluru’ marketing campaign, a lot in order that within the lately concluded World Investor Summit in Bengaluru, 90 per cent of the dedicated funding got here outdoors of Bengaluru. These are the problems with which we’re going to the folks in my very own constituency of Bengaluru.
Bengaluru is India’s quickest rising metropolis and progress engine of the south of India. We now have celebrated the legacy of Kempe Gowda and Basaveshwara, one of many greatest, revered cultural icons of Karnataka. So, for us, there isn’t any dichotomy between materials progress, financial progress and the cultural progress of civilisation. It’s all interlinked as a result of our view may be very integral however healthful.
The difficulty of Tipu Sultan was introduced up by the Congress. Hijab was began by the SDPI. The difficulty of Nandini and milk was once more began by the Congress. Whereas the Congress is attempting to harp on points that may divide the state, we’re right here attempting to take growth in (accordance with) the mantra of the prime minister — Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas — as a result of individuals are seeing this distinction very clearly. And on 10 Might, the folks of Karnataka are going to reward the BJP handsomely for the event that now we have already led to, and the promise and the hope that the BJP is promising for the following 5 years of shared prosperity and fast-paced growth of Karnataka.
DK: There’s a lot speak in regards to the crumbling infrastructure in Bengaluru and the mess of a metropolis it has grow to be….
TS: I need to tackle this head on. I really feel that I’m not saying this as an MP of Bengaluru, I’m saying this as an individual who has grown up in Bengaluru and who loves the town to bits. I’ve travelled to all essential cities in India, and I can inform you that in comparison with many different cities, Bengaluru visitors shouldn’t be as horrible as many others. However sadly a complete stereotype has been connected, and it’s unjustified many occasions, virtually making it a ritual. Any individual will get off a flight at Bengaluru airport and instantly places out a tweet saying that they’re caught in ‘Bangalore visitors’. It’s as if it’s a tradition that any individual has to comply with.
Within the final 30 years, the town has seen unprecedented growth. The financial progress of the town and the infrastructure progress of the town maybe haven’t in all honesty met with one another and haven’t been corresponding. The central authorities earlier than the Narendra Modi authorities was solely merely approving essential infrastructure initiatives for Bengaluru. I’m 32 years outdated and the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Undertaking proposal is 40 years outdated. What have been the sooner governments doing? The sooner suburban elements have now grow to be city due to the 40-year delay. I can inform you that no prime minister within the historical past of India has completed as a lot to Bengaluru infrastructure as Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Satellite tv for pc Township Highway Undertaking, pending for a few years, is now being taken up by NHAI (Nationwide Highways Authority of India) on a warfare footing and Rs 15,000 crore has been sanctioned. Metro connectivity has elevated from 7 km earlier than 2014 to 70 now, and it will likely be 100 by subsequent yr. It was in 2019 that the prime minister got here and laid the muse for Bengaluru’s second airport terminal. The BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Company) fleet has been elevated with extra EVs and different buses.
Bengaluru is the hub for a lot of industrial corridors, connecting to Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Hyderabad… All of that is going to remodel the infrastructure of the town as we all know it as we speak. The Worldwide Financial Fund has projected Bengaluru to be the world’s fastest-growing metropolis for the following 15 years. And I can very confidently inform you that due to the prime minister’s contribution to all of those infrastructure creation, Bengaluru would be the quickest rising engine of progress for India within the coming years.
SP: Lastly, we wish to find out about your ballot prediction for 13 Might.
TS: The BJP will probably be forming the federal government on13 Might with a cushty majority. And it will likely be 100 per cent on our personal energy.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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