Shouldered with responsibility of being chairman of the State Congress election campaigning committee, Union Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been alternating his times between his ministerial responsibilities and heading the campaign committee for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.
Talking to The Pioneer in an exclusive interview, the Union Minister disclosed his plans and views for the forthcoming Assembly elections and said being a 21st century product of modern India, his success laid with commitment, dedication towards the society and a sense of passion about one’s work was very essential.
On education, Scindia said he had to use the same arrows whether it’s been through his years of education, his employment for eight years as a banker or in politics.
On being asked that a large part of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s poll campaign hinged on the narrative that he was an OBC leader, who had taken on the bastion of royalty which was the Congress party, the Union Minister said, “I really don’t see why I need to break into it. The BJP is more than welcome to attack me on every front, that’s their job, but I’m also astonished that the same BJP had great reverence for my grandmother (Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia), which I greatly respect.”
He said, “They certainly don’t have a problem with projecting my aunt (Vasundhara Raje), and this royal tag is not a problem there. There is a saying in Hindi ‘chit bhi meri, pat bhi meri. They appear somewhat confused and I have no problem clearing up their confusion.”
When asked that the royal tag did give him an aura of inaccessibility and arrogance, in comparison with Chouhan and on how to fight with elections, Scindia said that his family name could not be a stigma for him. He was proud of the Scindia name, its record of public service in the last 300 years and of being its Mukhia.
As for the tag of being arrogant, he said he had a cordial and warm relationship with all the people in the State. “I don’t like talking about my connection with the people, it is demonstrable if you care to go into it. I am ready to take constructive criticism,” he added.
He also alleged that Madhya Pradesh Government had maximum number of corruption cases and had become a crime-ridden State. On an average nine rape cases occurred every day in the State, this is just girls, forget about boys.
He added 10 per cent of all crimes in the country occurred in our State. The Government had signed MoUs without anything fructifying on the ground and its 24-hour power supply scheme was a just joke. “Show me one village where that has happened and I will change my name,” he clamed.