If one popular leader in Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is leading the BJP in the general elections 2014, another popular leader of the BJP from Uttarakhand, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, seems to be ready to shoulder bigger responsibility for the sake of the party in the crucial 2014 polls, accusing the Congress party of making capital out of Modi’s analogy that he uses in his speech.
It is his way of interacting with his electorate. The Congress is terribly afraid of the Modi wave today, says Koshiyari who may not have been able to lead his party to power in the 2002 State Assembly elections even after getting Chief Ministerial position from veteran Nityanand Swami in October 30, 2001, yet he is privileged to be the first Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from the Kumaon region.
However, when the BJP registered a comeback in the 2007 Assembly elections, Koshyari was again among the front-runners of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister’s post. But this time the party showed its confidence in Maj Gen BC Khanduri. Yet the BJP Central leadership could not ignore the veteran leader from the Kumaon region. Perhaps it was Koshiyari’s popularity amongst masses and influence among the party activists which the BJP high command could not ignore even after dropping him as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and it had to create a space for Koshiyari in national politics by bringing him in the Rajya Sabha from the Uttarakhand State quota.
Koshyari is now assigned with the job of promoting the party’s interest both at the national and State level. But his ambitions for becoming Chief Minister of Uttarakhand are still known to all. When asked whether he will accept to become the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand again if opportunity knocks, Koshyari in an exclusive conversation with Rajendra S Markuna, maintains that the nation is above the party and the party is above personal interests. Therefore, when hands are full with such important jobs, personal interests don’t matter.
He also shares his views and vision about the country and State and at the same time, he could not hide his feelings for the thousands of victims of the Himalayan catastrophe that the mountain State is presently battling hard with. Excerpts: You are well aware of the human tragedy that the country has suffered in the heights of the Chardham Yatra route and elsewhere across the State. How do you observe the role of the Congress-led State Government in mitigating the hardships of the victims
The Congress-led State Government is not serious about how to deal with the present crisis that Uttarakhand is facing. The Chief Minister was in Delhi when the State needed him the most in mid of June. More so, the all party meeting that the Chief Minister called later, should have been convened much earlier so that exchange of diverse ideas and views and more importantly experiences of many a senior leaders cutting across party lines must have helped the State Government to chalk out a well-coordinated strategy in more comprehensive and effective manner to reach out to the victims in the affected areas. This was not time of playing party politics. But it was too late when the State Government invited us in the all-party meet to discuss how to heel the wounds of affected families.
Recovery of bodies from the debris was again very complex task in the hands of the State Government. The exact number of casualties caused by the nature’s fury in the Himalayan region are yet to be known. Are you satisfied with the Vijay Bahuguna led State Government — the way it handled certain formalities like cremation of dead bodies recovered from the devastated Kedarnath Dham site and elsewhere in the regionIJ Cremation of the dead bodies should have been performed side-by-side with the relief works. Delaying performing the last rituals which are equally important as per our religious beliefs is a wrong decision. So taking so much time to cremate dead bodies has rather earned a bad name for the State. I would like to say how can we ignore the fact that many bodies must not have been badly decomposed due to postponing of the last ritual process.
The Central Government has already announced Rs 1,000 crore relief package for the natural calamity struck State. More so, the State Government has also hiked the compensation granted to the natural disaster-affected families under different categories. Is what the State Government giving enough for the victims in rebuilding their livesIJ At least the financial assistance the State Government is extending to the affected families for reconstruction of their damaged houses, must be hiked adequately. For a damaged house worth Rs 10 lakh or above, the financial assistance must be at least 50 per cent of the total cost of such damaged houses as to construct a house is a costly affair today. At the same time, the relief process must be expedited as post natural disaster, this is the only way to mitigate the hardships of the victims.
With occurrence of natural calamities becoming synonymous with Uttarakhand, it seems spending crores of rupees in the name of disaster management by the Governments (both the Central and State Governments) doesn’t give any guarantee of security from the same disaster people of the hill State face every year. In such a case, what is the solution at least to minimise the sufferings that the people have to bear with every yearIJ Rehabilitation of the people from the Himalayan regions of border districts which are more vulnerable to natural calamities as we have been witnessing for long, is need of the hour. People from these sensitive locations can be rehabilitated in terai pockets of the State like Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Dehradun. The State Government must not only take up this matter seriously but also go for its execution as early as possible. Only then we can avoid such mass scale damage both in terms of life and property that we have been facing every year.
Side-by-side the political temperature is also looking up in view of the upcoming general elections. Are you ready to contest the lok Sabha elections from the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seatIJ This is not the question of who will be the candidate. It is up to the party to decide and all will have to abide by the party’s decision to promote party’s interests. That is why I hope that BJP will bag all the five seats from Uttarakhand. The party’s victory in Tehri lok Sabha bypoll last year is a beginning in this direction. Now, the onus on the party activists is to maintain the winning streak even in the upcoming crucial general elections. At a time when the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre is facing many corruption charges, what will be the BJP’s main poll plank in the upcoming lok Sabha electionsIJ Development and good Governance will be top priority of the BJP to provide a people-friendly, clean and corruption-free Government and the party will strongly focus on these issues during the election campaign ahead.