By Ankush Kumar
MSK and Ankush Kumar start a series of interviews, where we will showcase the views of our youth leaders and their connect with the Youngistaan.
Joining us today is ‘Mr. Rajesh Kumar’ convenor of the professional cell of the BJP for Bihar. He is a son of the soil, born in a village named Narhat, has done his schooling from there, did his engineering in Bangalore and MBA from Pune. He is currently the Zonal head for Frontline, a company that is into trading and investments. He also has other business interests but most importantly is an active youth leader for the BJP in Bihar.
Excerpts.
Ankush Kumar (AK): Sir why did you choose the BJP and say no to the Congress or any other political party?
Rajesh Kumar (RK): The motto of this party is to work with a difference. It puts the nation as top priority, then the state follows and self is given least priority. They function in a democratic way, unlike the Congress where one family controls its policies. Hence I have chosen the BJP.
AK: Since you believe in the democratic set up of your party, and the youth is desperate for change. How do you think you can sync your ideologies with the young voters?
RK: The youth has taken to the social media in a big way, any issue and every issue is dissected by them. They are disheartened by the current affairs of our country and its leaders. We as youth leaders want them to know that we empathize with them and we are ready to walk hand-in-hand and bring change to society.
AK: All political leaders say the same thing sir that they will bring in the change. Frankly most leaders choose politics to make money. How do you think this can change?
RK: I agree to a certain extent that most leaders have failed the people of India; they have minted money on people’s misery. But most importantly they have filled their coffers by dividing the nation on communal and caste lines. These leaders can never show us the right direction. They can just do minority vote bank politics. Our NDA Government in has Bihar managed to change that in the last nine years. We have ensured that people in the lowest strata of the society get educated. Because a well educated society can only curb the rampant culture of such selfish leaders.
AK: As you said that we need to educate at the grass root level, India spends very little on elementary education. What steps has the BJP youth wing taken to ensure that education reaches the grassroots level?
RK: As they say Rome was not built in a day. When NDA came to power in Bihar, our aim first was to eradicate the fear of the people by providing security and law and order. We youth level leaders first want to break the syndicate of these selfish politicians who do not let the weaker sections of society to progress. If you remember the induction of 2 lakh teachers happened during our regime. Cycles were provided to girl students to strengthen our education system.
AK: Last time I visited a few schools in Bihar and most teachers under the Shiksha Mitra scheme did not know basic general knowledge about our country. All this eventually hampers the image of Bihar. Even today the perception of a Bihari is wrong in other parts of India. How do you all plan to tackle this?
RK: See there will be some loopholes always. Even we have observed that selection of few teachers have not been up to the mark. And that definitely needs to be corrected. As far as perception is concerned, I don’t care what others think about us, because we too have opinions on them. For example, I believe Maharashtra has the highest crime rate. Furthermore, Maharashtrians haven’t remained in touch with their culture. So, before throwing stones at us, they need to get their own house in order. We are a state that boasts of the best brains, be it from the field of engineering, UPSC or any other. So you cannot judge us uni-dimensionally.
AK: The bitter truth though remains that these brains eventually settle outside Bihar. What steps can be taken to ensure that brain drain does not happen?
RK: Yes that is true! In fact, I too completed Masters from Karnataka. The truth is that the government of Bihar during the nineties in did zilch development. We had neither engineering nor medical colleges, nor infrastructure – no one was ready to invest here hence the intelligent minds decided to migrate. In the last nine years though people have come forward and through public and private ventures medical colleges are opening in the state. IIT came here so did AIIMS. When we came to power our first priority was law and order and once that was achieved we started focusing on other sectors.
AK: As you said your top priority was law and order, but in the past few months Bihar has witnessed terror crimes. How and why did this happen?
RK: Ever since we have split with the JDU, they have only been interested in saving their government. They focus on ways to demean us and harp on NDA’s achievements. The National security agencies had warned them of threats yet no action was taken. It’s a total failure of the state intelligence machinery. Bihar has hardly seen terror attacks based on communal lines, but these people sitting in Pakistan don’t seem to improve.
AK: I disagree here, terror has no face, innocent lives are lost be it any religion. Doesn’t this statement sends out a wrong message to the youth?
RK: Who says terror has no face? Ask a child on the road and he will tell you terror means Pakistan. Yes, I agree innocent people have nothing to do with these terrorists. But these cowards have repeatedly damaged our nation and its time we retaliate in the most appropriate manner.
AK: Elections are round the corner and social media gives the impression that Narendra Modi is going to become the next Prime Minister. It’s being tipped as a battle between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. What is your take on it?
RK: I would like to start with a proverb we use in our villages ‘kahan raja bhog kahan gangu teli’. Narendra Ji has been in active politics for the last forty years, thrice the awaam of Gujarat have made him the Chief Minister. He comes from the grass root level, whereas Rahul Gandhi, apart from his family, has no credentials.
He returns from abroad and is made secretary overnight. Wherever he has campaigned, the Congress has lost. He went to UP and they were reduced to 36 seats, he came to Bihar as the icon of the Congress and made false promises. What happened? They won just three seats. So those people who are comparing him to Narendra bhai have very little knowledge about politics.
AK: Sir as you say NaMo is incomparable to any leader, then why is there so much infighting in the BJP over his nomination for PM post?
RK: See, we are a democratic party; in our set-up everyone has the right to express his or her views and opinions. We don’t have unilateral power centers like the others; we have a system in place, where even a cadre-based leader can voice his opinion and if his demands are genuine, it will be acted upon. Families do not run us. I will give you an example here. Do you know the name of the father of Narendra Modi or Rajnath Ji? But the country knows the name of Rahul Gandhi’s father or Laloo’s son or Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family.
AK: As you said you are a democratic party, then why did your parliamentary board gag Shatrughan Sinha? Once gagging happens how is the party democratic?
RK: I am a son of the soil, likewise Shotgunjee too is. He commented on NaMo on the basis of ideologies and understanding of politics. I don’t want to comment on that. But I would like to say that before he comments on Narendra bhai he should gauge his own popularity. In his own constituency his banners were removed and NaMo’s banners were put up. We too have done our surveys and we believe the nation is with Narendra bhai hence he should and will be the man who will lead us in the next elections.
AK: Sir, if you all are so confident, why has his name not been nominated for the top post?
RK: As I said, we are a democratic party, and we function step by step. Right now teams are being formed in different states. Who will lead our campaigns in which state, who will handle what responsibilities. Once we complete the nitty gritties of the campaign we will soon announce the name of Narendra Modi jee as our Prime ministerial candidate.
AK: What is that one issue, that you think will help you regain control of Delhi?
RK: The issue of development is that issue. The youth wants change today, we still are using the same infrastructure that we used forty years back, that needs to change, we want to do politics of development. We are not interested in politics of religion or states or division. We have had enough of this. My appeal to the voters is to go by the appeal of Narendra bhai ‘Yes We Can’. Lets vote for change, let’s vote for development.
AK: Before I take your leave, one final question ‘ where do we see Rajesh Kumar’ in five years time?
RK: I want to live amongst my society, work for them, help them grow in life. Place me anywhere without any selfish reasons because I want to work for the betterment of my nation, state and system.
This was Mr. Rajesh Kumar, a rising star of the BJP from Bihar. Keep a tab on this space online for yet another youth leaders take on the Youth’s pulse. Till then signing off!
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