Modiji will surely become Prime Minister for the third time, he is now a global leader: Vishnu Deo Sai
In a tête-à-tête with Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, a seasoned politician and newly appointed Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai, reminisces about his days from being a Sarpanch to becoming CM now. Sai also gives entire credit to the BJP for giving him responsibilities for which he has never asked the party. He reveals how PM Modi functions and how he came in contact with him from his days in Madhya Pradesh as in-charge of the state. CM Sai also targeted the Congress and claimed that the Bhupesh Baghel government could not fulfil any promise it made to the people; hence, it was ousted, and Rahul-Priyanka or Sachin Pilot’s tour to Chhattisgarh did not mean anything to people. Excerpts...
- You started your political career as a Sarpanch. Did you ever consider that one day you would become Chief Minister?
Vishnu Deo Sai: Truth be told, I had never thought of becoming CM. In fact, I had not even thought that I would become Sarpanch. I was ten years old when my father passed away and as the eldest son, the weight of responsibility rested on my shoulders. Since we had some land for agriculture, so I thought that I would get into farming to support my brothers’ studies, but I had actually never thought I would become a Sarpanch.
- But now you have become Chief Minister. Who would you give the credit for this achievement of yours?
See, along with completing my education, I took on my family’s responsibilities and when I completed my studies, I joined the BJP and whatever responsibility the party gave me, I carried it out with utmost honesty, so the party kept on giving me without me asking for anything. I was a Sarpanch for six months and was chosen without any opposition. Within six months, the assembly elections were announced and BJP made me its candidate from the Tapkara assembly constituency which fell in the then undivided Madhya Pradesh. I was merely twenty-six years old at that time and was unmarried. I would like to tell you that in the 1990 assembly elections, there were 320 assembly seats in the undivided Madhya Pradesh and the Tapkara constituency from which I contested the election, the Congress was not allotted the symbol there due to some technical fault. Congress’ candidate was then announced as an independent candidate by the then DM and was allotted cycle as the election symbol. However, even though the Congress symbol was used during campaigning to inform people that it was a Congress candidate, the candidate’s security was forfeited as he could get only four thousand votes. It was the first time that the BJP won in Tapkara by fifteen thousand votes.
- Prior to the recent assembly elections, surveys indicated that Bhupesh Baghel would become Chief Minister yet again. But the Prime Minister started campaigning in Chhattisgarh and suddenly there was a marked shift among the voters and the BJP government was formed. Do you think PM was a game-changer in the entire scheme of things?
For fifteen years, Chhattisgarh had a BJP government, under the leadership of Dr Raman Singh and during this time several works were carried out and multidirectional development of the state took place. In the 2018 assembly poll, the Congress party gave a populist manifesto promising Rs2500 per quintal to paddy farmers, slashing their electricity bills by half among others. The people of Chhattisgarh, attracted by the populist manifesto, gave a huge mandate to Congress but even though Congress was in power for five years, It could not fulfil even one of the thirty-six promises it made to the people. On the contrary, in these five years, Congress made corruption rife across the state. Let me give you an example. When an elderly dies in any family in the rural areas of Chhattisgarh, the records are updated with the names of the next head of the family and next of kin being registered. During the fifteen years of BJP rule, this work was given to Gram Panchayat and Sarpanch would call the Patwari to get this work done. But under Congress rule, Sarpanch were stripped of their power and this power was given to tehsildars. So the tehsildars would call the aggrieved family members multiple times and then demand bribes from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 and we have proof of that. So such kind of corruption was rampant in the Congress government. Since I was the state president, I had even challenged Congress CM Baghel that I would retire from politics if he or his government completed even one of the promises made. But he could not fulfil any promise and the Congress had to face the flak of breaking its promise. They were overconfident and till six months before the elections, they would not even consider the BJP as being an opposition party. In addition to this, the line - Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai - also applies here. See, I got a chance to work with PM Modiji from 2014- 19. I was elected as MP from Raigad and when I went to witness Modiji’s oath ceremony, I did not know that I too would have to take the oath. But Modiji showed trust in me and appointed me as MoS. During this, I observed that whatever projects or policies Modiji makes, he gets behind it. It is not so that he makes a policy or project and forgets about it or does not take feedback on it or does not follow up on it. On the contrary, he gets behind the work and ensures that if any project has been made then people should get benefit from it.
- When did you first meet Narendra Modi? When did he observe you as being capable of heading a government?
Modiji was the organisational in-charge of Chhattisgarh. When Chhattisgarh state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, at that time he was incharge of the Madhya Pradesh BJP organisation and owing to this, he was in-charge of Chhattisgarh too. During this time I came in contact with him and he started knowing about me.
- What is your take on PM Modi as the Prime Minister of a nation and as a global leader?
Today Modiji is the most popular leader in the world and his personality exudes confidence. He works extremely hard for eighteen hours out of twenty-four hours. He is strong-willed and thus we have faith that whatever he will do, he will be successful in it.
- So do you think PM Modi will form the government for a third time?
Definitely! There are no ifs or buts about it. He will form the government for the third time and will get even more seats than the previous two tenures. BJP won 272 seats in the first tenure and 303 seats in the second tenure. This time around the party will get more than 370 seats because PM Modi has removed Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and hence he will get more than 370 seats and NDA will win more than 400 seats.
- Do you think that destiny has chosen PM Narendra Modi to remove Article 370, construct Ram Mandir, and introduce CAA, and UCC among other issues?
We definitely feel so. When the Ramshila worship was started for Ram Temple, that is when I started my political journey and when Ramshila was taken to homes, the shila was worshipped by people. People used to chant a slogan of making Ram Temple and today we have witnessed construction of Ram Temple.
- Amit Shah had told the voters to make you win the election saying that the BJP leadership will give you bigger responsibility. Did you feel that day that you could become CM?
No, I had no idication about it. But Amit Shah visited the Kunkuri assembly constituency and said this to the people. But I did not think that I would be made CM. It has been my good fortune that I have been a two-time legislator and four-time MP and every time the people gave me all their love. When I became MP in 1999, I had won by merely 5800 votes. When I became MP for the second time, I won by seventy-four thousand votes. The third time I won by fifty-four thousand votes and the fourth time I won by 2.17 lakh votes. Thrice the BJP made me state president and was also made MoS in PM Modi’s first tenure. In all this while, I was never asked or consulted that you will be made so and so. The party has given me lots without me asking for it.
- Amit Shah praised you a lot when he held a meeting of the Bastar cluster. What mantra did he give all of you to ensure victory on 11 seats?
We have divided the 11 Lok Sabha seats into three clusters namely Bastar, Raipur and Bilaspur clusters. Amit Shahji held a meeting with the Bastar cluster in-charge and parliamentary constituency in-charge. Regarding the mantra, we have been asked to work a hundred days and connect with the beneficiaries. Narendra Modiji has been Prime Minister for the past ten years and in his capacity as PM, he has worked for farmers, labourers, poor and everyone else in the nation. He has a special focus on “GYAN” - in which G stands for poor (Gareeb), Y stands for Youth, A stands for farmers (Annadaata) and N stands for women (Naari) and he works continuously for them.
- So are you confident of winning the eleven Lok Sabha seats?
Definitely. The sheer amount of work that has happened for the poor, villagers, farmers and overall for the nation, is stupendous. Even a small child in the village today knows who the PM of India is. They may know or may not know other leaders, but the children definitely know about PM Narendra Modi. This is his popularity and he is working in every field. I think there is no house which has not benefited from any of the policies, programmes or projects by Modiji. There are so many schemes for rural India for example proper housing under PM Awas Yojna, gas connection, toilet construction or the Jan-Dhan account which can be opened on zero balance which was a facility which the poor did not have access to in the past. So Modiji has worked for everyone. When we tour villages and check on people, we find that in certain houses, they are getting benefits from over half a dozen schemes. You will see when the general elections come, people won’t see candidates but everyone will cast their vote on Modiji’s promise.
- What if Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sachin Pilot tour the state? Will that make any difference?
No, it won’t matter since wherever Rahul Gandhi tours, the Congress party’s graph goes down significantly. The entire nation knows what happened to Congress after Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. Now he is carrying out the Nyay Yatra for which I would like to say that he should first give justice (Nyay) to the people within Congress. Today entire Congress is being abandoned and it is more like a sinking ship.
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