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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Politics, unfortunately, has become a business: Yashodhara Raje Scindia
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Politics, unfortunately, has become a business: Yashodhara Raje Scindia

Lok Sabha member from Gwalior says if BJP is returned to power, it will ensure chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's welfare schemes can reach everyone

Yashodhara Raje Scindia says there is a need to show to the people of India that it’s not just the money that drives people to politics. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
Yashodhara Raje Scindia says there is a need to show to the people of India that it’s not just the money that drives people to politics. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Lok Sabha member from Gwalior, is returning to state politics in Madhya Pradesh because she believes it will give her more time and opportunity to work for the people backing her.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) candidate from the state assembly constituency of Shivpuri is in a race against time—she wants to personally contact nearly every voter in her constituency. With the votes of young constituents expected to play a crucial role, Raje, 59, has got her son Akshay Bhansali Scindia, the US-based MTV journalist, to fly down and help her out as a “bridge" to the youth.

In an interview in Shivpuri, Raje, who was sports and tourism minister in Madhya Pradesh in 2005-07, said that if the BJP is returned to power, the party will ensure that welfare schemes launched by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan can reach “every caste or creed". Edited excerpts:

What are your views on the Madhya Pradesh elections?

The elections in Madhya Pradesh, finally, when the dust settles, will go the honourable chief minister’s way. In the beginning there were lot of allegations, mud slinging and whatever, but finally when people get down to thinking and voting, it will be a one-way election. I do think when people start thinking about elections, it will be whether the yojanas (government plans) of the chief minister have come onto the ground. The way he has worked for the last five years and the way he has worked in his last avatar, he has progressively understood more and more about what the needs of Madhya Pradesh are.

It’s very much like the president in America. In a country like America, which is so big, five years is not good enough. In five years, you basically start understanding the way of the land. Here, the mukhya mantri’s situation is exactly the same. Because this state, in terms of area, is one of the biggest states of India—we may not be sending the largest number of parliamentarians, but that is because Chhattisgarh was formed out of this state. But still it will have one of the largest footprints; therefore it takes a long time to understand the problems of the state. He has been a parliamentarian for many years, but Parliament is very different from the vidhan sabha. Here you will have to come down to the hustings and see what you can do. If you look at the booklet he has made, look at the number of yojanas he made. I started looking at those schemes and doing sameekshas (evaluations) to see how many of them have come to the ground. It is left to the administration to bring down the yojanas to the ground level at villages and block level. Unfortunately, it has not happened. The coming five years are going to be used to see these 50-60 yojanas reach every caste or creed.

In the final analysis of MP election, I will be proved right that he will win well and he will have that majority to do what he wants to do.

I have a great ace up my sleeve in my son, who always comes to help me in elections. He now understands Shivpuri quite well, which doesn’t mean anything else. But every family has its members to help each other. He has been a great help to me both in nagar palika and vidhan sabha elections. The youth gravitate to what the youth feel—the youth feel that he understands what their aspirations are and their hopes are. So he comes back and gives me feedback every day... They have drifted to him very, very quickly and they feel that he will be a bridge between them and me and my age group.

Besides, our chief minister— before we went to the hustings—formed a skill development department. It is just two months old. This department under a special minister can set up skill centres at various district levels; the unemployed will have an opportunity to go to them and get training in various skills and find their own way.

Parallel, he has also set up a programme under which the youngsters can get a loan to fund their own business. If you get trained in these centres, you can approach a bank for a loan and the government of Madhya Pradesh will guarantee for you. Therefore, they don’t have to run around, do not ask their parents (for money) or they do not have to go kissing everyone’s feet for a loan. This will help them in standing on their feet, which is a huge advantage for them and their dignity.

What’s your view on the debate over dynastic politics?

Dynasty used to refer to the Maharajas and their kin who used to become the next king. Now you should call it family-oriented... Now everybody (in politics) starts thinking their child should get into politics. If somebody expires, the ticket is given to their family. If someone occupies a powerful position, he started thinking ‘let my children take over my position’. But it’s not such a simple thing.

Politics, unfortunately also, has become a business. So you have to differentiate those who can work for the people and those who want to do something for the people—for instance, my chief minister wants to work for the people and if his son wants to come in, why not? Likewise if anyone thinks that his son should do what he does, I think it’s great. Do the businessmen, from Aditya Birla to Dhirubhai Ambani to Adi Godrej, not bring their children into their business? So if it’s business, so be it, if it is social work, so be it. What’s the harm?

Do you think it will be business as usual for the Congress and the BJP with the emergence of new political parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)?

We have left a vacuum. When we leave a vacuum, it’s like leaving your house doors open. If the doors are open, there will be lot of people coming in, there will be a lot of traffic. Besides that, the Congress party at the Centre has brought us to an abysmal level. When it happens, there will be people who want to put things right. That is what democracy is all about. If you leave the space open, people are bound to come and fill that space. There is a need to clean up, there is a need to show to the people of India that it’s not just the money that drives people to politics. Yes, they (the AAP) do have a place, but they started with saying they want to do this, do that and within no time they became a political party.

Now I am not sure such people, who want to be agents of change and do social work, should be part of politics. Because once in politics, whether you compromise now or later, there will be some sort of compromise.

What prompted you to come back to state politics after being an MP (member of Parliament) for seven-and-a-half years?

The thought that I want to do more at the ground level— as an MP, I could not do much at the ground level—the thought that if I join my mukhya mantri’s ministry, I will be able to do more work because my seniority is there. When I was a minister for 14 months, I was able to do more work than I have done in 20 years. If I come back and he is kind enough to give me a ministry, I will be able to do so much for so many people on the ground.

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Published: 22 Nov 2013, 12:24 AM IST
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