'There Has Not Been A Single Communal Riot In MP In Ten Years'

Full transcript of the BBC Hindi special programme Aapki Baat BBC KeSaath with the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh on : Time forpeople’s verdict - has this government fulfilled the faith reposed by thepublic for ten years?

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: Mr Digvijay Singh, you have ruled this state forten years, and now is the time for the electorate to decide. The Prime Ministersaid in Bhopal today [Sunday] in a rally that Madhya Pradesh has done miserablyunder your chief minister ship on the developmental front and is still aBimaru state. How do you react to it?

Digvijay Singh : I did not expect that someone of the stature of PMAtal ji, would be swayed by the false propaganda of the state BJP. The PlanningCommission, the members of which were appointed by this NDA government, says inits Human Development report that Madhya Pradesh (MP) is now coming out of thebimaru state tag. Human Development Indices of this state have shownimprovement, this again has been stated in the Planning Commission report. I didnot expect that the Prime Minister would be swayed by mere propaganda far awayfrom facts. I regret his remarks.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: The Prime Minister has also expressed concern onthe literacy figures of the state and termed your tenure as an all roundfailure.

Digvijay Singh : His government has rewarded our state government forthe work done in the field of literacy. The Union HRD minister Murli ManoharJoshi has praised Madhya Pradesh and lauded the education guarantee scheme. Headmitted that the work done in this state is unparalleled in the country.

Finance Ministry has said that the model of Madhya Pradesh in literacy shouldbe adopted throughout the country. I am saying that I did not expect Atalji tobe swayed this much. I do not want to say that he was wrong in his remarks, ashe is the Prime Minister of the country, but he had certainly been misled by hisstate party on the situation of the state.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: In the same rally, BJP chief ministerialcandidate Uma Bharti has said that more than one lakh rape cases have takenplace during your ten year tenure and the law-order situation is very bad...

Digvijay Singh : Our behanji, Uma Bharti is in the habit ofexaggerating things in her speeches and statements. The National Crime RecordsBureau (NCRB) figures say there are on an average about 2,500 rape cases inMadhya Pradesh every year, this means even if you talk of ten years, it comes totwenty five thousand and Uma Bharti has stated the figure, which is four timesmore than the factual figure. Well, she is a sanyasin, to exaggerate isher right . I do not want to say anything more. Law and order situation in thestate has improved in the past ten years, there are no communal riots. Comparethe crime rate today with that of the BJP rule between 1990-92.

BBC listener from Indore : Residents in cities like Indore arestruggling for electricity, you can well imagine the situation in other remoteparts of the state, and in the election year you have announced free power forfarmers, what is happening ?

Digvijay Singh : It is not so, we are making all possible efforts tofulfill the electricity needs of the state, and we are purchasing it from otherstates as well. Let me tell you that the electricity available in the statetoday is double than it was when I became the Chief Minister ten years ago. Sofar, as this concession to farmers is concerned, the farmers of the state werestruggling due to lack of rain during the last three years, and the concessiongiven by the state government is well within our rights, I think nobody shouldhave objections to this. 

Let me also tell you that despite poor rain during the past three years, thestate government has ensured that proper ponds were dug up, all efforts weremade to see that there was no scarcity of water. Do not forget that the mayor inIndore belongs to the BJP, and it controls the civic body. Despite having aparty opposed to us there, we did not leave any stone unturned in helping thelocal body whether it was financial or any other help.

BBC listener from Surat : Referring to the role you played in thecommunal disturbances in Dhar district and about the Bhojshala problem; thenational president of women’s wing of your party has described Sonia Gandhi asincarnation of goddess Durga - does this all not expose pseudo secularism ofCongress?

Digvijay Singh : The Madhya Pradesh state government does notdiscriminate against any religion. We have dealt firmly with thefundamentalists, whether they were Hindus or Muslims. At the same timesecularism does not mean you do not believe in any religion - it means respectfor all religions.

I have come down heavily on Hindu as well as Muslim fundamentalists. If wehave acted against RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal, we have also acted against SIMI andJamaat-e-Islami. The results are for everyone to see, there has not been asingle communal riot in this state in ten years.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: You are saying there have been no communal riotsduring your tenure. But after Babri Masjid demolition, at least 140 people werekilled in riots in the state. The report on these was ready in year 2000, buthas not been made public so far. Why ?

Digvijay Singh : The decision to make this report public had beentaken , but it was to be placed in the state assembly first, since the sessionsfor this Vidhan Sabha are now over, it could not be tabled - but remember therehas not been a single riot in my tenure - compare it with about two and a halfyear tenure of BJP govt -from March 1990 to Dec 1992 - there were riots everythree months,… six months.

BBC listener from Faridkot (Punjab) : Congress has demanded a ban onVHP recently, can you win in M.P. without the Hindu vote bank ?

Digvijay Singh : First of all let me make it clear that I do notbelieve in any vote bank. This politics of VHP is not in the benefit of thecountry. Is this the only problem being faced by the country? Why do they wantto construct the temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya ? It is not because ofany religious feeling, it is because of the disruptive politics of spreadingreligious hatred in the country that VHP wants a temple there. They want to keepthe Hindu Muslim dispute on . I invite VHP to construct a temple in MadhyaPradesh, we are ready to give them land for this purpose .

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: But you are being charged with playing softHindutva in your state ?

Digvijay Singh : The term Hindutva has a different meaning. It wascoined by Savarkar in 30s and at that time he had said that he is an atheist. AsHitler and Mussolini had spread racial supremacy, in the same veinfundamentalist organisations have misused Hindutva in India. I am a SanatanDharmi, my going to the temple should not be taken as soft Hindutva and allthat .

BBC listener from Madhya Pradesh : In the election year you have givenfree electricity to farmers costing close to 700 crore to the state. You hadalso promised to give free power during the Rabi season, but this has not beenimplemented so far. Was it only an election announcement?

Digvijay Singh : We had said that we would provide electricity invillages for six to nine hours, which we are doing, to fulfill this we arepurchasing 100 MW of electricity. In fact to complete the demands in villages,we are being forced to resort to power cuts in towns.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: When you became the Chief Minister for the firsttime in 1993, you had signed 10 MOUs to fulfill the electricity demands of thestate, majority of those agreements are only on paper, and there's been noimplementation...

Digvijay Singh : Why only MP, look at the entire country, not even tenper cent of such agreements could be implemented in reality. The privatecompanies either did not turn up or if they turned up the projects of privatepower plants could not be completed. The case of Enron crossed all limits. 

These failures were mainly due to two reasons. First, the condition of stateelectricity boards in majority of the states was not such that they could repay.And secondly, the decision that from generation of electricity, transmissionwould be the next automatic step - was a wrong decision. First of all we wouldhave to minimise the transmission-distribution losses, and till the time thestate electricity boards are not economically viable we would not be able to paythe private power plants .The need of the hour is that in power sector reformswe minimise losses.

BBC listener from Saudi Arabia : Regarding electricity bills which youhave waived keeping in mind the elections, what is the guarantee ofimplementation, if you do not come back to power?

Digvijay Singh : This is not linked to the elections. The problem wasthat due to lack of rain, the electricity offices were unable to recover thebills - during the last three years just 19 percent of the due amount could berecovered. The state government is paying the electricity board from itsexchequer and it is not a case of losses for the board . We are having to cutthe grants of other schemes.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: The condition of roads in your state isconsidered bad, what do you say on that ?

Digvijay Singh : We are spending more than two thousand five hundredcrores of rupees from the state exchequer to improve the road network. Whatneeds to be understood is funds for National Highways passing through the stateis given by the centre. For the state highways, the central road fund too isprovided by the centre. The state government has to spend money on the majordistrict highways etc. Projects worth Rs 300 crore are pending with the centre,they have taken over some district roads to upgrade them as state highways, butare not providing adequate funds. My charge is that Madhya Pradesh is beingdiscriminated against , whatever might have been the reasons.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: That is why the Prime Minister has said inBhopal today that MP needs a state govt. which cooperates with the centre and isheard in Delhi.

Digvijay Singh : I am therefore hopeful of the next government at theCentre being of Congress.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: Bhopal gas victims were to be provided medicalfacilities by the state govenment, the local administration, which was not doneand they had to approach the Supreme Court ?

Digvijay Singh : This entire process is being monitored by the SupremeCourt. The grant which we were supposed to get from the  centre on thehealth care of the Bhopal gas victims, we have not been getting it since pastfive years. The state government with its limited resources has been doing itsbest to help the victims. We have written numerous times to the centre, butwithout any success, even the Supreme Court has put forward the view of thestate government, but nothing has happened so far .

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: Coming to the big point, the December firstassembly elections. You have hinted Congress towards an understanding with theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the state, when is it being firmed up?

Digvijay Singh : I have not hinted towards any understanding with theBSP, because there has been no such proposal by the BSP so far. If there wouldbe a proposal, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the CWC would decide,which would be implemented in this state also.

Nagendar Sharma, BBC:  But you had tacit understanding with theBSP in the past elections also, so if there is no clear alliance then is theresome other form of understanding?

Digvijay Singh : I cannot talk in vacuum, till the time there is noconcrete proposal .

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: There are already reports in Delhi that you hadhinted towards an understanding with the BSP. Are you denying such reports?

Digvijay Singh : I am neither confirming nor denying . What I amsaying is how can I commit without any proposal ?

Nagendar Sharma, BBC: You have been at the helm of affairs for tenyears, asked to assess your government’s performance, how many marks would yougive out of 10 ?

Digvijay Singh : I do not like beating about the bush with myachievements. After my first five years, the public of Madhya Pradesh endorsedfaith in me. After my second term, I hope that similar faith will be expressedin me and my government.

Transcript Courtesy, BBC Hindi Radio