BJP wins owing to PM Modi’s leadership and successes; will win the Maharashtra election too: Bhupender Yadav

During the Viksit Bharat 2047: Vision of New India Conclave, Bhupender Yadav, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, engaged in a candid conversation with Political Editor, Bharat24 Aditi Nagar. Yadav discussed the BJP’s strategy for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, and the political dynamics like caste in elections. He spoke about the Modi government’s vision for a developed India by 2047 while outlining his ministry’s 100-day vision, emphasising the importance of addressing and tackling Delhi’s pollution and stubble-burning challenges

• Aditi Nagar: Looking at your success in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, you have been made the election in-charge in Maharashtra. The government will be formed, but tell me, how do you see this challenge?
  Bhupender Yadav: Our party is going to the Maharashtra elections with an alliance. It is true that the majority that was obtained last time was of the pre-poll alliance of BJP and the then Shiv Sena, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The pre-poll alliance got the majority, but due to some events, our alliance was stolen. We are fully committed to the development of Maharashtra. The achievements that were made in Maharashtra during the first tenure of the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis government and the subsequent government that was formed by deceiving us worked to stop development in Maharashtra, so I think that this time the people of Maharashtra will think and vote in favour of a strong, stable, progressive, and decision-making government, and they will vote for the alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

• Maharashtra is challenging, but the BJP is ready to work on the ground with strategy and force. You are the commander of the party there. The question is that there is a discussion in Maharashtra that the BJP has not been very lucky with the NCP, or we can say that the BJP has suffered due to the arrival of the NCP in the alliance. So will there be any change in strategy in the case of NCP?
  Look, strategy, commander, all these big words are not reality. BJP has a full team of dedicated workers, there is work for the organisation to undertake. The winnability of the BJP is due to the successful leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And the track record of our leaders in Maharashtra is such that they are going to get support from people. There is no such thing as lucky or special politics; it runs on service and credibility. We have the ability to serve; people have also seen us, and our credibility is also the best. Due to this, our government will be formed in Maharashtra.

• In this Lok Sabha election, caste-based elections were held. The issue of the Maratha reservation has come up in Maharashtra, and the OBC communities feel that their share should not be encroached upon. This is a big issue that has to be handled there, so has any strategy been prepared for this?
  It is not that caste has come into being recently. It has always been there in this country, and caste is also a reality; it has some plus points as well as minus points. Moreover, elections are not won or lost by a single point. There are many reasons, and one of them is caste. There is also a side to it that there should be proper social representation of all communities. When you prepare for elections and field a candidate, you take all these things into consideration. It does not happen that one thing has been fulfilled or not. So whatever sides there are, everything will be considered.

• The BJP says that our doors are open; whoever wants to join in can come. So if your old colleague Uddhav Thackeray wants to come, are the doors open for him?
  Tell me, can you give an interview based on presumption? Our alliance is clear, our leadership is clear, and we will move ahead with that preparation.

• Narendra Modi has always said that numbers go up and down; there are wins and losses in politics, but our goal should be final. Now in Modi 3.0, since most of the faces are the same as before, is the goal the same as before, i.e., 2047 Viksit Bharat?
  2047 has not come yet, but we fought the elections with the goal of a developed India. The goal is definitely to take India forward. In Modi 2.0, India became the 5th largest economy in the world, and this time we came into the elections saying that India will become the third largest economy of the world. Crores of poor people in the country were lifted out of poverty. We will eliminate poverty by providing basic amenities to people and will bring about such development in rural and urban India, Eastern and Western India, and Northern and Southern India, that is, in entire India that it can lead the world while being proud of its heritage and we are working for that.

• We want to understand the strategy that almost every face is the same as before in the cabinet. What is the reason behind this? This is not often seen because the BJP believes in newness or giving opportunities to new people.
  There should be continuity and stability but new people have also been given a chance. It is not that they have not been given a chance. This cabinet has the youngest people, there are people representing all sections and people representing all parties. The formation of the cabinet is the prerogative of the honourable Prime Minister and the cabinet is working on the vision of developed India given by the PM.

• What is going to be the work of your ministry in the 3rd term of PM Narendra Modi, and what will be the contribution of your ministry to the 100-day vision?
  See, the biggest issue in the world right now is climate change. And when the Glasgow meeting was held on climate change, the Prime Minister gave a mantra of Mission Life, which means environment-friendly lifestyle, which we also call sustainable lifestyle. Last time when the Secretary General of the United Nations came, this mission was fully launched. After that this time when the results came on June 4, the next day on June 5, the Prime Minister gave a big climate action-oriented programme in the name of ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam.’ So I think ‘Mission Life’ and ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ are big missions in 100 days. And from a global perspective, India is also leading many climate action programmes under the leadership of the Prime Minister, so we will also work to take them forward in these 100 days and will continue to take them forward thereafter.

• When the G-20 meeting was held, climate change was given a lot of prominence in it. Now the next meeting will be held in Brazil, so how will India take it forward?
  Look, in G-20 we had made the New Delhi Declaration. We had prepared a road map for the world’s biological resources and after that, we formed a Global Fuel Alliance, International, Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure, Leadership for Industrial Transformation and most importantly Big Cat Alliance. All these are such alliances which are global-level climate action programs taken under the leadership of the Prime Minister. India is committed to taking them forward and India also wants to achieve its set goals in the discussions going on in the world we will work for a clean earth, green earth and we are working according to the vision of the Prime Minister.

• As we come to the last months of the year, the same issues like Delhi’s pollution, stubble burning etc. arise. Arvind Kejriwal used to talk about Punjab earlier but now because he has a government in Punjab, he talks about Haryana. But the issue is not resolved. Then there will be the same mask or odd-even formula for the people to follow. So how will the central government control such a situation?
  See, there has been a lot of downfall in the last 3 years in the case of stubble burning. We are working on the alternative uses of straw, commercial use of straw is also being looked into. The work of the National Clean Air Mission is also going on regarding air pollution, in which there is the issue of waste management, dust management, planting of trees, management of straw, and vehicle pollution, so work is being done continuously on all these issues. I think that after such a large scale of pollution, the wind which has its own speed in winter, decreases. We have brought Delhi’s vehicle BS4 standard to BS6, opened big bypasses around Delhi, made arrangements for removing commercial transport from there, worked on waste management and also done inter-state co-ordination for which a commission was also set up.