From Modi's land bill to Rahul's leave: Jyotiraditya Scindia speaks of NDA's report card in past 10 months

Jyotiraditya Scindia belongs to a rare breed of erstwhile royalty who prefers to be known for serving the people in a democratic manner rather than flaunting his pedigree. As Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Lower House, he has made his presence felt in the changed scenario post 2014 general elections. Former Union Minister Scindia spoke exclusively to Firstpost’s Sanjeev Singh on issues ranging from Rahul Gandhi to Land Bill to the NDA’s report card in the past 10 months. Q: The Congress has been down and out for sometime now. What is the roadmap for the party? A: The roadmap has been pretty clear. We need to re-engage with grassroots and win the trust of common man. We are already functioning as a cohesive opposition in Parliament with like minded parties. A wonderful exposition of this was when 240 MPs marched from Parliament against the Land Bill, 2015. We are raising issues of national and public interest that remain close to people’s heart. [caption id=“attachment_2185235” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Deputy leader of the Congress Jyotiraditya Scindia. AFP[/caption] Q: How does the party plan to revamp the organization? A: I am not in a position to answer that question. It is best left to the party president. As I have reiterated, we need to re-engage with our workers. We have to galvanize our cadre at state level and national level through Parliament. We also have to strengthen and boost morale of party workers. I also feel we need to start developing regional and state leadership. As far as the national level is concerned, we are voicing our opinion on national issues in an effective manner. Q: Do you think the party needs to change its policy and ideology? A: You never look at your neighbour’s house and decide what corrections should be made in one’s own house. You must always build your foundation on a strong structure. Never look at other’s garden and say what is good and bad. We know what went wrong and we are now in execution mode. You can see the party in upbeat mood already. Q: What about the NDA? A: NDA has seen sharp decline in the past 10 months, and that is indicative of the fact that how arrogance of power has gone to their head. Look at their statements, policies, U-turns, state of internal security, communalism, ghar vapasi, state of external security vis-a-vis Pakistan and China. Where is the governance and what happened to all the promises made during the election campaign? Q: What do you have to say about the tug of war between the old guard versus new guard in the Congress? A: Let me tell you that there is no guard system in Congress. You need capable people and it has got nothing to do with age or group that you belong to. This differentiation and categorization will not do any justice to the party. Q: The BJP is billing you as anti-corporate for your stand on the Land Bill? A: No one can argue with the fact that growth is needed for country. You can promote equity only through growth. Growth doesn’t come from public sector alone, as it has to come from private sector as well. Any policy that is unveiled must be fair, just and equitable, the 2015 Land ordinance is neither of the three. All clauses of 2013 Bill have been washed away. What has been presented is a mere corpse, with the soul, blood, flesh been torn out. How can you explain not taking consent of farmers, scrapping of Social Impact Assessment, ghar wapsi but not zameen wapsi, from maximum governance to change all rules of the game? You have removed the clause relating to return of land, court proceedings have not been included. The pendency of project has to be decided on project to project basis. The 2013 Bill had put in exemptions for projects relating to irrigation, power and roads. Q: Why is the Congress so aggressive on Land Bill? A: The truth is NDA government has ensured that India will be Kisan Mukt Bharat. There has been no increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP), scrapping of bonus, no fertilizer for farmers and on top of that you want to take away his land. What are they telling the farmer, that they will take away his/her land, take away his independence and make him an employee in a workshop. Is it fair? Q: How do you see a balance between social welfare and growth? A: UPA’s tenure in the past decade gave growth at 8.5 % and 6.7% in five year periods. It’s only through growth that you can increase social equity. Every government has to balance its own balance sheet. You can give much more to social schemes when your revenues grow. You have the NDA government slashing social sector schemes despite growing revenue. What is this government doing? 4500 farmer suicides have taken place in the past 10 months. Where are achhe din? Q: Will the Parliament logjam end? A: Not on the land bill, we will not compromise with interests of 65% of our population. BJP members thumped desks and voted in favour of this Bill in 2013. The current Home Minister had said in Lok Sabha that Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) should be done. Sushma Swaraj had said that farmers’ multi-crop land should not to be taken away. Amendments suggested by Sushma Ji and Ravishankar Prasad were accepted by UPA and it took us two years to formulate this bill after speaking to 15 political parties. NDA is trashing it now. But if there is any issue in the interest of the country, we will support like we have done in the past. Q: What about Rahul Gandhi and his disappearing act? A: Everyone has a right to take some time out to introspect. I think he has a clear vision and ideas on how to reinvigorate the party. He has commitment of purpose and all of that is borne out in many instances from protecting farmer interests in Bhatta Parsaul to pushing for NREGA cover to all 600 plus districts in the country. He is someone who wants to get to the heart of the problem and improve it.