'Congress' Bharat Nirman is not like BJP's India Shining sloganeering'

Shakeel Ahmed, Congress spokesperson who wears many hats like AICC in-charge of  Jharkhand, West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar, as well as CWC member, believes corruption matters in politics and governance as the BJP lost power in three states due to corruption. In a candid interview with Prakash Kumar of Deccan Herald, ahead of UPA II completing the fourth year in office, he says this trend indicates the pro-Congress mood.of the people. Excerpts:

UPA II was marked by charges of scams and corruption. Will Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi be able to provide image rebuilding governance in the last lap?It is the duty of any incumbent government to dispel misgivings created by the Opposition. People’s mood is clear if you go by the results of recent state assembly polls. 

The BJP lost Uttarakhand due to charges of corruption against its Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. It also lost Himachal Pradesh due to corruption. 

More recently it lost Karnataka, again because of  large scale corruption. Altogether 13 ministers and MLAs, including a Chief Minister, were jailed. People of this country know the truth. That’s why they punished the BJP for their acts of omission and commission in those states where they were in power.

Series of scams and cases of corruption have been exposed under UPA II. Will lead partner Congress’ fate be the same as BJP’s in 2014 LS elections?

Whenever corruption charges were levelled against any Congress leader, the party has taken a very firm stand against them. Suresh Kalmadi became chairman of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games not on Congress or UPA government nomination. He was appointed  because of his election as the president of Indian Olympic Association for last 15 years. As soon as charges were levelled against him, he was asked to relinquish the post of secretary of parliamentary party of Congress. There was no connection between that post and the organisation of CWG.

 Recently, Ashwani Kumar resigned from the Cabinet due to Supreme Court strictures against the CBI for allowing him to be a part of its meeting..Kumar put in his papers even though the court passed no strictures against him. In the case of Bansal, his nephew was arrested by the CBI for taking bribe but he resigned. The CBI says they have not yet found any evidence against Bansal. So, it is for the people of this country to see what Congress does to its leaders facing charges and what the BJP did In Karnataka, You must have seen the photograph of Sushma Swaraj blessing the mining scam-accused Reddy brothers. People of this country are mature after participating in electoral politics for more than 65 years. I don’t think Congress will face any problem. Runaway inflation has hit Congress’ Aam Aadmi image. How will you fight Lok Sabha polls?

No party would like people to get angry with it due to price rise and inflation. It does not help politically. People will not vote for them. I saw yesterday, food inflation is the lowest in last three years at this juncture. There has been global economic crisis. In spite of all these difficulties, we have not raised prices of essential commodities. We have more than doubled minimum support price for food commodities when in power. It was Rs 600 for paddy, now it is more than Rs 1200. It was Rs 550 for wheat, now it is more than Rs 1100. Farmers will understand that we stand by them. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi always says we should extend all possible help to Aam Aadmi. BJP is trying to misguide the people though we are much ahead in economic growth in comparison with other countries of our region. People will see through it..
Is that the reason your government has come out with the publicity blitzkrieg titled ‘Bharat Nirman’?

There is a lot of hulla baloo in the media on Bharat Nirman. It is not like BJP’s India Shining or Feel Good campaign. In fact, they were not programmes at all, just slogans coined by the BJP to misguide the people. Bharat Nirman is a complete programme. We made several commitments related to people’s welfare when we came to power. If not in total, we have been successful in fulfilling many of those commitments to a great extent. We are now taking it to the people through the media, our political apparatus and party cadres.

Related Stories:

1. UPA's flawed social revolution from above

2. Un-united, non-Progressive Alliance II