BJP will retain all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, says Manoj Tiwari

Manoj Tiwari, president of the BJP's Delhi unit, says the party has energised displeased workers in Delhi and that he is confident of a resounding victory in next year's general elections.

Manoj Tiwari, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Delhi unit, under whose leadership the party swept the 2017 local body polls, tells Shikha Shalini that he is confident of proving his mettle in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Edited excerpts:

How tough is the challenge of retaining all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi in 2019?

I am confident that the BJP will bag the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. I have spent 19 nights in slums since becoming chief of the BJP's Delhi unit. In relatively developed colonies, we have organised dialogue programmes at community centres. Based on the feedback, I am confident that we will retain our seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Because of your popularity among the people from Purvanchal (eastern UP and Bihar), you were given the responsibility of Delhi. But, what is your strategy for those areas where there are few Purvanchal voters?

The BJP neither divides seats on this basis nor believes in it. I was appointed Delhi BJP chief because of my good performance in Parliament and the work I did in my constituency (North-east Delhi). I have established a cordial relationship with all senior and junior leaders of Delhi. There were many reasons for my appointment and it was not done to woo a specific group. Usually, people work for 15-20 years in the party organisation and then get such a post.

What changes have you brought in after becoming the Delhi unit president?

I had to deal with the rising conflict among party members. I made them realise that this is our party and the party is for everyone, this is for the state and for the country. We also energised over displeased workers. This was our biggest endeavour.

Will any of the sitting parliamentarians from Delhi be replaced in 2019?

We do not have any major complaint about the performance of the MPs from Delhi. There must be a strong reason for replacing them. When we all are doing a good job, I do not think there should be any change. But a decision on this will be taken by the parliamentary committee.

Your career started in the world of entertainment, then you jumped into politics through the Samajwadi Party (SP), and now you are with the BJP. Which one seems easy for you? Have you any plan of going back to the entertainment industry?

I have lived four lives so far. I had seen the life of poverty till the age of 24. The second life was in the form of a singer. Then I went to Mumbai and did 98 films. I started my career in politics with the SP and the decision to contest election (in 2009) on the SP ticket taught me a lot. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchanji, business tycoon Anil Ambaniji and politician Amar Singhji had made me an offer which I could not refuse. I contested against Yogi Adityanathji (from Gorakhpur). The then district president of the SP had told me, “Baba ghoomal jai sange raura, lekin votwa ta mandire ke diyaye (We will campaign with you but will vote for the Gorakhpur math).” I was wondering what would happen next. But in those four months (of campaigning), I understood that politics is not a part-time job and if you are in politics, then you will have to understand the pain of people.

After participating in the Anna Hazare movement in 2011, I realised the extent of corruption and appeasement; no one talks about village roads and electricity. If our village had 24 hours of electricity, then Manoj Tiwari would not have come to Varanasi or Delhi. My village is in Bihar.

Will you be the BJP's chief ministerial candidate?

The post of pradesh president is most important. In Delhi, no president of any party was from Purvanchal. For the first time, the BJP has done this. The Delhi population comprises 42 per cent of people from Purvanchal and there is no doubt that they feel honoured. But, the BJP believes in “sabka saath, sabka vikas”.

Won't the protest against the Delhi government’s scheme to provide ration and other services at the doorstep, seen as a public welfare policy,  send a wrong signal?

The scheme to deliver ration at the doorstep may be a right move, but the question is: Who will do it and how it will be done? How will transparency be ensured? If you are planning to rope in private agencies, you may not have the power to turn the government administration into a private limited company. (Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal has had a lot of opportunities to work, but he has no such intent. The distribution of water was not done properly, and we have seen a Rs 8-billion ration scam. Interestingly, the Food and Supplies Department is also under Kejriwal. A good arrangement was made to properly dispatch ration to the beneficiaries, which included the use of Aadhaar card, retina check, OTP number, etc. No wrong person could have been allowed to take ration in this process. This arrangement was dissolved by the Delhi government four months back and it reverted to the conventional basis.

People are not getting their ration and it is being sold in black. All the machines were in place but they were removed from the shops because their (Aam Aadmi Party) MLAs were not getting a commission out of it. We started a campaign, “Your ration is your right”, but Kejriwal didn’t speak in favour of it.

But the Delhi government's work regarding Mohalla Clinics and in the education sector is being appreciated.

Then why didn't people vote for them in 2017 (in the local body polls). In 2015, the AAP won 67 of 70 the Assembly seats. But, in 2017, the AAP won just 67 councillors out of 272. I went to the slums for a reality check and I found that Arvind Kejriwal has created a mirage. The people of Delhi are not fools. As far as, the education system is concerned, you must have got the news about school children of Delhi being held hostage in the basement for fees. Kejriwal promised to open 1,000 Mohalla Clinics, but we found out 164 Mohalla Clinics... and only seven operational. How can 300 patients be examined in 34 minutes? What kind of treatment is this?

There are allegations of imposing the Narendra Modi government’s agenda through the Lieutenant Governor. Don’t you think if the central government had shown some generosity, the situation would have been less strained?

No government is as generous as Narendra Modi’s government. The central government tried to improve the situation very patiently. In Delhi’s Sangam Vihar area, people were shot dead while in Keshavpuram, people were beaten to death for water. Even after such incidents, tanker mafias were not reined in; they have got secret approvals. If the Centre asks you (the AAP government) to improve the situation, then you fight against the LG. When you built a railway compartment-like structure and named it Mohalla Clinic and stopped the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) fund, then the LG sahib did not interfere. 

The MCD used to look after the lighting arrangements in unauthorised colonies, but Kejriwal made a rule that the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (DSIIDC) will now do such work. However, the DSIIDC refused to work because of a shortage of human resources. This was done just to prevent the MCD from providing lights in unauthorised colonies. After all this mess, the central government realised that he (Kejriwal) is an urban Naxal-type of a person, so he should be exposed through his actions. If there had been any other government than Modiji’s, it might have suspended his (Kejriwal's) government and banned him to contesting elections for life because he is accused of murder, and there are allegations of Hawala business.

Don’t you think the AAP has been able to convince people that granting full statehood to Delhi would be beneficial for them?

I did not see any agitation for the full-statehood demand in Delhi. Instead, I see people are upset with the water distribution system and because they are not getting proper medical treatment. The full-statehood status is a matter of constitutional amendment. For this, all-party meetings and a review are needed. But the AAP’s attitude is hurting the very concept of the full-statehood status and that’s why even the Supreme Court didn’t give a green signal for this. This party protests against the Republic Day;  its leader sat on a dharna in the house of the LG. Full statehood cannot be granted according to the Chief Minister’s whim, because one day if he wants to be prime minister, then Delhi cannot be granted the status of a nation. Kejriwal does not behave like a chief minister.