Sadhvi Uma Bharti has made a re-entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party and is all set to represent the party in Uttar Pradesh. She is determined to bring a sea-change in her area of authority and save the state from tyranny.
In a candid conversation with Swati Chaturvedi of Zeenews.com on her show Kahiye Janab, Uma Bharti shares her views on her second innings in the BJP and her future plan of action.
Swati: How does it feel re-uniting with the BJP?
Uma Bharti: I expressed my feelings that very day when I had made a re-entry into the party. I had said two lines and I would like to explain what those mean.
“Mero mann anat kahan sukh paave...... Jaise udi jahaj ko panchi phiri jahaaj par aave”
(Where else could I seek happiness? I am one of those birds who fly off from a ship in the middle of an ocean in search of the shores. But on not finding the shore it returns to the ship to seek refugee.)
Swati: BJP has an opposition like Congress which has people with sullied hands. But BJP itself is in dire straits due to internal conflicts. Your take on this issue.
Uma Bharti: (Avoids answering the question and instead talks about her latest assignment). I am like Arjun. I focus on my job. I do what I have been assigned to do. At the moment, my focus is on Uttar Pradesh which is in a deplorable condition. The poor are in deep trouble. I never thought I would ever witness such inhumanity. Uttar Pradesh saw social revolution in recent times. A dalit is now governing the state. A representative of the backward class, Mulayam Singh was once in power. But yet the poor have found no relief. A majority of people below the poverty line are dalits and the minorities. Mulayam Singh had favored the Muslims to make them happy. But the state could never prosper.
Swati: You have won election for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh in the past. But now, you have been asked to take charge of Uttar Pradesh. Don’t you think there is something strange in the way BJP is planning its actions?
Uma Bharti: Mulayam Singh and Mayawati have had sleazy confrontations with each other time and again. But when I and Digvijay Singh were representatives of our respective parties while contesting in Madhya Pradesh we had mutual respect for each other. I look up to him as an elder brother and we battled the election in the best spirit and in all fairness. And I am glad I won the contest. I am sure even this time as well, his blessings will be there with me when I shall stand for the elections, eight months down the line.
Swati: But Digvijay Singh did not take your comeback into BJP in the right spirit. He instead poked fun at you saying you had no other place to go and that you are a double-edged sword!
Uma Bharti: Whatever he said was right and I don’t think he made fun of me. The kind of convictions I hold, I couldn’t have found any other abode but the BJP, for mine and BJP’s thinking coincide in all respects. And considering BJP is the parent body with such a thought process and I as an individual too think on the same lines, setting up a different political party would have meant sacrificing my ideals which I never wanted to. Had I done that, I would have lost my identity. I am not a politician by profession but I certainly do have a mission. My commitment towards my convictions brought me into politics.
Swati: BJP at the moment has absolutely no power in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati and Mulayam Singh are in full control. What kind of a magic wand do you have to grab power in the state?
Uma Bharti: No politician has any sort of magic wand to be in power. One has to understand the crux of a situation and then act upon it. I observed two things - Congress was in power in UP 20 years back and in 1991, BJP took control of the UP government and Mayawati came into power in 2007. Otherwise UP has had a coalition government. People of UP are tired of Bahujan Samaj Party and wouldn’t vote for it. The public knows that if there is any party which can win the elections with a clear majority it is the BJP. I am sure we will win the elections to save Uttar Pradesh from tyranny.
Swati: Your battle with Mayawati will be nothing less a Mahabharat. But how would you deal with the Mahabharat within you party? Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj, Narendra Modi and Venkaiah Naidu, have all been at loggerheads.
Uma Bharti: (Again refrains from commenting directly) We are focusing on UP at the moment. Our agenda is to save Uttar Pradesh from oppression.
Swati: Whenever I talk of conflicts in the BJP, you talk about Uttar Pradesh…
Uma Bharti: Yes… that’s because my area of concern is Uttar Pradesh. I am extremely passionate about my work so I concentrate on my plan of action.
Swati: These people (Arun Jaitly, Lal Krishna Advani) have been against your re-entry into the BJP.
Uma Bharti: Poor BJP. I feel pity for the party. It seems to be people’s hot favourite topic of discussion. Digvijay Singh has something to say….Pranab Mukherjee has something else to say…some say we will have a talk with Anna Hazare…others say they will sue Anna Hazare….But no one questions or throws light on the kind of contradictory statements representatives of Congress make. I feel that BJP is a victim of an ugly conspiracy and which is why it has become people’s (including media) protocol to discuss BJP in the negative light.
As far as my re-induction into the BJP is concerned, I am like a honey bee that visits all kinds of flowers but only picks up nectar.
Swati: Despite corruption and various scams, a helpless PM like Manmohan Singh, Bhatta Parsaul and all the desperate attempts made by Congress to remain in power, BJP has not been able to beat its opponent. Don’t you think it’s because of intra-party divergences?
Uma Bharti: I have read a book titled “Roots” by Alex Haley that talks about the plight of the Blacks under a White’s monarchy. Talking about Bhatta Parsaul I can recall instances when contrived situations have been forcibly created overnight to validate “some people’s” statements. But that sort of ploy is not deployed by BJP members. If people keep poking fun at BJP then the opposition will make the most of it to counter attack and that is what exactly happened at Ramlila Maidan.
Swati: Congress has crowned Baba Ramdev as a representative of the RSS. Do you really think he belongs to the Sangh.
Uma Bharti: Even if he is a member of RSS there is no harm in it at all. If somebody is fighting to safeguard the interests of democracy, of the Hindus and the public at large, there is no reason why one should point fingers at him.
Swati: Elections in UP are eight months down the line. Will you raise the Ram Mandir issue in the elections again?
Uma Bharti: Construction of Ram Mandir on Ram Janma Bhoomi is inevitable and shall certainly take place in due course. But the agenda will be to seek answers from Mayawati for atrocities against women, their saddening state and the poor people at large.
Swati: How does it feel re-uniting with the BJP?
Uma Bharti: I expressed my feelings that very day when I had made a re-entry into the party. I had said two lines and I would like to explain what those mean.
“Mero mann anat kahan sukh paave...... Jaise udi jahaj ko panchi phiri jahaaj par aave”
(Where else could I seek happiness? I am one of those birds who fly off from a ship in the middle of an ocean in search of the shores. But on not finding the shore it returns to the ship to seek refugee.)
Swati: BJP has an opposition like Congress which has people with sullied hands. But BJP itself is in dire straits due to internal conflicts. Your take on this issue.
Uma Bharti: (Avoids answering the question and instead talks about her latest assignment). I am like Arjun. I focus on my job. I do what I have been assigned to do. At the moment, my focus is on Uttar Pradesh which is in a deplorable condition. The poor are in deep trouble. I never thought I would ever witness such inhumanity. Uttar Pradesh saw social revolution in recent times. A dalit is now governing the state. A representative of the backward class, Mulayam Singh was once in power. But yet the poor have found no relief. A majority of people below the poverty line are dalits and the minorities. Mulayam Singh had favored the Muslims to make them happy. But the state could never prosper.
Swati: You have won election for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh in the past. But now, you have been asked to take charge of Uttar Pradesh. Don’t you think there is something strange in the way BJP is planning its actions?
Uma Bharti: Mulayam Singh and Mayawati have had sleazy confrontations with each other time and again. But when I and Digvijay Singh were representatives of our respective parties while contesting in Madhya Pradesh we had mutual respect for each other. I look up to him as an elder brother and we battled the election in the best spirit and in all fairness. And I am glad I won the contest. I am sure even this time as well, his blessings will be there with me when I shall stand for the elections, eight months down the line.
Swati: But Digvijay Singh did not take your comeback into BJP in the right spirit. He instead poked fun at you saying you had no other place to go and that you are a double-edged sword!
Uma Bharti: Whatever he said was right and I don’t think he made fun of me. The kind of convictions I hold, I couldn’t have found any other abode but the BJP, for mine and BJP’s thinking coincide in all respects. And considering BJP is the parent body with such a thought process and I as an individual too think on the same lines, setting up a different political party would have meant sacrificing my ideals which I never wanted to. Had I done that, I would have lost my identity. I am not a politician by profession but I certainly do have a mission. My commitment towards my convictions brought me into politics.
Swati: BJP at the moment has absolutely no power in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati and Mulayam Singh are in full control. What kind of a magic wand do you have to grab power in the state?
Uma Bharti: No politician has any sort of magic wand to be in power. One has to understand the crux of a situation and then act upon it. I observed two things - Congress was in power in UP 20 years back and in 1991, BJP took control of the UP government and Mayawati came into power in 2007. Otherwise UP has had a coalition government. People of UP are tired of Bahujan Samaj Party and wouldn’t vote for it. The public knows that if there is any party which can win the elections with a clear majority it is the BJP. I am sure we will win the elections to save Uttar Pradesh from tyranny.
Swati: Your battle with Mayawati will be nothing less a Mahabharat. But how would you deal with the Mahabharat within you party? Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj, Narendra Modi and Venkaiah Naidu, have all been at loggerheads.
Uma Bharti: (Again refrains from commenting directly) We are focusing on UP at the moment. Our agenda is to save Uttar Pradesh from oppression.
Swati: Whenever I talk of conflicts in the BJP, you talk about Uttar Pradesh…
Uma Bharti: Yes… that’s because my area of concern is Uttar Pradesh. I am extremely passionate about my work so I concentrate on my plan of action.
Swati: These people (Arun Jaitly, Lal Krishna Advani) have been against your re-entry into the BJP.
Uma Bharti: Poor BJP. I feel pity for the party. It seems to be people’s hot favourite topic of discussion. Digvijay Singh has something to say….Pranab Mukherjee has something else to say…some say we will have a talk with Anna Hazare…others say they will sue Anna Hazare….But no one questions or throws light on the kind of contradictory statements representatives of Congress make. I feel that BJP is a victim of an ugly conspiracy and which is why it has become people’s (including media) protocol to discuss BJP in the negative light.
As far as my re-induction into the BJP is concerned, I am like a honey bee that visits all kinds of flowers but only picks up nectar.
Swati: Despite corruption and various scams, a helpless PM like Manmohan Singh, Bhatta Parsaul and all the desperate attempts made by Congress to remain in power, BJP has not been able to beat its opponent. Don’t you think it’s because of intra-party divergences?
Uma Bharti: I have read a book titled “Roots” by Alex Haley that talks about the plight of the Blacks under a White’s monarchy. Talking about Bhatta Parsaul I can recall instances when contrived situations have been forcibly created overnight to validate “some people’s” statements. But that sort of ploy is not deployed by BJP members. If people keep poking fun at BJP then the opposition will make the most of it to counter attack and that is what exactly happened at Ramlila Maidan.
Swati: Congress has crowned Baba Ramdev as a representative of the RSS. Do you really think he belongs to the Sangh.
Uma Bharti: Even if he is a member of RSS there is no harm in it at all. If somebody is fighting to safeguard the interests of democracy, of the Hindus and the public at large, there is no reason why one should point fingers at him.
Swati: Elections in UP are eight months down the line. Will you raise the Ram Mandir issue in the elections again?
Uma Bharti: Construction of Ram Mandir on Ram Janma Bhoomi is inevitable and shall certainly take place in due course. But the agenda will be to seek answers from Mayawati for atrocities against women, their saddening state and the poor people at large.
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