Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “waging a war” on the state, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “will not be able to win”.Speaking exclusively to The Wire, Gehlot, who is seeking re-election, said the Congress party will buck the trend of rotating governments in the state this time around. Gehlot described the issue of women’s safety, which has become a major poll issue this time, as the “propaganda” of the BJP.He ruled out any “role” for him outside of Rajasthan, indicating that he would once again be a claimant for the chief ministership if his party were to come back to power. Below are the excerpts from the interview:What do you think will happen on November 25?The people of Rajasthan will vote in our favour to bring the Congress party back to power.During the campaign, a posse of BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, crisscrossed the state. Do you think it will have any impact on Congress’s prospects? No, I don’t think it will change anything for the BJP, as it is contesting these elections without any issue. There is heartburn in the BJP that it could not topple the government in Rajasthan, as it did in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. We successfully managed to stop the BJP from resorting to horse-trading in Rajasthan. People are aware of everything. The work we did for farmers, youth, and every section of society will have an impact on the election. People will vote us back into power due to our performance. We wanted to fight elections on local issues and that’s what we have done in Rajasthan.Has the Congress been able to fulfill the promises it made to the people in the 2018 manifesto? I believe we have been able to fulfill 96% to 97% of the promises we made in our last manifesto.Do you think there is something that is amiss in the present manifesto? For instance, one can notice from the latest manifesto that nothing has been said about the transgender community. It is very much possible that there may have been gaps in our manifesto. We will address them separately. It is (transgender community issues) not necessary that it should be in the manifesto.There were things that were not part of the manifesto, yet our government did work on those fronts. For instance, giving Rs 25 lakh to Chiranjeevi was not in the manifesto, but our government has done it. Likewise, we have taken many decisions for the benefit of the people of Rajasthan. I am sure we can roll out more such measures in the future if we come to power.There are allegations that the Union government has not paid the GST share of state governments. Why hasn’t it become an issue in the Rajasthan election? Has the Rajasthan government got its entire GST dues from the Union government? It’s not about GST. The Rajasthan government’s Rs 76,000 crore is stuck with the Centre. What issue should we make? We are fighting this election on local issues, and have asked people to tell us if there is anything missing in our schemes, laws that we made for the people, or if we have just made promises and nothing has been fulfilled. The debate should be on these issues. But, the BJP has only said provocative things in the state if you notice their campaign.Do you think the killing of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur will become an issue in this election?Do you think polarisation politics will work in Rajasthan? The murderers of Kanhaiya Lal were people related to the BJP, hence they could not make it an issue. This is just a formality to instigate people, but Kanhaiya Lal’s killers had contacts with the BJP. You must have seen the photos. But leave the photos aside, it could be with someone. But who got them released from the police station, who invited them to the reception and ceremony?They were in contact with these people for four to six years, so I would say that they could not make it a big issue as they wanted. What did our government do? We arrested the two on the same night within two hours, but later the Centre took the case from us to investigate further. We also thought that maybe it could be an international threat, but what are they doing now?How far has the investigation gone? Kanhaiya’s family is still asking for justice. I believe they delayed the investigation as they wanted to politicise the issue for the Rajasthan elections.The BJP is attacking Congress on the issue of women’s safety. The state has seen a surge in rape cases. Do you think women voters would choose the BJP over the Congress? What is happening in Uttar Pradesh where a woman was raped at 2 am and cremated without her family’s permission? (Gehlot was referring to the Hathras incident). Kerala-based reporter (Siddique Kappan) was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh government and had to suffer for 1.5 years in jail for no reason. If I talk about the prime minister constituency of Varanasi, in Banaras Hindu University, a Female student was forcibly kissed and her clothes were torn. This is all happening in the ‘Double Engine’ government of the BJP. I don’t want to compare further. In Rajasthan, an FIR is compulsory when a crime against a woman is committed, but no media writes about it. In fact, NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau) itself says that an ‘increase in the number doesn’t necessarily mean that there is an increase in crime’.Such incidents have happened in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. They (Modi and Yogi) do not have the right to speak.During the entire campaign, the Congress has tried to portray the election as Ashok Gehlot versus Narendra Modi. If the Congress comes back to power, can we expect you to move to the national level and take up new responsibilities? See, I have said many times and I’m saying it again: I want to dedicate my life to the people of Rajasthan till my last breath. Should this be taken to mean that you will become chief minister again?No, we will leave this to the senior leadership, public opinion, and MLAs’ suggestions. That’s how we have been deciding.Rahul Gandhi’s campaign in Rajasthan was towards the end. Is that because Congress and its top leadership are overconfident? Mallikharjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, all three leaders have done approximately 22 meetings in the state. All were busy in Madhya Pradesh and then they came to Rajasthan. This rumour has been spread that Congress is not paying attention towards Rajasthan, but it is not true.
