The Union minister, who is contesting from the Mumbai North seat, speaks on a range of factors making headlines during the campaign
Union minister Piyush Goyal at a campaign event; (Photo: Milind Shelte)
UPDATED: May 15, 2024 19:27 IST
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the INDIA TODAY edition dated May 20, 2024)
On the campaign trail in the Mumbai North constituency from where he is fighting the Lok Sabha election, Union Minister Piyush Goyal spoke to India Today Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa and Senior Associate Editor Dhaval S. Kulkarni on a range of issues. Edited excerpts from the interview:
On contesting
Piyush Goyal (PG): It’s an exhilarating experience. It gives tremendous opportunity to connect with the local people, a sense of belonging and a feet-on-the-ground feeling. I will ever be grateful to PM Narendra Modi for the opportunity.
On slum development in his constituency
PG: In ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, the first chapter is ‘Garib Parivar Jan’ where we have talked of redevelopment of slums. We will give them a house in the same place, in Uttar Mumbai. With the PM’s blessings, I will make sure this is the first area in which everybody gets a home and has a good quality of life.
On the electoral outcome in Maharashtra
PG: Both Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are trying to create a story of sympathy for themselves, but people have recognised that both only want their children to come to power. Both have failed to do work for the state. That is why you see that all their MLAs and their parties have gone with either Eknath Shinde if they are with the Shiv Sena or with Ajit Pawar if they belong to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
On BJP engineering splits
PG: We have not engineered any splits. All the Sena MLAs know that they won the assembly election because of Mr Modi’s leadership and [Devendra] Fadnavis as CM. It is Uddhav who treacherously backstabbed Fadnavis and Mr Modi. We had announced Fadnavis as the next CM with Uddhav sitting on the stage. It is a figment of his imagination and greed for power to think otherwise. He stands totally exposed and people have lost all faith in Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. That’s why the whole of Shiv Sena came and joined hands with us as did the NCP, apart from Raj Thackeray. They all recognise that Modi is good for the country.
On the main issue in this election
PG: It is Modi all the way—there is no other issue. The biggest issue is trust and when we say ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’, it comes out of the fact that whatever he says, he delivers. I never thought in my lifetime—I have been in politics for 40 years—that Article 370 would go out from the Constitution. On the Ram Mandir, senior VHP leaders used to say ‘prabhu ki ichha hai, banega’, but Modi made it happen. I have gone through the 2014 and 2019 manifestos...there is action on every single point. He is a man of conviction, not false promises, that’s what the people like. The women and young are completely behind Modi. That is going to be the swing factor which will take us past 400 seats.
On Congress’s comment on redistribution of wealth
PG: This is a dangerous trend. It is going back to the fossil age. We all remember how the estate tax was 85 per cent. The Congress is talking of redistribution of wealth by taking it from the people, we are talking of raising the incomes of the whole country and taking everybody along the way.
On the Opposition’s demand for caste reservation
PG: The Opposition seems very keen on Muslim reservations. The Constitution just doesn’t allow that. They want to foist this unconstitutional act as a part of their appeasement policy. And they want to take away the reservation from the SC, ST and OBC which the BJP and NDA will never allow.
On calling Muslims ‘infiltrators’
PG: The CAA doesn’t take away the citizenship from any Indian. Those communities who are in a minority in our neighbouring countries, like Jains, Buddhists, Hindus, are those that we are giving citizenship to, and not those who belong to the majority communities in Islamist countries. Indian Muslims are a part of us and will remain so.
On the Muslim vote
PG: Never before have they come out in such numbers for our rallies. I am amazed at the response. They know that Modi is doing things for all of them and not asking what their language, caste or religion is.
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Published By:
Aditya Mohan Wig
Published On:
May 15, 2024
English (US) ·