'Modiji Has Tamed The People Of India'

'The BJP has killed public anger. They have killed people's self-respect.'

Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners are at loggerheads.

The Delhi elections campaign, where the Congress is calling Aam Aadmi Party names, is the latest instance of INDIA constituents gunning for each other.

This has resulted in a virtual split among INDIA partners, with most of the 26 alliance parties saying the Congress should not have taken on the AAP in the Delhi elections and are openly campaigning for the AAP.

In Maharashtra the Shiv Sena-UBT's Sanjay Raut announced that the INDIA partners may contest the forthcoming civic elections separately.

So is the INDIA bloc dead in all but name?

Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com asked Sanjay Raut what the future holds for the INDIA bloc.

The first of a lively two-part interview:

The infighting in INDIA is out in the open. In Delhi, INDIA partners say they support AAP angering the Congress. Is this discontent the result of the defeat in the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections?

There is no problem in the INDIA grouping. If you go back and look at the 2024 general elections, you will find out that there were two fronts -- INDIA and NDA led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

INDIA was led by the Congress and after the Lok Sabha results were out we formed another alliance, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, for the state elections.

The front, which is formed before elections, does not have much work to do after elections. Before elections we do rallies, morchas and show the respective strength of individual parties.

But once elections are over the dialogue between different allies in the front reduces.

And now the feeling in many partners of INDIA and the MVA is that we need to have a dialogue with each other.

If we want to save democracy then a strong Opposition front is needed. Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray too desires that the MVA must exist and so does INDIA.

But then your INDIA partner, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, praised Prime Minister Modi at a public rally, indicating there is trouble in the INDIA front.

You've got to understand the compulsions of Omar Abdullah. He lost the Lok Sabha election. After that unko lottery lag gayi (he won the jackpot). He is now chief minister of Jammu Kashmir which is located in the border region.

It is a Union territory and the sad part is that they have to go to the central government all the time as the elected government has less power.

There is a chief minister for sure but in a Union territory it is the lieutenant governor (Manoj Sinha) who rules the place.

You've got to understand the pain of Omar Abdullah but his father Farooq Abdullah, one of the founders of the INDIA bloc, is with us.

Is there a clash of personalities in MVA or INDIA?

I don't think so. There is a huge shock that all of us got post the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Even those who won the elections are in a state of shock with the election outcome.

The winning party is in shock because of their victory and we are in shock because of our defeat.

Both the ruling and Opposition parties have yet not come out of this shock.

Sharad Pawar recently praised RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) cadres for their commitment. What message is he trying to convey?

As far as I know him he says what he feels in his heart. This time in the Maharashtra assembly elections, RSS cadres openly worked for the BJP as well as their front (the Mahayuti).

They worked at the booth level for the first time. This is the reality. We will have to work in future at the booth level.

What about EVMs? You blamed EVMs when your party lost in Maharashtra. Have you forgotten about it?

People have doubts about the EVM.

There is a place called Markatwadi in Solapur. People came on the roads and decided on their own to vote through ballot papers. The government immediately imposed Section 144 when people tried to do a mock poll via ballot papers because the villagers were sure they did not vote for the candidate who won the elections.

Had the government allowed ballot paper elections, the truth would have come out.

The Election Commission had no right to stop this mock election.

Why is the government scared to hold ballot paper elections? I fail to understand.

After the Punjab and Haryana high court judgment on fair elections, the BJP changed the rules. They say they will not give out information. What kind of dictatorship is this?

In a democracy, people should know things under the Right to Information Act.

But there is no anger among the public against the BJP?

The BJP has killed public anger. They have killed people's self-respect. PM Modi has ensured that the people of India never fight back (against him or his policies).

Tomorrow, if there is a problem in the country people will not come out on the roads.

Mahatma Gandhi awakened this nation to fight against the British but today the people of India are not willing to take on the wrong policies of the government.

PM Modi is giving free rations to 80 crore population. He is depositing money in women's bank accounts. Eat and keep quiet is the mantra for the people.

We were a country of fighters who drove the British out but Modiji has now tamed the people of India.

News channels parrot his words and defend his government all the time.

Paisa bolta hai (only money speaks) in today's India.