Don't miss Akhilesh Yadav's interview to Rediff.com!

Two weeks before the Samajwadi Party's awesome victory in the UP assembly election, Akhilesh Yadav spelled out his priorities in an exclusive interview to Rediff.com

Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh'S 39-year-old son, directed his party's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

The three-time Member of Parliament from Kannauj is no stranger to electoral politics, but elections 2012 is at another level altogether.

With the Congress's Rahul Gandhi and the Rashtriya Lok Dal's Jayant Chowdhury, Yadav forms the troika of youth power in the state elections but he leaves no one in doubt that he is the chosen one when he asks, "Response kisko zyada milta hai? (who gets the most repsonse?)"

In a late night interview with Sharat Pradhan and Saisuresh Sivaswamy in his father's bungalow in Lucknow, conducted in both English and Hindi, the Samajwadi Party president unspooled on his politics and elections.

High percentage of voter turnout in Uttar Pradesh in the first three phases of polling -- are you nervous about it? What is your takeaway?

It's good, because when there is high voter turnout what we have seen is that it is always against the government. Last time too it was the same thing when the people voted out the Samajwadi Party government, so hopefully what we are seeing this time, the percentage of people who are voting more this time are young people.

I expect that this government will be voted out by the young voters. I am very sure about it.

The kind of voting, the kind of turnout this time, even in places where the last time round we saw very low voting, is very good. So what I see is that all the vote that is coming is against the government.

The people are fed up by this government because of misuse -- they spent public money on erecting statues, marbles, and a lot many things. People are against this government, they want to throw it out.

What is your party's expectations on March 6, day of counting

We have been in the field for a long time, I have been going around in the rath (chariot), I held a lot of meetings even before the elections were announced, so what I see is that hopefully this time we will touch the majority mark, probably win around 207 seats or a little more than that.

On your own?

Yes.

What gives you this confidence, especially when almost everyone believes it will be a hung assembly this time?

I have also read about this in the media, on television too people are saying that it will be a coalition government this time in UP. But I have my own doubts about it.

If you remember the last time too people were saying the same thing, but the Bahujan Samaj Party got a majority on its own.

Hopefully this time, judging by the response we have been getting from the people, I have travelled almost through 250 constituencies and by the end of the elections mein sab touch kar loonga (I will touch all 403 constituencies), we will do well.

And in the 250 seats, the response I am seeing is tremendous. People are so fed up of this government. I will even say that they want to vote for the Samajwadi Party. I think we will touch the majority mark.

What exactly are the people telling you for you to believe this?

Like, when we go to the rural side of UP, they complain about not getting fertilisers, they complain that they didn't minimum support price for their crops, this government looted money on paddy, people were suffering from floods and the government didn't help them, there is no housing for them, no medical facilities, they don't have any clear policy on how to remove poverty.

All these issues combined, then there is corruption which is the main issue, they are suffering from, you know, the thana (police station)... where the sepoy is not registering a complaint without taking money, they are not investigating any offence, they expect something in return and don't do any work till then, yeh jo cultural change kiya hai, kaam karne ka tarika badal gaya hai, (the have made a cultural change in the way they work) MLAs are disappointing, unke cadre me (their cadres) they looted money, they are on the ground par unke paas kuch nahi hai (they have nothing), for tender and other things they stick to thana or tehsil.

Kya, yeh jo uparwale paisa kama rahe hain toh small workers hain, woh bhi thoda thoda paisa kama rahe hain thane se, tehsil se, sadak se, bijli se (Those on top are making money. The small workers make little amounts from the police, tehsil, road and electricity works).

Toh, overall, farmers inse naraaz hain (are angry with them) because they didn't get a good price for their crop, they didn't get fertilisers when they needed it, and these people had taken money on that, har jagah mehengai badh gay hai(price-rise is everywhere), they had to pay twice the money for it, yeh sab narazgi humlog janata mein bolte hain (the people have expressed this anger).

Aur phir bolte hain ki aap ke paise in logone pathar ki murtiyon pe laga diya. (They say all the money these people have put in statues.)

If you do form the next government, how will you handle the Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the National Rural Health Mission scam?

We will strengthen the probe, a lot of people are involved in the scam and they have got away so far.

We will take the matter to its logical end, and see that all the guilty are brought to book.

And the huge parks and statues erected in Lucknow?

We will put these huge spaces to better use by converting them into hospitals and educational institutions, but without pulling down the statues.

Do you plan to overturn any of Chief Minister Mayawati's decisions if you are in office?

On this, we will take a decision on merit and not out of vengeance.

What reason do you attribute for Mayawati losing so much ground in her time in office?

Because she didn't work, she didn't come out from the chief minister's official residence, she never met the people.

Democracy is not like, you know, closing doors for everyone, democracy is like being more open to the people, that's democracy.

In democracy people vote for you, aap unse ahi miloge jo vote kar rahe hain (you will not meet people who vote for you), why will they vote for you? She never held any good meeting with MLAs or MLCs, who couldn't meet her, MPs couldn't meet her, she was only busy meeting people who were busy paying something for the job or paying for things like tenders etc, she was happy meeting them.

Logon se nahi milna (She does not want to meet the people).

Then she started visiting villages, wahan par gaon mein curfew laga diya (they imposed a curfew in the village), she went to the hospital, she made police constables lie down on the bed instead of patients, taki unse jab poochen mukhya mantri (so when the CM asks them) they said, 'No sab ilaaj sahi hai, dawai mil rahi hai, (treatment is fine, we are getting medicines) all that sort of thing happened here, that has given a bad name to this government.

In democracy you should be more open, you should know, you should understand even your critics, you should accept ki arre bhai, koi ghalat keh raha hai toh (if someone if saying the wrong thing) listen to the person. Yeh jo narazgi hai democracy ki aap mile nahi hain, meeting organise nahi ki, aapne kuch deliver nahi kiya, toh yeh sab ikkattha ho gaya hai sarkar ke khilaf (there is anger that in a democracy you are not meeting the people, you did not deliver anything, so all these things have accumulated into anger against the government).

Why do you think your father lost the elections in 2007?

That was because we were not expecting that the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) will vote for the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party). Last time why we lost was that the BJP was finished in UP, it could not gain any votes in that election and in the end when we realised that the BJP is voting for the BSP, it was too late.

But this time we are careful. We know we may have trouble from the BJP, we might have trouble from the Congress, we know that the BSP is the main rival, so we are keeping everything planned or sab cheezen dekh kar ke kaise kya hoga, us pe kaam kar rahe hain (we are looking at all things and then working on it).

You did not mention the SP's goonda raj of last time which is believed to have gone against you.

If you come to power now, will there be a repeat of that?

Yes, yes, there were incidents where we were not able to, you know, answer them. Kya hai ki kuch sawaal aise ho gaye hain ki humen logon ko jawaab dena padgaya. (Some issues came up that we had to give an answer to the people).

Lekin is baar humne surety di hai ki sarkar banegi toh (we have given a surety that if this time our government comes), there will be no misuse of law and order.

Aur hamare cadre ki log bhi honge, bahut sakhti se unse niptenge. Matlab unko bhi kanoon todne nahi denge. Or yeh assurance hum log de rahe hain har public meeting mein, ki kanoon vyavastha law and order mein koi bhi mana rahega toh uske khilaf karvai hogi jo bhi law and order ko disturb karega (Even if it is our partymen, we will deal with them sternly. We will not let them break the law. We are saying this at all our public meetings that we take legal action against people disturbing law and order).

If the Samajwadi Party forms the next government, on its own as you say or in alliance with other parties, what will your priorities be?

UP badly needs infrastructure, good roads, more power, good irrigation facilities, educational institutions should come to UP more so we can provide cheaper education here, health schemes should be implemented and hospital should be good.

Basically, UP needs a lot of attention on infrastructure.

Since UP is a big state every district has got its own economy, suppose we talk about Lucknow there is chikan work, zari work, zardozi, but the government is not supporting it.

The government is not providing bunkars (weavers) the kind of support they should have given, then there's the carpet industry in Badhoi but the government is not able to announce a good policy for them, Kanpur mein tanneries badi padi hain (there are plenty of tanneries in Kanpur), Agra mein leather work ka hai (there is leather work in Agra), Ferozabad, you see glass work is there, in Moradabad brass work is there, that is how UP is.

If UP is big, it has got its own economy in different ways. Agar hum log ek ek district ka economy ko improve karte hain, infrastructure provide karden, (If we improve the economy of each district and provide infrastructure) I think we will become the number one state in the country.

In a lot of developed states, most notably in Maharashtra, there is a lot of negative sentiment expressed about people from UP and Bihar who are blamed for pulling them down.

As a person who can decide UP's fate, how do you react to such sentiments?

I think you are seeing a change in Bihar, where the present government is doing well. People are appreciating it, the press is appreciating it. So when things can move in a good way in Bihar, why can't it happen in UP?

So if there is a good government, I totally agree that even UP will do much better than how Bihar is doing, or any other state for that matter. Because UP has the resources, it has tremendous potential, it is a state of 22 crore (220 million) people.

You talk about religious tourism -- it is there, you talk about international tourism -- people come here from everywhere, the kind of people who visit the Taj Mahal kahi nahi itne log jaate hain(nowhere do so many people go). There is a lot of scope in tourism.

Kis state ke paas Benares hai, kis state ke paas Taj Mahal hai, kis state ke paas Brindavan hai, toh itna kuch hai is state ke paas? (which state has Benares, the Taj Mahal, Brindavan? UP has all this).

Even in agriculture you look at sugarcane, this industry can just improve like anything, Maharashtra ko hum peeche chhod sakte hain (we can overtake Maharashtra), although it is number one in sugar production, that was a time when UP was number one, when we were in power, we had given a chance to the sugar industry to set up more mills here, they did that.

We formed a policy in such a way that they got good benefit, finally if there is a mill, farmers will benefit. When we were in power we set up 29 sugar mills!

Doesn't the running down of your state by others hurt you?

UP has been given a bad name, if Bihar can improve, why can't UP? If UP's infrastructure improves, if the industrial towns improve or even if we support only Kanpur, it can boost any economy. Only Kanpur has got such potential.

In the whole of India the best tanneries are in Kanpur, at one time it was called the Manchester of India, and look at Kanpur, what has happened to it.