3 weeks ago
“There is only one guarantee that people of the country believe today and it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee,” BJP MP Tejasvi Surya told News18 as he slammed the Congress’ electoral promises as “fluff and propaganda”.
In an exclusive interview, Surya, who is seeking re-election from Bengaluru South, told News18 that “PM Modi is going to be the leader of the nation once again as this is not the pulse of just Bengaluru but across the nation”.
Edited Excerpts:
How confident are you of winning?
100 percent. The kind of popularity Narendra Modi-ji enjoys in Bengaluru and the whole of the South is incredible. Last time, the people of my constituency Bengaluru had blessed the BJP with a massive majority and I won this seat with a three-lakh margin. During Covid-19, people have watched me work closely with them and deliver.
There were many legacy problems that Bengaluru had which needed to be resolved, like the suburban rail that had been pending for almost 40 years, the approval of the US Consulate that had been pending since the time of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna’s government, the approval and construction of the Bangalore Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) and the metro network. All these were addressed. This reposed the faith of the people of this city in the prime minister’s leadership.
People saw me leading the battle against the virus from the frontline. We set up new hospitals, added new intensive care units in different parts of the city, and helped vaccinate people. I even exposed the Covid-19 bed scam that was not allowing people access to beds at a time when there were more than 10,000 cases being reported every day. People saw us deliver in the most testing times and have seen me raise issues of the city in Parliament. BPAC, a civic advocacy agency, has rated me the top performer in the state. Having seen that, I am very confident that we will win this seat (Bengaluru South) with a five-lakh margin.
You are seeking re-election for the seat, after having contested for the first time in 2019 when it was said that you had an advantage as you were considered part of the Ananth Kumar support wave. You have had five years to show your performance. What do you think is in your favour this time?
There is only one factor across the nation. People are going out to vote and answer one question — who will be leading the country for the next five years? People have seen the transformation in the last decade under PM Modi. They have understood the importance of political stability and policy continuity for creating prosperity, wealth and a sense of security in the country. People are going to vote to choose the leader of the nation. Narendra Modi is going to be the leader of the nation once again as this is not the pulse of just Bengaluru but across the nation.
Every candidate, while campaigning, is saying that this is not an election or seat that they are fighting for. So, if a Tejasvi Surya is standing from Bengaluru South, it means that PM Modi is standing from that seat.
That’s exactly what I am trying to say that in all 543 constituencies in the country, the vote is to elect the country’s leader for the next five years. Who is the INDIA bloc leader? They have no clarity. They have no idea who their PM candidate is. They are a confused bloc that resembles what we call ‘chow chow bhath’ here in Karnataka for breakfast. It’s like a dish that is a mixture of everything. They have no cadre on the ground nor any enthusiasm in their camps. This is essentially a one-horse race led by Narendra Modi and the BJP. Be it Bengaluru South or a seat in Arunachal Pradesh, every person is going to vote for Modi for the next five years.
Apart from being an MP, you are also the national president of the youth wing. What are the issues the youth come to you with?
Over the last 10 years, if you look at the vote share of 2014 and 2019, one for the reasons for the prime minister’s immense electoral success has been the youth supporting him solidly. This time around as well, the youth of India will vote for Modi in a huge way as they want corruption-free governance and a stable government. They want more opportunities. The youth are inspirational and for an aspirational society, a fast-growing economy is the only way that will help fulfill their dreams.
Whether it is financial assistance through Jan Dhan, Skill India, Viksit India, doubling number of medical seats, Start-up India or schemes benefitting our young athletes, you will see that most of the prime minister’s schemes are youth-centric or youth-led. That is why youth prefer the BJP as their first-choice party. The young walk up to us and say they want the continuation of clean governance, fast economic growth as jobs are created, want fast infrastructure as they want our country to match first-world countries.
They are fed up with being called a developing country. They want to build a Viksit Bharat and these are the aspirations of young India. The youth also understand that this cannot be achieved without a stable full-majority government. This is why they resonate very effectively with Modiji’s call of ‘Ab ki baar 400 paar’.
You are facing Somya Reddy from the Congress and in the recent assembly polls, there were allegations that on counting day, you sat at the counting centre and things went awry. The Congress also alleges that the BJP is forcing students to attend their party rallies and vote in their favour. How do you respond?
There is one camp that is trying to make noise and then there is another group of volunteers here that is taking the vision of Viksit Bharat to the people. All these questions will be answered by voters on April 26 (voting day) and June 4 (result day). It does not really matter who the opposition candidate is in this election because people are not looking at elections at a local level despite Congress wanting to localise the election. This is a national election, and we are electing MPs to the Parliament of India. We are choosing who is going to be the next prime minister of the country so the opposition candidate does not matter. The vote is to select the country’s leader for the next five years and ensure Modi-ji’s term as PM continues. So it does not matter what news, cacophony, propaganda or theatrics the Opposition is involved in.
Does the low voter turnout in cities like Bengaluru distress you as an MP?
Absolutely. Poor voting turnouts also have a debilitating effect on the political system as they incentivise vested interest groups to influence certain sections of the voting population. Those sections of society who are financially stable, educated, who can understand the big picture and cannot be swayed by immediate temptations, must come out and vote in large numbers for the right choice.
Unfortunately, we saw in the 2019 elections that only 53 per cent people turned out to vote in Bengaluru South. This is a serious concern. My campaign plea has been to increase the voting percentage as it is a civic responsibility. We have a leader like PM Modi who has been working 16-17 hours for the country each day for the last 10 years. Can’t we spare five minutes once in five years to give him another five years to serve us? This is my plea to the people. There was also a sense of indifference amongst voters that their votes did not matter. That is now changing.
The Congress is going to people with their guarantees and schemes, saying like they implemented these in Karnataka and replicated them in Telangana, they would do the same across the country. Apart from seeking votes for PM Modi, what is it that the BJP is bringing to the table?
There is only one guarantee in the country that people believe in and that is Modi’s guarantee. The rest is fluff and propaganda. Let’s not insult the collective intelligence of the people of this country. The voter understands what is important and the only guarantee that people will support is the Modi guarantee.
