Madhya Pradesh CM says win in local polls a sign that Vyapam's a non-issue, calls Rahul Gandhi immature
If there's no political consensus on the Modi government's land acquisition law, then states that value the necessity of such a law should be allowed to go ahead and implement the rules, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh chief minister and an influential voice in Bharatiya Janata Party, told ET. A central law is not a must for states focussed on development, the electorally successful Chouhan said.
Fringe Hindu elements who have voiced extreme voiced extreme views aren't a part of either BJP's or India's idea of social arrangements, Chouhan, widely reckoned to be a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh favourite, said over the course of an extensive interaction with ET.
On Rahul Gandhi, who has been vocal about the land law as well as demanding Chouhan's resignation over the Vyapam controversy, the CM said the Congress vice-president is yet to be “politically mature“. “How can you carry on saying ours is a suit-boot ki sarkar?“ Chouhan said, arguing such rhetoric betrays poor political thinking. Chouhan said the recent bitterness in Parliament was unprecedented and that nothing like this was evident when he was a member of the House in the early 1990s.
The CM, fresh from a big and, by the reckoning of pundits, an unexpected electoral victory in local ur ban polls in Madhya Pradesh, said the National Democratic Alliance government's land law was aimed at promoting greater public good.
“There is nothing wrong in acquiring land...So we said in the prime minister's meeting at Niti Aayog, if there is controversy and some states don't want to bring in the law, let them not do it...So, free me. Let me con vince my people,“ he said.
His argument that some policies should follow the federal structure -where states have the freedom to enact rules on big issues -was as politically significant as his dismissal of Vyapam as both an electoral issue and one that puts a question mark on his government. “I am not surprised at all. Elections are not won by slo gans. They are won by good work. I knew people looked at my administration favourably,“ Chouhan said when asked about BJP's success in local polls after Congress went to battle on the Vyapam issue.
The CM also insisted all Vyapam allegations against him must countenance the fact that he “ordered the probe“, that it was he who regular ised entrance examinations to gov ernment jobs, and that the Vyapam controversy is restricted to “0.01%“ of total admissions.
Chouhan laughingly parried a question on the possibility of his coming to Delhi for a big national role, saying he was “happy“ in Madhya Pradesh, but admitted that he should market his state better nationally .
The Economic Times, New Delhi, 24th August 2015
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