In an exclusive interview with NewsX, Priya Sahgal, Editorial Director of NewsX, ITV Network, and Author, spoke with Captain Sachin Pilot about the narrative surrounding Rahul dodging Amethi, religion, reservation, and Rajasthan. He emphasized the Congress party’s focus on substantive issues over personality-driven politics, highlighting the positive agenda outlined in their manifesto. Pilot expressed confidence in the united opposition’s prospects in the ongoing elections, citing historical precedents of electoral reversals. Critically, he dissected the BJP’s governance record, spotlighting failures in addressing key issues like unemployment and income disparity. Pilot also underscored the erosion of democratic norms under the current regime, stressing the need for inclusive governance and accountability.
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Priya Sahgal asked, “I think the Congress has a good manifesto. I will say that for you because in the last few years’ elections, you were on the backfoot, but now at least the focus is on issues where they are more focused on the face. Again, how successful do you feel you’ve been in bringing out issues other than making it a Rahul vs Modi fight? Was it a plan? We won’t show a face?”
To which Sachin Pilot replied, “Maybe. I think if you recall in 2009, also people asked if Manmohan Singh, do the faces when you need the face? And she says, you know, the Congress party is the face. And now also, I don’t know, India, of course, has a sitting prime minister. But in the alliance, we decided and in a very frank and open discussion among the partner allies that we will take a decision of who will get what position once we secured a mandate. What I get today is to safeguard what we stand for.”
Sachin Pilot added, “We have a united opposition and to come to the people of India about what we believe is a very abysmal report card of the last ten years, the dominant character. And people have accepted that. And somehow the BJP is attacking our manifesto, which is purely a positive agenda. It is unnecessarily attacking among us by telling and mentioning all these things, which are so unfounded and weightless. So it’s helping get traction to our manifesto, which is working for us, I think.”
She questioned, “Despite the fact they don’t have power, they are still ahead, maybe not 400 par 300?”
Sachin Pilot answered, “Only 3 phases have been done, and the so-called sympathizers of the India BJP are realizing that, you know, the ground is slipping, they are on the back foot and our candidates are surging ahead. As the phases go by, you will see it doesn’t take much. In 2004, the vice president was very confident of initiating giving up, you know, a winning line to the campaign. Ultimately, it was a total reversal. And I think 20 years later. Exactly the same thing is going to happen on this 4th of June counting day, remember.”
“Losers don’t know why they have lost and winners don’t know why they won,” she remarked.
Pilot continued, “I mean, I certainly think that purely if you look at the things BJP spoke about in 2014, rice, unemployment, corruption, black money, on all those four fronts, they have got nothing to show for the last ten years. You talk about Mandir Masjid, Muslim, Hindu mangalsutra. You know, I think that’s a reaction to the reality that in ten years you have not been able to deliver. In fact, we have the highest recorded unemployment. We have huge inflation. The farming sector is in distress. And for me, I think what is far more worrying is the fact that the gap between rich and poor has become so much, the rich have become super rich and the poor have really fallen back. So that also is because of the faulty economic policies. For example: Agniveer. There’s no need to cut off all recruitment and have only Agniveer. How is that justifiable? So these things are, you know, people it is an intelligent to look at the idea that they feel guilty for what reason of being deprived of having only four years of service. I think a lot of people also think that we have a government for the last ten years they have put two sitting ministers in jail. They have seized the bank account of the Congress Party. It took the Supreme Court to intervene and give us relief.”
“You have 147 members being suspended in a single day and then getting bills passed at the back door. So all these do not bode well for the future. And people are worried about the development and the attitude the government has worked with in the last ten years,” he concluded.
