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Posted on 06 September 2012
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| CURRENT AFFAIRS |
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INTERVIEW |
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'The Governor BL Joshi is anti-Muslim'
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan speaks to Virendra Nath Bhatt about his recent brushes with controversy and his unease with the new crop of party leaders
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Photo: Shailendra Pandey
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Excerpts of interview
Are you happy working with a young chief minister or do you some times face problems due to generation gap?
I am among the few surviving members of the Samajwadi Party who founded the party in October 1992. The party is my family so where is the question of any problem?
For the last six months ever since the SP government came to power you have been involved in one controversy after another?
I have never created any controversy. I just do my work as a minister, and other assignments given to me either by the chief minister or the party. I do my work without arguing. The rest of the ministers in the cabinet are more competent than me, so they work more for the government and their department.
It is said that the root cause of trouble is the state Governor not assenting to a bill granting minority status to the Jauhar University, and the Samajawadi Party not doing enough to exert pressure on the Raj Bhawan?
The Governor BL Joshi is anti-Muslim. He is behaving like a Congress stooge. He is not fit to be the Governor of a state like UP. The Governor informed me that it is beyond the jurisdiction of a state government to grant minority status to any university. But his stand is against the provisions of the constitution. If the Governor is correct then how were several such universities, with minority status, established in UP? Like the Integral University in Lucknow, Teerthankar Mahaveer University in Moradabad and Mangalyatan University in Aligarh?
Did you meet the Governor regarding this bill?
Yes, I met him in early July and apprised him of the constitutional provisions. It was well within his rights to grant approval to the bill for the minority status to the Jauhar University.The Governor should work within his limits; he cannot be the chief minister of the state. If the Congress hates educational institutions set up by Muslims then the governor should send the bulldozers for demolishing the Jauhar University building in Rampur. I appeal to the Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to advise Raj Bhawan to do me some favour. “Thodi kripa hum par bhee kar den”.
The bill was passed in May 2007. You were silent for the last five years. Are you now accusing the Governor of delaying the bill?
After the Assembly passed the bill, Bahujan Samaj Party government came to power, and soon after, the bill was returned by the Raj Bhawan. The bill was placed before the cabinet and it empowered the then Chief Minister Mayawati to take appropriate decision. The BSP is patently anti-muslim party, and as expected, Mayawati did nothing for five years. After the SP came to power the bill was again sent to the Governor for approval, but during the last six months he has neither endorsed nor returned the bill to the state assembly.
While you criticise the Governor and the Congress, why does Mulayam Singh keeps the Congress president Sonia Gandhi in good humour? Is it an attempt to seek her support for the third front?
Mulayam Singh Yadav is attempting to forge a third front not the Congress front. Moreover 2014 is far away.
Is your party considering you as the next candidate from the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in 2014?
As I told you, I am among the founders of the party. I will decide whether I will contest the parliament election or not. If the party decides to field me as candidate in 2014 parliament elections and Netajee (Mulayam Singh) asks me to contest then I will abide by that.
Virendra Nath Bhatt is a Special Correspondent with Tehelka.
virendranathbhatt@gmail.com
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