Shanta Kumar Shanta Kumar

Do you agree that the announcement of Prem Kumar Dhumal as CM candidate was rather delayed?

The BJP will benefit from his being the face. I have welcomed the announcement. I have told him that we have got a major opportunity. He should take everybody along.

Do you feel there was no better choice?

The decision of the CM candidate depends on the party leadership.

Why is Shanta Kumar, the vocal leader, so quiet now?

Aisa nahin hai. See, I am in a party and have to abide by party discipline… There are certain things that I say only at party level.

Is Himachal ready for the BJP after the debates over saffronisation and intolerance?

Himachal has always embraced people from all walks, irrespective of caste. In my area, Chamba, there are many Muslims but there has never been any disharmony… The state has accepted the BJP four times. We are often accused of a Hindutva agenda… Hindutva is being misunderstood. And our own people are responsible for this misunderstanding… I have raised it within the party, that such leaders should be stopped. Yeh Hindutva nahi nhai jo woh kehte hain (what they talk of is not Hindutva). Hindutva is what Vivekananda said… You find God in your own way, but don’t fight over the ways… If somebody fights over it, he is not a Hindu. Isliye thodi thodi galtiyan hamare kuch logon se bhi hoti hain (some mistakes are made by our own people). And we are being misunderstood… This is not the Hindutva the BJP swears by.

Is dissidence a worry in your stronghold, Kangra, a district that can swing the poll?

There have been some incidents. Much has been taken care of, much will be. I think we will win with a record number of votes… In 1990, we contested 51 seats and won 46. Kangra then had 16 seats; we won 13 and our alliance partner two… Then, we were not a big party, we did not have our government at the Centre, Narendra Modi was not the Prime Minister, the Congress was not struggling to survive as it is today. So I tell them, there is nothing that is not going the BJP way.

In your hometown, Palampur, your protégé Parveen Sharma is contesting against the BJP’s Indu Goswami. Why did you not prevail on the party to field him, or on him to withdraw?

Neither the party nor Parveen paid any heed to me. I am in strange agony. I don’t want to say anything. I don’t think about it now.

Are you campaigning in Palampur?

I am… Campaign karenge lekin pain ke saath.

There is discontent in BJP against Goswami…

Main kuch nahi kehna chahta.

There were reports that you wanted to withdraw from the campaign after Parveen was left out.

No. I am campaigning…. Apni baat maine kahi (I put my point across).

Will you be back in state politics?

I will not be in active politics. I will not contest any election. I am in the party but I will spend more time with my Vivekananda Trust. I have spent 64 long years in politics.

Why this disenchantment?

I am worried about all politics, the degradation of political values, compromise with principles. We have not been able to do much for the poor, even after 70 years of Independence. Main to yeh chahta hu ke desh ki rajneeti adarshon par chale, aur samjhautawadi na ho.

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