Shatrughan Sinha: 'I saw BJP turning into a one-man show and a two-man army. They kept threatening to expel me'
Shatrughan Sinha has joined the Congress, he will be contesting from Patna Sahib and he is lambasting his former party, the BJP, terming it a "one-man show and a two-man army".
Sinha spoke with DailyO on why he joined the Congress and what was keeping him in the BJP all these years — despite his regular tweets against the party.
Q In the last 5 years, you were vocal against the BJP on Twitter — why didn’t you join the Congress party then?
I gave them a complete chance; I always hoped, wished and prayed that wisdom will prevail upon them. They started with not only me but all the tallest leaders. I saw things changing to autocracy, dictatorship or one-man show and two-man army from democracy. I was also waiting for the guidance of all the senior leaders who mattered. I didn't get any sort of protection, communication, there was no dialogue at all. Only rhetoric — but dialogue must continue.
Q Was the BJP giving Ravi Shankar Prasad the Patna Sahib ticket the tipping point for you to resign?
I have nothing personal against him. He is a dear friend of mine. Everybody has the right to fight in a democracy. The thing is that they have been threatening me for the last few months and years, to expel me from the party — I was waiting for them to expel me from the party.
Somehow they didn’t do it — rather, they could not. All of a sudden, without consulting me — the man who won the last time or even before that with the highest margin in the country and before that, I had the highest vote share margin in Bihar — BJP gave the ticket to Prasad secretly.
Q Have you done any development work in Patna Sahib? Name three significant projects?
It’s all there on the internet. I am sure I was able to do. In a transparent manner, whatever work I have done, I have posted it on the net.
I made a haemophilia (an inherited bleeding disorder) aid which is the first in India and the second in Asia. I also got AIIMS to Patna, supporting the Red Cross society and making toilets. I adopted a village with no support from the government. I have spent more than 100% of my constituency fund.
Q How do you see Hema Malini as a politician now?
She is a very lovely lady, a wonderful person. She has been struggling despite winning four to five times. First-timers have been made a minister — but she has never been given a chance. She is too simple and hardly a politician. She is a very good human being.
I cannot say more because she is my family friend.
Q But why should film stars come into politics when they clearly don’t take it seriously?
Firstly, why shouldn’t they come — if a lawyer or farmer can come, then why not film stars? They must come if they have the capacity to struggle, if they understand the subject, love the nation and also if they are aware of what’s happening. Film has glamour and glamour has limited power — whereas politics has power and this power has unlimited glamour.
I think most of them come for that.
Q You were part of the BJP in the Advani years when the Babri mosque was broken. How can you claim to be secular now?
I was there like Atalji also — we were not part of the movement.
Nonetheless, we were part of the party. Everybody believes that the Ram Mandir should be built but made with the consent of the people or the nation or by verdict of the Supreme Court.
I have personally been to Pakistan so many times — the late Zia ul Haq’s daughter, Zen Zia, is like my sister. Everybody knows how much they love me in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and many other such places. It all depends on honesty, transparency and what is the real definition of secularism — ‘sarva dharma sama bhava’, ‘sab jaati sab bhav’ — I firmly believe in that.
Also read: When Basanti came to Mathura: Why Hema Malini is the only (dark) humour in this election!