Dr. Dang’s take on morality in politics, SP, BSP and BJP

From being President of BHU, Dr. Sarjit Singh Dang has come a long way. He has remained MLA from Mirzapur in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996 and has only lost the last 2002 election. He has also remained a Cabinet Minister in UP Government and is presently the spokesman of the Party. More importantly, he is known as an honest person who speaks his heart and in spite of being an MLA 4 times in a row, keeps a humble profile. Hi Time Express talked to Dr. Dang, a professional doctor whose chief hobby is to play cards with friends and know his take on present Government, on the state of affairs in his own party and its chances of coming back and other related issues.
Dr. Dang is extremely critical of the 3-year tenure of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government. He says: “The whole state knows it is a mafia state, a goonda state. There is no law and order. Whoever is looking after affairs – be it SSP or DM – they all have paid huge amounts to get a posting. And the local goondas of SP are running the whole districts. There is land grabbing. Not even a single appointment has been done without money.”
Says he further: “Other than Etawah, Rampur, Lucknow and perhaps Hardoi, where in UP are people getting electricity. All type of epidemics are rising due to callous attitude of Govt. But priority is berozgari bhatta, making the youths beggars. First you do not provide jobs and when you do, you charge huge money. What is the purpose of distributing berozgari allowance?” “Not even a single new industry has come up in 3 years. Education is in tatters. All these frustrated youths, what will they do?” adds he.
On Mayawati, Dr. Dang says: “Who doesn’t know she charges huge amounts of money from the candidates. I want to address dalits. People are paying such huge amounts because they now that by paying they are buying a chunk of votes. She is treating Dalits like buffaloes and goats.” He further says: “What has she done when she was CM thrice. She lives in luxury and knows nothing of the plight of dalits.”
“Dual face of politician is a hypocrisy that is killing the nation,” says he. I was an MLA four times, but earned no money. But I have seen people talk ill of honest men these days. I saw this happen with Harbans Kapur, who was an MLA with me, and a honest man indeed. It is a very old dictum: ‘You get what you deserve.’ Since the mindset of people has changed, they are getting these types of governments.”
Replying to a query on the present state of politics, Dr. Dang says: “Politics is running away from the basic fundamentals of human values. Definition of good leaders has changed with mafia and corrupt people joining politics. “Dual face of politician is a hypocrisy that is killing the nation,” says he. I was an MLA four times, but earned no money. But I have seen people talk ill of honest man.”
Of honest in BJP, he says: “I will never say 100% of BJP leaders are honest. But comparatively, they are far far far better than others. Here corruption, dishonesty, insincerity is an exception; in other parties, it is a rule. In BJP, if you find somebody bad, it creates a very bad impression.
On sectarian issues, Dr. Dang says: “The womb of your mother should not decide your fate as a citizen of a nation. Nobody gets born in a family or religion because of his own choice. In BJP, we are trying to tell the people, particularly the Muslim minority that they are not a vote bank for us. We are not going to satisfy their demands that are not in interest of nation. Otherwise, we will do justice to you. Whether you go to church, or to mosque, gurudwara or temple – you go to worship the one and only power.”
He calls sarcastically Azam Khan as Azam Khan the great, on lines of Akbar – the great, because his idol is Mohammad Ali Jauhar and for belittling Gandhi. “If such elements are there, there is a reaction to it, as everybody is not as balanced as you and me,” says he adding that “Gujarat riots were a reaction to Godhra incident.” “All of a sudden there was a reaction, I do not approve it, but the reaction happened because nobody – neither CPI, nor SP, nor Congress – spoke when the train burnt.”
Coming back to morality, Dr. Dang says that the root cause should be treated. Religion and its values should be separated from fundamentalism. He is confident that BJP’s chances of coming back to power in the forthcoming UP Assembly elections are increasing compared to 3-4 months back when they were very bleak. “SP will be routed. I cannot say whether BSP or BJP will be number one.”