Rahul-Priyanka are not introverts but they look down on others: Arun Jaitley

If the BJP comes to power, he is the man who could be in charge of India’s economy. Arun Jaitley, the suave and articulate master strategist of the saffron camp, was in Varanasi leading Narendra Modi’s campaign when he spoke to Sanjay Basak about the economy and politics.

If the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power, what would be your priorities on the economic front?

In order to restore confidence in the Indian economy, one needs to expedite the decision-making process — clearance of all pending projects and investment proposals.

One needs to create a new mechanism for grant of approvals. This mechanism needs to involve the states simultaneously and will have to have an investor-friendly approach.

The government of the day will have to indicate an ease in doing business in India. We also need to have stability in terms of policy, particularly fiscal policy, so that people can plan business in India.

What will be the main target areas?

One needs to target areas which are, in a sense, low-hanging fruit. Therefore, infrastructure and real estate — that is, urban and suburban townships. This entails urbanisation and suburbanisation, rural housing, tourism and skill development because of our large population. The fifth area is not a low-hanging fruit and is a more challenging area. Here one needs to initiate the process of low-cost manufacturing targeting areas where it is more easily achievable.

What would be the priority areas?

They will be economy, security, probity and chapter leadership. Chapter leadership will include decision-making reaching out to the states. But there are problems of partisanship. States are not often on the same page. That’s what Narendra Modi has been saying and we have also indicated. Earlier we had a departmental-level consultation before proposals were sanctioned.

Projects worth thousands of crores were in the pipeline and were not being cleared. The Manmohan Singh government started the Cabinet Committee on Investment but the CCI had no participation of the states. You have to provide comfort levels to the states. Advaniji had the best of relations with West Bengal chief minister and CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Why can’t we develop that? We will be open and fair minded.

How do you intend to change that?

We have been contemplating initiating a process where there can be simultaneous participation of the states in the Central decision-making process so that it cuts down complications and becomes more of a single-window clearance rather than a ping-pong of investment proposals.

Also, the United Progressive Alliance looked at the political colour of the state governments while sanctioning or obstructing proposals or projects. For instance, states like Orissa were special targets for creating obstacles.

And the environment ministry?

Environment ministry was used both for obstructing and delaying proposals and also for a non-legislative tax.

The Land Acquisition Act could be one of the key problems for investment by manufacturing giants. Any rethink on that?

One cannot change things immediately. There are many political obstacles. Fortunately, there are exemptions for industrial corridors in the Land Acquisition Act — stray industrial projects might not be covered but industrial corridors are protected.

As for the states, if some states take a severe partisan stance I cannot say. But normally no state government likes killing projects which are in favour of the state. No state will say my state does not want the project.

What were the UPA’s shortcomings in this regard?

The UPA’s problem was that there were three power centres of which two were extremely introvertish. Dr Singh was genuinely an introvert, he could not reach out and Mrs Sonia Gandhi too was an introvert.

And Rahul Gandhi?

Rahul probably looked down on others. This brother and sister (Rahul-Priyanka) are not introverts, but they look down on others. The expression “neech” (low) is an example of looking down on others. (Priyanka Gandhi recently attacked Mr Modi for indulging in low-level politics — “neech rajneeti”)

Do you think that the Congress is indulging in caste politics?

(Laughs) I don’t know what politics the Congress is indulging in. They created Telangana and now people say that they’ll lose all 17 seats in Telangana and all 25 in Seemandhra. They came up with Jat reservation thinking this would consolidate Jat support in four states. While Jats did not vote for them, OBCs got upset in the process. When things go wrong they go horribly wrong.

Bihar is witnessing the resurgence of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Lalu’s rise is because of Nitish Kumar’s exit. Not because of the rise of the BJP.

Do you think the political discourse has gone down during this election?

It’s a problem with media. In every election there are aberrations and sideshows. In the larger context, they go down as footnotes. Today the role and significance of the print media has been overshadowed by the electronic media. The electronic media is setting the agenda.

A harsh word on electronic media will occupy full space and the next day it will be all over the entire media. But at the end of the day these are only sideshows; these are not the core of the campaign. Also, every election has personalised comments. Kis election mein nahin hua?

Coming to foreign relations, Bangladesh has not taken kindly to Mr Modi’s comment against “illegal immigrants” in West Bengal.

There’s a fundamental difference between an infiltrator and a refugee. One who cannot stay in a country for his political and religious views and has to leave is a refugee and those who come for economic opportunities without legal and valid documents are infiltrators. For instance, Taslima Nasreen — she is a Muslim and she is a refugee as, because of her political views, she can’t return to her country.

Today there are only two per cent Hindus left in Pakistan. In Ajmer, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Indore and other areas thousands of Hindus have come during the last one-and-a-half years. In Bangladesh, Hindus have come down to 10 per cent from 30 per cent. If Sikhs are moved out of Uganda and have nowhere else to go but India, won’t we give them refugee status? Any person of Indian origin who feels persecuted can come to India.

What about Pakistan and China ?

We will try for friendly relations with our neighbours. With China, we will try to settle boundary disputes. When Vajpayeeji was PM, we did appoint a mechanism for the boundary dispute with China, but it was China which did not have a positive attitude.

As for Pakistan, we’d like to improve relations but the onus for this is on Pakistan. In 2004, there was a clear arrangement between Mr Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan territory will not be used for terrorist activities. So Indo-Pak relation will depend on developments within Pakistan.