IANS/New Delhi
Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief ministerial candidate in Delhi, Kiran Bedi, has said rightwing activists orchestrating alleged conversion have been reined in by the party leadership.
“They are fringes. Fringes have been stopped, they have been given the message. The message has been conveyed in the party leadership’s own style,” Bedi said during the Aap Ki Adalat TV show yesterday.
Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the campaign for ‘gharvapsi’ (homecoming), she said: “How do you know Modi is silent? The problem is, some things are conveyed through media, some other things are decided within the party. I think the leadership should have this right and the PM should not speak on every issue.”
The former police officer said the prime minister “is trying to solve the nation’s problems seriously and he speaks very carefully about what to say publicly and who to say in the Sangh, in the party. Sangh, or sangat, is a collective. But the message is very clear, the agenda is single ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ (all together for everyone’s benefit),” Bedi said.
However, she also said that homecoming was not a crime. “Neither is gharwapsi a crime, nor conversion a crime. Everybody in India has the right to convert from one religion to another voluntarily, but the law say, conversion through coercion is crime”, she added.
“The BJP says if there is any problem with conversion let there be a debate and a law be enacted. But you can’t ban conversions. You’ve to give the right of choice.”
Fielding questions about Muslims being wary of her, Bedi said she has not practiced discrimination in her career. “Ask any Muslim brother, whether I practiced discrimination in any of my work. For me, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians all are same.
“Twenty-one years ago, when I was filling up the All India Civil Services form, I wrote ‘humanity’ against the religion column. Humanity encompasses all religions. Muslims are Indians. We have made our nation as a bouquet.”
Asked if Muslims were wary about the BJP, Bedi said: “It’s the party which has nominated me. Am I different from my party?”
Bedi criticised Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, saying he had not only lied to Delhi voters but even misled social activist Anna Hazare before he staged a hunger strike against corruption.
“He (Kejriwal) sat on fast without taking permission from Anna, then called Anna. ...You can ask him… Anna didn’t even know what the fast was meant for. He (Kejriwal) was adamant over sitting on fast. His motive was to reach parliament. So the very foundation (of his entering politics) was based on a lie.”
On Kejriwal’s remark that she was not a challenge to him, but for the BJP leaders, Bedi said: “He has many challenges. He just doesn’t understand. The main challenge is from the public, the voters, whether they will trust him again or not.”
“The voters are wary, whether he will run away again and force another election. His motive was always - sadak (road) to sansad (parliament). Let’s still wish him well. But will the voters forget his list of lies? The list is too long. I have seen him lie.”
She also criticised Kejriwal for asking voters to take bribes from BJP and Congress, and vote for AAP. “He is teaching corruption to the people, he is corrupting them. Why didn’t he say, refuse money if you are offered, and vote for me?”
Bedi said reports that some BJP leaders were dissatisfied with her projection as the chief ministerial candidate were “exaggerated.”
Asked how BJP leaders who had served the party for 40 years would tolerate her as a chief ministerial candidate who is a new entrant, Bedi replied: “I have seen one good quality among them. The credit goes to their history, the workers. Once a collective decision is taken, they all fall in line, in the sense, they all work together. It is a disciplined party.”
She also revealed that it was senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley who facilitated her entry into the party.
“Arun Jaitley played a strong role in my entry, that’s the truth. And not him alone, others too... but he played an instrumental role in my coming into the BJP.”
Outlining her 6P agenda for the people of Delhi, she said the “6Ps” include principals and parents, community policing, prison reforms, fast prosecution and the press.
Kiran Bedi is seen with BJP veteran L K Advani in New Delhi. The party’s chief ministerial candidate met Advani to seek his blessings.
