Devendra Fadnavis Most Hard-Hitting Interview With Arnab Ahead Of Maharashtra Polls | Key Takeaways

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that Haryana Assembly election results have busted the atmosphere and ecosystem that Rahul Gandhi is everything that he was winning election. It also destroyed opposition's fake narrative on reservation and constitution which was formed during the Lok Sabha elections. The results have definitely boosted our morale.    

Speaking to Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in a most hard hitting interview ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Devendra Fadnavis spoke about Rahul Gandhi 's caste politics, urban naxals, politics of appeasement, Uddhav Thackeray, Mahayuthi's CM face among others.

People like development agenda more than caste, says Fadnavis  

On being asked whether Indians are more interested in caste or nationalistic politics, Devendra Fadnavis said that caste politics is a reality and it comes and goes during the elections but you can’t win polls just being dependent on it. In general, people like the agenda of development more than the caste, however, adding up the caste factor with others impact results.

Politicians are more casteist than the voters who are more of a nationalist, however, politicians who seek votes in the name of caste want them to remain divided.

Further speaking on caste politics, Devendra Fadnavis said that Rahul Gandhi is a very confused person adding he says something abroad, talks about ending reservation and comes back to the country and say something else.

Urban naxals polluting young minds, wants to weaken our democracy, electoral process, Fadnavis' big claim 

When asked who are urban naxals as PM Modi has also raised this issue and whether people understand this, Fadnavis said that people with ultra-leftist mindset understood that there are no new recruitment in Naxalites, so these anarchist and ultra-leftist people took this ideology to universities and started polluting the young minds, feeding with information to turn them anti-establishment, anarchist by telling them that the country’s judiciary and institutions are all wrong. 

You see when judiciary takes decision in their (urban naxals) favour then they welcome it but are against institutions when decisions don't go in their favour, Fadnavis added.

“So people with ultra-leftists mindset or urban naxals are trying to weaken our democracy and constitution,” Fadnavis added.

Fadnavis on foreign powers attacking Indian institutions  

Arnab shared his view with Fadnavis that this is the first time when a political party is officially saying they don’t accept the mandate of the people ( Haryana election result), so is there a planned strategy to undermine our democratic and electoral process? 

Responding to Arnab, Fadnavis said, “…attempts are being made but in India they will never be successful because our democracy is deep-rooted. Rahul walks with constitution in his hand but I think there are no pages in it and it's just an empty cover because his actions are not according to the constitution.”

“Rahul Gandhi accepts the election result in Jammu and Kashmir saying it's against the BJP but rejects Haryana . How can he double-talk on one single day,” Fadnavis said.

“It's a planned conspiracy to attack our country's institutions… foreign powers are also involved… Rahul Gandhi is acting like their tool and it appears the way he behaves,” Fadnavis added.

Responding to when asked, Is the BJP on the back backfoot after Lok Sabha results because people are saying there is no aggression which was visible earlier in the party, Devendra Fadnavis said that there is no such confusion… we decided for a long jump in the Lok Sabha elections but realised that we couldn’t do it though still it was a record… so we went a little back and now we are coming back after doing an introspection. 

Is joining hands with Ajit Pawar a mistake? Fadnavis responds  

When asked whether joining hands with Ajit Pawar was a mistake, Fadnavis said that the alliance is going very good and there is no problem. Ideologically, we have remained diagonally opposite and I won't hesitate in saying that somewhere our core voters did not like our alliance with Ajit Pawar but we are trying to tell them that the condition and situation were such that the three parties had to come together to support the arithmetic for the welfare of the people.

However, the vote transfer didn't happen the way we expected, he added.

When asked is there any tension in Mahayuti, the Deputy Chief Minister responded by saying that there is no such tension.

Uddhav indulging in ‘tushtikaran’ – politics of appeasement, says Fadnavis  

Devendra Fadnavis hit out at former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over his statement that the latter was the last hope for Muslims while terming it the ‘new Hindutva’ saying they have rejected the Hindutva of Fadnavis and PM Modi. 

Fadnavis further said that his party doesn't do discrimination on caste, religion and is not indulged in tushtikaran.

Fadnavis on Maratha reservation 

When asked has the Maratha reservation become a hot potato for his government, Fadnavis explained the history behind the demand and challenged the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to give in writing that they will provide Maratha reservation. 

Fadnavis talks about development work in Maharashtra  

Devendra Fadnavis said that their government is coming up with new mega ports, airports, data centres adding that Maharashtra is going to be the gateway for India to become world's third largest economy.

Fadnavis informed that they are constructing a 3-time bigger port than the JNPT which will be counted among the top 10 ports in the world. He said that one of the development agenda for the next two decades is to develop India as a maritime power.

The Deputy chief minister also informed that right now Maharashtra produces 40,000 Mega Watt of power and is adding the capacity of 45,000 MW more. The Prime Minister's vision is to generate 50 per cent of India's power capacity using renewable resources.

He also said that the government is investing in 27000 Mega Watt pump storage projects in the western ghats which will also help the  Marathwada region's drought issue. 

Mega road network projects are also coming up to make the state logistically important.

Country’s first integrated industrial township is also coming up on Delhi-Mumbai corridor, Toyota has already invested there.

Fadnavis said that data is the new oil, is the future and Navi Mumbai is being shaped as a future city as country’s 65  per cent data capacity is being prepared in this city.

"We are making new airports, ports, and an all around development is taking place in Maharashtra , the state is being developed as a fintech capital which it is already and is also going forward as the start-up capital.