Sunday Interview: ‘The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister should resign’

Former home secretary and now BJP MP R.K. Singh speaks to Namrata Biji Ahuja on the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh and the Modi government’s possible shift in J&K strategy.

Can we term the incident in Badaun a breakdown of the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh?

The law and order situation in a state can only improve if there is governance. In Uttar Pradesh, there is a complete absence of governance. The Samajwadi Party is running the state administration as their family fiefdom. Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and their Yadav clan are all running it. If you do not have the intention to work and officers are posted with extraneous considerations and merit is no consideration then there will be a collapse of the state machinery sooner than later. Traditionally, the SP has a worse record than the Bahujan Samaj Party. Successive tenures of the SP government in the state have proved their inability in dealing with law and order. What amazes me is the misfortune of Uttar Pradesh which is oscillating between the SP and the BSP.

How can the situation in Uttar Pradesh be controlled?

It is very clear that law and order has collapsed in Uttar Pradesh. The state government does not have the ability to control the situation. When things get worse, the Central government does not have much choice but to impose President’s Rule. It is my personal view that President’s Rule should be imposed in Uttar Pradesh. The Badaun case is not a single incident of crime against women in the state. Lady judges are not safe in Uttar Pradesh, the incidents in Aligarh and then in Bareilly are evidence enough to show that there has been a complete breakdown of the law enforcement machinery and that criminals are having a free run.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government is at the Centre. Why doesn’t it intervene?

I believe that the Central government has pulled up the state government. The home ministry has sent out a tough message. But I think they need to send a harsher message.

Do you think Uttar Pradesh is a fit case for invoking Article 355 — where the Union government can decide, suo motu, whether the situation in a state calls for the deployment of Central forces?

Yes, the Central government should do that. Article 355 of the Constitution of India deals with the duty of the Union to protect states against external aggression and internal disturbance. Remember, this is the same state government where one minister lost seven buffaloes and the entire state machinery was pressed into action to find the buffaloes. Now women are being raped in the same state and the state government has no control whatsoever and is, instead, making insensitive comments.

How do you see the political situation emerging for the 2017 Assembly elections?

The people’s intentions are very clear. BSP supremo Mayawati has been wiped out in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. The SP won only those seats where members of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s clan contested. Law and order is going to be a major issue in the Assembly elections. People had thought that Akhilesh Yadav will be different, that he’ll do something for the state and that’s why they gave him a chance. But under Akhilesh’s rule the state has deteriorated further and there is no clear leadership in the party or the government under his rule.

What are the chances of the BJP in the Assembly polls?

The stage is set for a third alternative in the state which is fed up with both the BSP and the SP. The performance of the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls has shown that people have voted for the third alternative. The people’s verdict is clear. In fact, the SP government should take a leaf out of Bihar where Nitish Kumar resigned after he lost the mandate to rule. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister should resign.

You have served in the Union home ministry under Sushilkumar Shinde and before that P. Chidambaram in the United Progres-sive Alliance regime. Now the Narendra Modi government is focusing on critical issues. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, the BJP government is pushing for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri pandits in the Valley. Do you think the UPA government in the last 10 years did not do enough?

The Union home ministry had drawn up a package for the Kashmiri pandits. But they were not going back as they were not happy with the package. It was not lucrative enough for them. So we asked the state government to rework the package. It is work-in-progress and I think the BJP government will roll out the reworked package soon. But there are multiple problems facing J&K. The panchayat elections are a must in the state. These elections happened once and since then there has been no forward movement. Former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde had visited the state during his tenure in the ministry. The panchayat elections had just concluded then. The minister, I was told later, raised the issue of reservation for SC/STs in the local elections. This resulted in a logjam since the state government would have had to make provisions and the already held panchayat polls would have come under a cloud. I had to tell the minister that there would be a negative implication on the entire process which had taken place after much difficulty and amidst serious security concerns.

Another challenge facing the BJP government would be the security concerns along the India-Pakistan border. As the American troops withdraw from Afghanistan, we need to deploy more forces along the Line of Control and strengthen our forces along the international border.

A fresh challenge has already been thrown up before the home ministry under Rajnath Singh in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. The CBI has written to the home ministry seeking sanction for the prosecution of former Intelligence Bureau special director Rajinder Kumar and a few other IB officers for their alleged role in the encounter. During your tenure in the ministry, you had sided with the IB. Your comments.

Yes, my stand has been very clear that it was a bonafide anti-terror operation in which Pakistani terrorists were gunned down who were planning to target Mr Modi. I had thrown my weight behind the IB. I think the home ministry should deny the prosecution sanction. I have maintained that any case being made out against the IB officials in the Ishrat Jahan case has serious national security implications and would dip the morale of the force.