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With the Narendra Modi government completing nine years, CNN-News18 has been speaking to union ministers about how they think they fared, the current political climate, the Centre’s plans, and the approaching general elections. In an exclusive conversation on Friday, union minister of power and new & renewable energy RK Singh shared all that and also launched a blistering attack on the opposition, particularly Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, for “running down the country”, “corruption”, “freebie culture”, and “vote bank politics”. Edited excerpts:
You are in charge of a critical ministry that has to deliver on a lot of promises to champion the growth story. How have you done so far?
We have delivered. This government under PM Modi, has actually changed the power sector entirely. It is totally different from what it was when we came into office in 2014. When we came to power, the power deficit in India was about 9-10%. Today our peak demand has gone up from 1 lakh 35,000 megawatts in 2014 to 2 lakh 12,000 megawatts today. But we have established a capacity of 416000 megawatts. In fact, we added almost 184000 megawatts capacity, and today we export power to our neighbouring countries. Power deficit to power surplus. We’ve connected the whole country to one grid. We added about 180 thousand circuit kilometres spanning the whole country and we’ve connected areas as far as Leh Ladakh, spanning some of the highest passes in the world.
Today we can transfer about 112 thousand megawatts from one part of the country to another. In 2014, we could only transfer about 37 thousand megawatts. We spent almost Rs 2,12,000 crores on distribution companies. We built almost 2,912 new substations, upgraded 3,980 sub-stations, added almost 8 and a half lakh circuit kilometres of HT lines, LT lines, and almost 750,000 new transformers. The net result of all this has been that one independent survey carried out in 2015 said the availability of power in rural areas is about 12 and a half hours. Today it is 22 and a half hours. In the urban areas, it is 23 and a half hours. That’s the difference we made totally as far as the power sector is concerned. We brought in ease of doing business.
You have done a lot RK Singh ji. But we have Rahul Gandhi abroad. As a bureaucrat in the past, as a neta now…The people he is engaging with and what he is communicating there…Your thoughts?
These people…I would say substandard almost. Rahul Gandhi doesn’t get any audience here. He does not have any following here. He lost his seat and he had to go somewhere where the vote bank would enable him to win. After that he abused a whole community, the OBC community, and some people filed a case. Now he got convicted through a judicial court, and because of the conviction, he lost his seat as per law. And he goes and says he has been unfairly convicted…he has filed an appeal. He should let the law take its course. He says he was unfairly ejected from Parliament. Utterly shameful thing it is.
He misleads people out there. He gathers 100-200 people in a hall and gets an audience…I think the number of people coming out to hear him is not more than 100-300 even there, and here also the number will be similar. The thing I have noticed is that you have people in the Congress who go abroad to sort of run down their country abroad. Do you see any other leader from any other country doing this? Running down their country abroad? No other leader in any other country does that.
These people have a habit of going to other countries and running down their own country. A country that the whole world is hailing for a rapid rate of growth…They have independent assessment, IMF, World Bank…They all carry out surveys, and we have emerged as the fastest-growing economy in the world. Everybody is hailing us for that. And these people run down the country abroad. It is shameful. They have no pride in their country. Shameful. You have somebody like Salman Khurshid who goes to Pakistan, to the Pakistan military training centre, and runs down the country. Utterly shameful. What kind of people are these?
In their point of view, they are not running down the country, but they are opening up a front against the government, and especially against PM Narendra Modi. Now you are also seeing opposition unity against the PM.
You know the reality and I know the reality. These people can’t stomach anybody outside Gandhi Parivar becoming the Prime Minister. You have become irrelevant. Accept it. The family doesn’t work anymore. Accept it. They don’t accept it. They find it very difficult to accept it. This fellow lost one seat, he ran away to some other place to get elected. I’m quite sure he will lose that seat as well. If he goes there, he does zero development, why should they vote for him?
But there are others in the opposition too. Take Bihar RJD. They compared the new parliament, which is designed on the Shree Yantra…They compared it with a coffin…
Just imagine. What do you say to corrupt and illiterate people? The people who are involved in corruption. Over fodder, over appointments. They have taken money from poor people, land from those who don’t have money, for appointments. And they walk around, swelling their chests. And then they lecture? Corrupt…Do they have a heart? They should be ashamed. Aren’t they the same people? Can you imagine? You have got someone to sign over land to you, there is going to be a record and you will get caught at some point.
But there are allegations against you and your government, with Rahul Gandhi saying that what was the condition of the Dalits in the 1980s is the condition today of Muslims, Sikhs and tribals.
This has been the vote bank of the Congress. It’s not a new thing. From the beginning, the Congress party has tried making the minority a vote bank. They have used the vote bank, not done anything for them but said that they can only protect them. This is their philosophy. The people have understood it now and that’s why they didn’t vote for them.
But now in every election, the one thing everyone promises is free electricity. Arvind Kejriwal started it. We saw this in Karnataka. Ashok Gehlot ji is also saying this. Everyone is saying it. This culture of freebies is being led by free electricity.
These people are not worried about the country’s future. This is not free electricity. They have to pay for the electricity because coal is not free. The labourer who works in the thermal plant has to be paid. Transmission line has to be paid for. Electricity is not free. One has to pay. If you want consumers shouldn’t pay, then they should pay from their budget.
The problem is the states that are saying ‘electricity free’, we have seen the figures. The revenues are 20-25% their own, 75% comes from taxes collected by the Centre…the revenue received goes in their salary, pensions, old loans…Money is not left after that. For freebies, they have to borrow. They are putting pressure on the coming generations and we are in this state that to pay for the old loans, we are taking new loans. They are pushing us into a debt trap. They want to distribute the budget money and come to office.
Also, I have made this arrangement, that give free electricity if you want. If you don’t pay for the electricity you get, your power will be cut automatically. We made it automatic and we can’t do anything. At first, 12-13 distribution companies’ electricity got cut, and they paid…but the national thermal plants from which they are taking electricity, that has to be paid for, or else electricity will be cut. We made this system so that if they do irresponsible politics, then they have to pay or have their electricity cut.
Surveys are saying the BJP remains popular, its popularity has grown by 2-3 per cent. The PM remains popular, But the Congress’s popularity has grown by 10 per cent. Is it worrying for 2024, or is the path clear for your party?
How is there any popularity of Congress? This sounds like the Seventh Wonder of the World…I don’t consider it right. If you ask who should become the PM, 99 per cent people will say Narendra Modi, 1-2 per cent will say someone else. No one will say Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, or Khargeji. Ask them.
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