‘Bulldozer action not part of our tradition’: MP CM Yadav

On completing of one year of his government in Madhya Pradesh, chief minister Mohan Yadav spoke to SRK Nation on array of issues, including his vision for the state, the reduction of bulldozer action in past one year, and court’s interim order on the Places of Worship Act.

You took over as CM from Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was in the post for almost 20 years. How has your approach been different since you have taken over? The work was new, and there were challenges for me. Our BJP government was in power for long time, and it was being run by Shivraj ji with his own identity. It’s right that I was very junior as compared to Shivraj ji, but I took his work forward and I got support of everyone including him. I don’t have any personal agenda and I concentrated on my administrative capability, which was taught to me during the training as a Swayamsevak, and I bore the responsibility handed to me.

The Supreme Court put a hold on bulldozer justice. After UP, MP demolished the maximum number of properties of people who were accused of different crimes. What is your view on the order? As I said earlier, bulldozer action is not a part of our tradition, and I never favoured it. I welcome the decision as illegal houses should be demolished after following all the legal process. We will take action against the accused according to law.

The Supreme Court has also halted all proceedings in courts regarding claims of temples in mosques and dargahs across India till it decides on the petition challenging the Worship Act. How do you see it?

When people ask me how I feel when courts are moved to reclaim land, I always say I feel happy that people approached the court instead of taking law into their own hands.It means that people are not creating a ruckus at a religious place and are following the law by moving to the court to beg to correct the mistake done in the past. There is nothing wrong in it. If court finds it right, they will give the judgment in our favour. Otherwise, we will sit at home. I am not in favour of creating ruckus and fighting on road for this.

What are your achievements in the first year of your government in MP? We have successfully resolved the matter of world’s first two river linking projects, which was pending for the past 20 years, and foundation stone will be laid this month only. The Ken-Betwa and Parvati Sindh and Chambal projects were the vision of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to see the successful implementation. We are happy that we resolved the matter by sitting with Rajasthan and UP.

There is lot of focus on getting investment. Recently, you visited Germany and the UK and the state plans foreign investments. What is the plan? Within the state, you held at least six regional industrial conclaves. How much investment has really come. We are going to observe 2025 as investment year. In the regional conclave, we received investment proposal of over ₹four lakh crore and we are happy with this. During conclaves, I become the chief executive officer by leaving the CM’s role behind. I spend all the time with investors to build mutual understanding so that they can invest in the state fearlessly.

Before the assembly elections, the BJP promised to increase the amount of Ladli Behna, and special bonus on wheat, paddy and other crops in the manifesto. The state government is reeling under debt of more than ₹3 lakh crore. How you are planning to fulfil the poll promises?All the poll promises will be fulfilled as we concentrating on increasing our income as well. We are installing solar pumps to save the money which is being given as power subsidy. Similarly, we merged two departments health and medical education for better coordination and saving the money. Debt is not at all a problem as we have taken loan under the prescribed limit of RBI. People are unnecessarily making it an issue.

There appears to be some opposition from within the politically senior ministers of cabinet on expenditure for Ujjain, your home city. How do you plan to deal with it? Nobody is senior to a chief minister. The chief minister is chief minister and minister is minister. In the cabinet, everybody has a right to express their views otherwise mannequin will make to sit. On the Ujjain road development issue, there might be curiosity but there is nothing like opposition. We have only three years left for Simhastha and have three rainy seasons too so it is necessary to take decision on all the development project now. We expected 150 crore people to visit the fair.

Previous chief ministers focussed on Lord Shiva and Lord Ram and you have brought special attention towards Lord Krishna. Is there any special reason behind it? Yes, there is a special reason behind it. Lord Krishna has so many national international followers. In Madhya Pradesh, there are so many places where Lord Krishna visited. He learnt everything at Sandipani Ashram in Ujjain. There is a place where he fought with his Rukmani and the spent night with his friend Sudama. We are trying to develop the places so that his disciple, who goes to Mathura and Dwarka, will also come to Ujjain and other places of MP. It will boost religious tourism.