‘What happened in Surat is very bad… But what can we do about it when Congress is in shambles?’: Vijay Rupani

ABRUPTLY removed as chief minister a year ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections of 2022, the Rajkot-based Vijay Rupani is now among the leaders the BJP has turned to for help for its embattled Rajkot candidate Parshottam Rupala, who is facing protests from the Rajputs following his contentious remarks against the community. Rupani, the BJP’s Punjab in-charge, speaks to The Indian Express about growing caste consciousness, the troubles facing the Congress, and what the BJP, given its dominance, needs to be careful about. Excerpts:

Overconfidence (of the BJP) is going to be the biggest challenge… We also have to ensure that votes do not swing due to casteism… The issue of casteism has worsened over the past two decades.

Casteism is gaining ground and this cannot be ignored in politics… So, we keep doing some balancing work and social engineering. That said, it is a cause of worry for all political parties and the country as a whole, and the only solution to lift people out of it is to promote the spirit of nationalism.

That is for Opposition leaders to worry about and to find ways to survive… Take the Congress. It doesn’t have any leader. The party is in the grip of nepotism. Its policy keeps lurching from one side to the other… Eventually, it is votes which count and they have to win votes in a manner that people trust them and by exploiting our shortcomings. But it is their responsibility, not ours.

Do you recall 1975 when you (the Congress government) had imposed the Emergency, made mass arrests… So who endangered democracy?

Today, we may be making arrests, but people can go to court. (Arvind) Kejriwal moving the Delhi High Court against his arrest is one example… Sanjay Singh, for one, has got bail, but their (Aam Aadmi