Former Union Minister Kumari Selja is back to contest from the reserved Sirsa parliamentary constituency of Haryana as the Congress candidate more than two decades after she won the seat for the first time in 1991 and retained it five years later in 1996. She unsuccessfully fought the other reserved seat of Haryana in Ambala, in 2019, which she lost to the BJP’s Rattan Lal Kataria. In an exclusive interview to businessline, she explains why, after almost a decade of losing out to the BJP and the local parties, the Congress is back in the reckoning in Haryana. Edited excerpts:

Q

Given the anti-incumbency against the Haryana government, the BJP is focusing on national issues and the PM’s popularity. Is that why the Congress is only focusing on the local factors in Haryana?

We are raising both the national and local issues. For instance, we have flagged the electoral bonds issue. It exposes their (the BJP’s) underbelly, the corruption, the kind of money they have raked in. Till the time the Supreme Court stepped in, they didn’t want to share anything. They want to target anyone who questions them. For ten years, the BJP has been in power both in the State and the Centre. The State government has become very unpopular. They have lost support in the Assembly, they can go any time. The PM’s speeches are increasingly showing his frustration. They are going back to their old communal divide politics. PM talks of ‘mangalsutra’, two buffaloes… and then he says he is not talking against any community.

Q

There is anti-incumbency against the State government?

You are mistaken. There is anti-incumbency both against the State and the Centre.

Q

It is all right to keep pointing out the BJP’s flaws, but what do you have to show for yourself?

We are promising our manifesto. Poor people need housing. Kisan needs loan waiver which we have promised. Most farmers are under debt. We have promised them minimum support price legal guarantee. The anganwadi workers, NREGA workers- they all have issues and we have promised to address them. And to every poor family.

Q

There has been a lot of debate about wealth redistribution and entitlement politics; the Congress seems to be far away from the politics of wealth creation.

Why should the poor not feel entitled to receive something from the wealth of nation? Why can’t the poor person have the first right? 

Q

You have come back to active politics after more than two decades. You have also been shuffling between Ambala and Sirsa seats. Doesn’t this confuse the voters?

The BJP has nothing against me so they say I have come back to this seat after two decades. This issue is being raised by people who themselves are rootless. My roots are here. When I contested from here in 1991, I won with the highest margin. When I contested from Ambala, I won with the highest margin of 2.35 lakh in 2004. People from this seat wanted me to come here and that’s why I have come. My father also contested from here. And I’m happy to serve the people of Sirsa again.

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