MillenniumPost
Nation

'Ram Gopal not letting Akhilesh work in UP'

HOW DO YOU ANALYSE THE EVENTS OF THE LAST TWO DAYS?

I feel pain and at the same time I laugh at what Ram Gopal Yadav has been saying. If I was not in the Samajwadi Party, if I wasn't a member of the party, then what is his problem if I interview Narendra Modi or Sonia Gandhi. Then, Yadav says I was a member of the party but I did not seek their permission before interviewing Narendra Modi. He is expressing his frustration and fear. This means the ground has slipped beneath his feet. He understands the people of Uttar Pradesh have turned against their government in just four months. All Samajwadi Party members are feeling this.


DID YOU ANTICIPATE THIS KIND OF REACTION FROM THE PARTY?

Absolutely not. I have been doing these kind of interviews all my life. I started writing at the age of twelve and I have been editing the magazine since the last thirty nine years. When I was in the Congress party I wrote against Narasimha Rao for the stand he took on Babri Masjid and in 1993 when Uttar Pradesh elections took place I supported Mulayam Singh Yadav. At that time, Narismha Rao said you are a member of the Congress party, but your paper is supporting Mulayam Singh Yadav. I told him my paper is not the mouthpiece of the Congress party and he also agreed the paper should be independent. Even Mayawati never asked me what I was writing and why. My father went to jail four times during the Emergency, but after the Emergency I interviewed Indira Gandhi. People said she had put my father in prison so I should not be going ahead with the interview. At that time I said there is nothing personal against Mrs Gandhi.


DID YOU TALK TO SP CHIEF MULAYAM SINGH YADAV AFTER YOU WERE EXPELLED FROM THE PARTY?

I did not get in touch with him. I am pained that after putting eighteen hours on television channels defending the Samajwadi Party this is what I get in return. At least before expelling me from the party, Netaji should have called me and asked me why I had taken this interview. Taking interviews is my right and when I was in the Congress party, I had interviewed Mulayam Singh Yadav about a dozen times and he didn’t ask why I was interviewing him. I have kept politics and journalism apart and I think this is the way it should be.


THE WAY RAM GOPAL YADAV TOOK ACTION AGAINST YOU, DON'T YOU THINK HE IS TRYING TO CONTROL SAMAJWADI PARTY?

I feel pained at the way things are shaping out. I think highly of Akhilesh Yadav and I think he is an emerging young leader. This is one of the reasons why I joined the party, but be it Ram Gopal Yadav or Shiv Pal Yadav or any other family member, they are not letting him work. They are not letting him take independent decisions and are forcing their decisions on him. This is not right for the party, the state and even his family.


WHY HAS NO OTHER SP LEADER COME OUT IN YOUR DEFENCE?

They have made me the scapegoat so that they can create a fear among the people. They wanted to set an example that if they can throw out a known face like me out of the party within seconds, no other party worker should dare speak against the party. They used to scare their vote bank into submission by exaggerating the threat from the BJP. Now they are doing the same with Narendra Modi. They want to put across the message to Muslims that Shahid Siddiqui took an interview of Modi and we threw him out.


SO DO YOU STILL OPPOSE MODI FOR THE 2002 GUJARAT RIOTS?

I have been the biggest critic of Narendra Modi, I interviewed him because I condemn him and I am against him. I interviewed Modi because elections are due in the state and it is my job to focus on his past.


YOU HAD WRITTEN AN ARTICLE THAT MUSLIMS FROM UTTAR PRADESH AND BIHAR SHOULD LEARN FROM MUSLIMS FROM GUJARAT.

No. What I had written is that Indian muslims should learn a lesson from Gujarat Muslims. One person quoted in the story from Gujarat had said that we didn't learn from eating badam, we learnt from our mistakes. I have written that Muslims in Gujarat do not depend on Modi and I have written that Gujarat Muslims will never forgive Modi. Muslims from Gujarat have understood they progress through education and prosperity and they are focusing on that.
Next Story
Share it