Prime Minister will ensure a bright future, vows Naidu

The window of 50 days for demonetisation is over now. How do you assess the success of this scheme? 

“This fight against corruption and black money is a massive undertaking by the government. I don’t need to explain how there was a parallel economy being run by holders of black money, who were undermining the system. Now all the notes have come into the system. Let me highlight the benefits. Talking about the positives, yesterday (Sunday), the State Bank of India reduced the interest rate by 0.9 per cent, followed by Punjab National bank and we are hoping that other banks will also announce cuts in interest rates. The housing sector will witness a big boom following the new housing scheme for lower income groups that I have just got a sanction for, and this coupled with money coming into the banks, is a healthy sign. When there is money in the banks, the banks will not hoard the money. Loans will be given and the economy will see an upswing. These are the long term. What people are going through is just temporary pain for long-term gain. Modi wants to bring a total transformation. This is not the end. Modi has many other things planned. He has given us a three-line mantra: reform, perform and, transform. Now, as an I & B Minister, I add inform also. You have to inform the people and make them ready. This is what we are doing. So, that way, demonetisation exercise is long overdue.

For the honest, the pain will reduce. For the dishonest, the pain will only increase. There are some challenges. Printing of new notes will take time. Though we have taken steps to reduce the time to transport money, these remain real challenges. The Congress makes lots of allegations, including saying the Modi government supports industrialisation, but the fact is that agriculture and industry are the two eyes and you have to take care of both. We cannot survive without agriculture because it fulfils our basic needs. But at the same time, agriculture can no longer sustain — it is slowly becoming loss-making. In any profession – be it an actor or a teacher – a parent will ask his child to follow in his footsteps. But this is not the case of farmers. Because of the vagaries of the monsoon, high input cost, no farmer wants his children to take up agriculture, instead they tell them to learn some skills and go get jobs. All politician support industrialists – let’s be honest, everyone needs donations to fight an election. But in a bid to support industrialists, loans were given out indiscriminately by the previous government. Now, Modi intends to change this situation. Money will be earmarked for the vulnerable sections and this includes our flower sellers and fish vendors also. The extreme concentration of bank credit on the top end of the spectrum had started to border on the ridiculous. We need to rebalance this and we have already started making a move in the right direction with creation of bank accounts. Bankers protested this and said: ‘If we give loans to the poor, they will never repay’. The answer to this is selfhelp groups that have the highest repayments track records.

I’m being very frank, and I’m saying this while sitting in Chennai, but you cannot expect a Central Minister to take sides in a matter involving two states. At the end of the day, there is no option but to accept the court verdict. What is happening between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the spurts of violence, attacking cinema halls, buses etc., is really quite painful. We need to find a permanent solution.

I have repeatedly brought up the matter of the fisherman and the ongoing problems with Sri Lanka. As a ruling party member, I brought up the issue with Sushma Swaraj and also with the Prime Minister. We must find a permanent solution to this. I did try and negotiate on behalf of the fisherman in the recent decision to allow almost 100 fishermen to attend the church event at Katchatheevu. It was a small thing but it was symbolic of our intention to help.

This is a very difficult issue. Once the highest court of the land has given a judgment, you cannot expect the government to change the judgment. You know the consequences. At the same time, you know there is a strong feeling among the people that we are trying to change an age-old tradition. We have to find a way out. Whether that can be done through a change in the notification of the Act, remains to be seen. Our leaders Pon Radhakrishnan, Tamilisai Soundararajan are all after us to act on this. But saying is easy, doing is difficult.

There is no dearth of ‘Doubting Thomas’. People will have doubts about many things. I had a special liking for madam Jayalalithaa. Even though we were in different parties, and we criticised each other also, but she was a very dynamic leader, she was very committed towards the welfare of the people and very caring about the poor. She was very articulate, and a very good administrator. Moreover, both she and the PM liked each other. Keeping that in mind, we were sorry when she took ill and we made enquiries. When the situation became precarious, I came here and found out about her health and the treatment being given. I went to the hospital and spent time there also. 

The last programme madam Jayalalithaa attended was with me- the launch of a Metro Rail section. I remember all that. When she expired, I wanted to stay back to ensure all the arrangements were carried out in a befitting manner. People here are emotional, so I stayed back to keep an eye on things. But I’m happy to say, the people of Tamil Nadu showed their respect by showing their grief in a very dignified manner. The police too handled the situation really well. Coming to your question on the hospital- I’m not a doctor. Secondly, I wasn’t here observing her day to day. But I have no reason to disbelieve the doctors. To be very frank. I’m not here to do any judgement, but at the same time, I want to say, there were specialists from London and Singapore as well as doctors from AIIMS who all examined her. I know Pratap Reddy, and he too told me that madam is recovering well. It was very happy news for all of us. I was thinking that madam would become normal and resume her duties. She would soon be able to attend work and Tamil Nadu people would have the benefit of her leadership. But suddenly this news came. She had a heart attack. 

That is a fact, it can’t be disputed. They tried their best, including putting her on an ECMO machine, but soon it was all over and she was no more. I have no reason to disbelieve this. Now, some people have gone to the court, and the court also surprisingly gave a notice. I don’t want to make a comment on this and I’m sure the legal response will be given, but I feel that thinking in terms of exhuming the body, (pauses) somehow my mind can’t digest it. She is no more, it’s a fact. It’s not sudden and there were accompanying health issues. She was not well for many days, there is no secret about that. I think the doctors took every care, that is my opinion.

AIADMK has always been supportive of the government in all key decisions. Madam was a nationalist leader and she would always take decisions in the interest of the nation. The Congress on the other hand is confused and keeps sending out mixed signals, so I’m not surprised they could not gather their support. In fact, not just AIADMK, many parties don’t support them. They don’t have trust and confidence in Rahul Gandhi. They don’t have a leader who can inspire confidence.

He believes in empowering the institutions. He does not believe in freebies. He said if you want to feed a man for a day, feed him a fish, if you want to feed a man for life, teach him to catch a fish. Our Prime Minister does not believe in populism; he believes in ‘peopleism.’ Empower people through education, skill development, empower them by giving loans so they can be independent.

When Bill Gates met me, he was concerned about sanitation. He said no amount of good sanitation products can stop people from spitting openly. That’s a mindset change. Modi also told me not to plan Swachh Bharat like a government programme. Create a Jan Andolan (people’s revolution) he said, because a change of mindset is the ultimate goal.

When the Russian president came to India, spoke in Russian, the French president came and spoke in French, the Chinese premiere too spoke in Chinese. I asked later why they didn’t speak in English as they can speak the language, but their reasoning was simple. They will always stick to their mother tongue. This is an important lesson. We should not forget our roots, no matter what. We must know the language that is known to the people. And this is also why I admire the Daily Thanthi group. They are known to be true to their values, language and the Tamil culture. What I like also about this group is their commitment to social responsibility. Even after so many years of independence, there are many people who can’t read or write. To give back to people by teaching is to do the ultimate good.