Our leadership takes care of loyalists, says Dinesh Sharma
I’ve been campaigning for the cause of the party and our ideology; we also raised slogans against the Congress while campaigning for our party since childhood, says BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP
LUCKNOW Former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, whose face is synonymous with Lucknow, the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), just like that of late Lalji Tandon, is back in political reckoning.
He was declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from UP on Friday.
Sharma, a Lucknow University (LU) professor and among the Brahmin faces of the BJP in UP, recalls how his father sold his house to fund the Jan Sangh, BJP campaigns in days when the going wasn’t as good and advised the party cadre to not get disheartened as the leadership takes care of loyalists.
Sharma’s aides pointed to two cars parked in his residence, saying they were used by BJP leaders Kalyan Singh and Ram Prakash Gupta, both of whom went on to become UP chief ministers.
HT spoke to the former deputy chief minister. Excerpts:
Q: Back in the mainstream…all set for Delhi politics now that you are a Rajya Sabha MP?
A: Mainstream, sidelined…Brahmin face, this face, that face... all these are media terms. I have been regularly campaigning for the cause of the party and our ideology. I have been campaigning for the party since childhood, when we raised slogans against the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}A: Mainstream, sidelined…Brahmin face, this face, that face... all these are media terms. I have been regularly campaigning for the cause of the party and our ideology. I have been campaigning for the party since childhood, when we raised slogans against the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}Q: There was a brief period post 2022 UP polls, when you weren’t holding any post...
{{/usCountry}}Q: There was a brief period post 2022 UP polls, when you weren’t holding any post...
{{/usCountry}}A: (intervenes) My family was close to Deen Dayal Upadhyayji (BJP ideologue) and Atalji (Bihari Vajpayee). My father backed the party with funds, even if it meant selling his house! Back then, there were just a handful of families in Lucknow who supported the Jan Sangh and later the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}A: (intervenes) My family was close to Deen Dayal Upadhyayji (BJP ideologue) and Atalji (Bihari Vajpayee). My father backed the party with funds, even if it meant selling his house! Back then, there were just a handful of families in Lucknow who supported the Jan Sangh and later the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}I am saying all this to make it clear how the party ideology was engrained in me. A committed cadre can never ever be upset with the party that is like a mother to us…leadership takes care of loyalists.
{{/usCountry}}I am saying all this to make it clear how the party ideology was engrained in me. A committed cadre can never ever be upset with the party that is like a mother to us…leadership takes care of loyalists.
{{/usCountry}}Q: Atalji’s last public meeting was during your 2006 mayoral contest. In this last speech, he made an interesting kurta-pyjama analogy that helped you win?
A: I headed the youth wing thrice and then in 2006, I was named for the Lucknow mayoral contest. Despite high fever, Atalji campaigned for me at Kapurthala crossing. That was his last public address because he took ill thereafter. In that meeting, he asked people how would he look if he wore kurta sans pyjama? He said kurta meant Lok Sabha where people had sent him to and he appealed to the masses to help him wear pyjama, by ensuring my win as a mayor. I won that election. In 2012, I won the mayoral contest again against a united opposition.
Q: You were part of the BJP’s mega membership drive during the then party chief Amit Shah’s stint. This drive made BJP the biggest political party globally?
A: Yes, from 55 lakh members, our support base swelled to 11.57 crore, a Guinness record and proof of leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and organisational acumen of Amit Shahji. I was the convener of the membership campaign.
Q: After 2017 UP polls, you were made one of the two deputy CMs in UP under chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Were you expecting the call then?
A: No. in fact, when informed by then national general secretary (organisation) Ramlalji about the development, I remember rushing for the party meeting on a scooter, to avoid jams! Subsequently, I became deputy CM and of the four departments I held, three ranked first nationally. We introduced the education policy, ensured that exams were free of the use of unfair means, regularised academic sessions, implemented NCERT course and during Covid introduced online teaching to ensure teaching didn’t suffer during the pandemic.
Q: When you were made BJP leader of the Upper House, it is said you used your support among the opposition to ensure no government bill got defeated. True?
A: Back then, despite a majority in Vidhan Sabha, BJP was in miniscule minority in UP legislative council, with seven members in the 100-member council then. But we managed to somehow ensure that no bill got defeated in the Upper House. I headed the group that formed industrial policy for investment, another group for IT policy, start-up policy among various others.
Q: After 2022 UP polls when the party won, perhaps for the first time you were without any responsibility. But you say you weren’t sidelined?
A: After results and landslide win, I set out for campaigns and meetings again. I would do five programmes daily on an average to ensure that PM Modi becomes PM for the third time. I also travelled across the country, including Bengal, where BJP cadres were targeted in a big way. So, despite media propaganda, the truth is, I was never sidelined. My line was always in the main line. I have never hankered after posts.
Q: What’s the agenda as Rajya Sabha MP now?
A: Whatever the party desires would be done.
