Could sense something was amiss in UP from 3rd phase of polls, says Anupriya Patel

Junior health minister Anupriya Patel and her party Apna Dal has been a key ally of the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bhratiya Janata Party since it came to power in 2014. Patel, 43, won from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 general elections but with a reduced victory margin. It was also the sole seat that Apna Dal won. Speaking to HT for the first time after the polls, Patel said her party had surmised early on, by the third of the seven-phase elections, that all wasn’t well for the ruling alliance in India’s most populous state. She attributed the poor showing to the opposition being able to convince voters that the government would change the Constitution after it won a third consecutive term with 400 plus MPs in the Lok Sabha. Patel also blamed the BJP’s former MP from Faizabad, Lallu Singh, for contributing to the poor show by the ruling alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Edited excerpts from the interview:

What is your assessment of the verdict in the 2024 elections?

I would say that the faith of the general voter of the country is intact in Modiji’s leadership and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is why for the third time we get an opportunity to serve the people. As the Prime Minister has said on the floor of the House, this is the third tenure, so we will work with the three times our speed. And the work that we did in the past 10 years is just like a precursor. I mean the whole, big picture is yet to follow.

Whatever aspirations people have with this government, we will be able to fulfil and the bigger goal that we are working towards of creating and developing India by 2047, these five years will give us a good opportunity to work in that direction. We’ve already laid the foundation. Five years will go in further strengthening that foundation and then creating an edifice, creating a structure. I’m sure this is going to be a journey of transformation and a big step.

Uttar Pradesh threw up a surprise because people weren’t expecting that result. What do you think led to it?

It’s true that the results in UP were not as per our expectations. There was much uproar. What went wrong in UP? I would say that everything was smooth (to start with), people were happy with the work the central government has done. In so far as the development initiatives are concerned, UP underwent a transformation. But when the numbers came, yes, it was like a shocker.

Not so much for us who are into politics, because we started getting some indications when we were moving from the third phase towards the sixth, seventh phase. That’s when we started realizing that there is a rumour that the opposition is slowly trying to spread and make stronger. That rumour was regarding the Constitution, that it was going to be amended. The reservation that the Constitution grants to the SC, STs and OBCs will be snatched away by the Modi government in its third tenure. All this kept on going viral and the opposition got an opportunity because they had nothing else.

If you hear their speeches, there was nothing that they had to offer to people at large, but this was one mistake that happened. Some of our own people kind of said things like, “ When we get 400, we’ll do this or we’ll do that.” The opposition very smartly and cleverly got something to hold on to and they thought let’s build on this, because we have nothing concrete to say, but if we build on this rumour, we will be able to create fear in the minds of the oppressed sections, and they somehow succeeded.

It was a big rumour and it became even bigger with time as we approached towards the last phases of the election because this election was also stretched out. So it got more time. And that actually made a difference.

However, in time people will realize how the opposition has played on their minds and their insecurities. And they will realize that somewhere they have not done justice to the amount of work that our government and our alliance did. Nevertheless, we will continue to take forward the growth story and the development story of not just Uttar Pradesh but the entire country under the able leadership of Narendra Modi.

Do you think the fact that the opposition talked about helping with the quotas, increasing the quota, that also helped?

Let me be very clear about this caste census demand. The Samajwadi Party, how many times have they ruled the state? Four times. Thrice under the leadership of late Mulayam Singh Yadav. And once, of course, Akhilesh Yadav. If a state like Bihar, under the leadership of Nitish Kumarji as chief minister, could implement caste census, what was stopping the Samajwadi Party?

If you really wanted to hold a caste census, what was holding you back? Nothing. You actually never wanted. Had you wanted, you would have done it the way Nitish Kumar did it. They were also with the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government. They could have demanded for it that time. Nothing happened.

Let me talk about Congress party now. Is it for the first time that the Congress is contesting the general elections? Congress is a party which has ruled the country for maximum time period post independence. So there were several opportunities, but the last exercise was done in 1931. After which it stopped. So if you really wanted the caste census, you would have done it when you held power in the country. Looking at your track record, looking at your history, do you expect the voter of the country to believe you, the OBCs, SCs and STs, you want them to believe you? Everybody knows that it is just a poll gimmick, it’s just another lollipop. I don’t think this demand by the opposition parties actually made any difference.

That means that people actually voted against the BJP or the state government in UP instead of a vote for the Samajwadi or the Congress?

That’s precisely what has happened. There was some flaws, some mistakes. One issue was, of course, regarding the 69,000 teachers recruitment issue because of which the OBC students were affected.

Which you wrote about to chief minister Yogi Adityanath?

They were agitating for long, for two years. And I had been raising this issue again and again. I was trying to convince my government not only here but even in the state that look, we need to work towards the resolution because these are the young, educated people whose future is at stake. And we need to do something to resolve it. The matter went to the court, it was sub judice. And I think somewhere the centre was keen that it should be resolved. Somewhere the state did not show that promptness. I think that was where we have kind of failed. That was an emotive issue because it was affecting the future of so many of our young students. Agitating for two years is a very long time, just sitting on the roads asking and saying please resolve it. And it took long, so that delay created the trouble.

Are you hoping that Adityanath fixes all these issues soon?

I have written to the chief minister and I have spoken to him also. That’s because, again, a lot of people had approached me and my letter is very suggestive. That we’re still not late. And we must prioritize this issue. We are a part of this government, we are an ally. This is the concern of the people who are with me and it is my first primary responsibility to raise these issues, which directly affects their fortunes. I have been raising it again and again. For reasons best understood by the state government, it has not been solved. But we can still do it. It should be resolved. And since I have raised it at the highest levels, I hope that it will be resolved and that will be in the best interest of not just the students coming from the OBC communities, but it is also in the interest of our alliance, our government.

Speaking about the alliance, is it a much more of a cooperative government now because there are so many allies? What is the change that you see?

I think the opposition may have expected that since the BJP number is lesser, so the alliance partners, the relationship between all the NDA allies may not be smooth. But it actually turned out to be exactly the opposite of their expectations. The alliance is very smooth.

When we held the first NDA meeting under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all the parties who are part of this NDA said the Prime Minister should hold the swearing in ceremony as early as possible. We are more than happy and willing to work under your leadership. You’ve taken the country forward. And this is the third time after 62 years that the same government has been repeated.

And there’s nothing, I mean no ripples in the NDA. Not at all. You’ve seen the election of the speaker also. So no issues and Prime Minister says I’m just a phone call away. I’m always available. And I’ve spoken to him on a number of occasions on so many issues. I will give you one example of this OBC reservation in NEET-PG. It was never there. I was the one who went and raised it with the Prime Minister and the home minister. I think within a week, 10 days, he sorted it out. This was pending since UPA government’s time. The Prime Minister has this quality — if he understands something, if he’s convinced, he doesn’t delay it, that is it. His biggest strength? If he’s convinced with what you’re saying, he will not take time to resolve it.

So this impression that before the BJP, because it had such a huge majority, that they didn’t need to listen to allies is incorrect. You’re saying that they always listen to you?

Let me put it more correctly. Democracy is the game of numbers. Parties which have bigger numbers, obviously they will have more say. BJP forged these alliances prior to elections. The results were such that BJP alone got huge numbers. Now do you expect in a democracy that a party which has a majority on its own will not have its say. So there are some practicalities that we all must understand.

We could have not been with the BJP. The BJP could not have taken us along. All that didn’t matter because the BJP had its own numbers. But because these alliances were forged prior to elections, and these results were obtained because everybody was together, so we try to run that alliance in a good way. And eventually the reality is, whoever has the numbers, they will only take the decisions. So you can’t shy away from the reality.

What happened with the Ayodhya issue. Why didn’t it pay off for the ruling party?

I don’t have the exact details of every constituency, and in Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency, I think there is one of the assembly segments where the BJP won. It is the other segments where probably there has been some trouble and one reason was anti-incumbency against the candidate who was fielded (Lallu Singh). So that was a factor.

Plus, he was one of our great warriors who actually was the one who started this whole ‘samvidhan badal jayega’ (constitution will change). All that was actually started at his level and then very cleverly picked up by the opposition. That blunder he made. I don’t know what went wrong in his head and he said something like this. You should look at the configuration of your constituents. It has OBC voters. And if you are a BJP candidate and you’re saying things like that, it will definitely affect your elections.

But beyond his personal role, B JP also saw that the issue wasn’t really working.

There is a section which definitely voted for the Ram mandir, but not everybody votes for Ram mandir. Our society is very diverse. So there is definitely a committed Ram mandir voter. But other issues are also important. There are people who will vote for development, there are people who will vote for the core OBC, SC, ST related issues. Everything becomes important. So even if one factor goes wrong, the election is out of your hands .

Do you think there needs to be toning down of Hindutva as an issue in the third term of the NDA?

I think Narendra Modi’s leadership has given a very beautiful cocktail of not just their own BJP ideology but also development, also social justice. And barring this rumour, there was actually nothing affecting us in the UP elections. So, this one rumour actually damaged our results so badly that now everybody is making a very big analysis.

Of course, there were problems, certain issues were not resolved, which I’m still saying those issues need to be looked into. But that’s more a matter of the state government, and I would still say that the state should work more promptly towards the resolution of issues which have not been addressed so far and which have affected our results. And of course, BJP has its own ideology. They will not leave it.

What’s happening with the NEET exam? What do you feel needs to be done to fix it?

The education minister (Dharmendra Pradhan) has already spoken about it and the Prime Minister has spoken about it. The government is looking into the issue. The interests of students will not be compromised. Whoever is guilty will not be spared. The Prime Minister has said this on the floor of the House. The government is doing the needful. Just have faith in the system.