Being Sushma Swaraj’s daughter a privilege, but I started out as ABVP worker: Bansuri Swaraj

New Delhi: For Bansuri Swaraj, criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for fielding her in the Lok Sabha polls seems unwarranted. “This is not parivarvaad (dynastic politics)… just because my mother was the people’s representative, doesn’t mean politics is taboo for me,” she tells ThePrint in an exclusive interview.

Swaraj, who is making her electoral debut, against Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Somnath Bharti in the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, adds: “What it (candidature) does mean is that I have an equal right to struggle to strive to put in the effort just like anybody else who comes from our family where the parents are not public representatives.”

Both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress have cited her candidature to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not walking the talk on “parivarvaad” — an issue he has often raked up to highlight the contrast between the BJP and prominent opposition parties.

“First of all, with a lot of responsibility, I say this, (that) I am Sushma Swaraj’s daughter, is a fact; it is a privilege that I have earned in my life. Like I said, I must have accumulated very good karma in my last life.”

She, however, adds that being the daughter of the former minister of external affairs is not the sum of her identity.

“…This is my 17th year in the profession of law. My credentials are that I started my political career as a karyakarta (worker) of the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad)… I started working for the party a decade ago in the courts as a lawyer. And later on, I took on a more formalised role, first as a co-convenor of the legal cell; later on, I graduated when the party bestowed on me the responsibility of a secretary of the Delhi BJP. I’m somebody who had an opportunity to work from the ground up.”

Swaraj, who was appointed a secretary of the Delhi BJP last August, also elaborates on her definition of ‘dynastic politics’.

“Dynastic politics or parivarvaad definitely kicks in if the moment you come into politics, you become responsible for the number one position. Why? Because you have a certain surname, you are the one who must become the chief minister. You are the one who must become the prime minister or you are the one who should head the party just because you have that particular surname. The party (BJP) has given me an opportunity, like I said, to struggle and strive like just anybody else”.

Asked if being the daughter of a BJP veteran poses challenges, Swaraj says her mother’s is a legacy that weighs on other people’s mind. “It’s not a challenge at all because I am the daughter of Sushma Swaraj, the mother, not the daughter of Sushma Swaraj, the neta.

“She was a force to be reckoned with. And I think the political topography and history of India was definitely richer for having her as one of its stalwarts. But having said that, the burden of a legacy is something that weighs on other people’s minds. My mother ensured that I was raised to become a very independent human being.”

She adds that though credit for how she turned out goes to both of her parents, her mother was “definitely the architect” of her personality. “But like I said, there is no pressure, no challenge. All I know is I’m very privileged. I must have done something very right to have been born of Sushma Swaraj. She was the best mom ever.”

Bansuri Swaraj on Delhi BJP & AAP

Many in the Delhi BJP were said to have questioned Swaraj’s candidature from the New Delhi seat in the place of sitting BJP MP Meenakashi Lekhi. With the exception of Manoj Tiwari, its MP from North East Delhi, the BJP dropped all of its sitting MPs in Delhi including Lekhi. While the others have been kept out of the fray this time around, Hans Raj Hans, the sitting MP from North West Delhi, has been fielded from Faridkot in Punjab.

Dismissing claims that Lekhi was upset over her candidature, Swaraj said her party colleague “showered blessings” on her.

“She (Lekhi) is already helping me… I think these are all sorts of rumours being spread. There’s no truth to it…. She gave me guidance. Of course, she gave me a few secret tips, which I’m not going to share, but she’s very, very kind. And like I said, in our party and I’ve said this multiple times, getting a ticket is not a reward, it’s actually a responsibility. If the baton is passed on to someone else, you have to ensure you guide them to achieve their potential and do it to the best of their abilities. That’s exactly what she has done.”

Coming down heavily on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Swaraj accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of ‘mismanaging’ the affairs of the national capital.

“Delhi is being mismanaged and the honourable CM Mr Arvind Kejriwal is clinging to power. He’s not resigning, you know, on moral grounds, he ought to resign. And I want to ask him if it is not immoral, right? If it is moral to run the government from jail, then why did he ask Mr Manish Sisodia to resign? Why did he make Mr Satyendar Jain resign after his arrest. Today, when the honourable chief minister is insistent on sort of clinging to power and not resigning. This decision is to the detriment of the people of Delhi,” she says.

Responding to allegations against the ruling BJP of ‘misusing’ central agencies including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to target the Opposition, Swaraj tells ThePrint, “The whole sort of hue and cry about misuse of investigating agencies is extremely baseless because it is not the BJP that is keeping these leaders in jail. It is the courts of the country.”

Swaraj exudes confidence in the party winning all seven of Delhi’s Lok Sabha seats and Modi’s return to power with a ‘thumping’ majority.

“I’m confident that we will win all seven seats in Delhi. Also, you’re going to see in 2025 that the AAP will be unseated from Delhi. I say this with immense faith because Delhi’s people are very, very intelligent and I’ll be honest, they are extremely disillusioned by the AAP, especially because this is a party elected on an anti-corruption plank. But today, they are drowning in corruption. There’s not a single department where AAP has not sort of indulged in any kind of scam.”

Drawing a comparison between the BJP and the AAP, she adds, “On the one hand, the BJP government gives very good quality drugs, medicines are actually distributed among people at very low cost through Jan Aushadhi. On the other hand, you have AAP, where in Mohalla clinics, you have spurious drugs being distributed. You have doctors not coming and diagnosing patients. It’s actually the administrative staff.

“You’re playing with the lives of people. The whole aspect of pathological tests, they were fake. As many as 20,000 ghost patients were actually created with false mobile numbers. These are very, very serious allegations and this is just one of the examples. I can actually canonise a whole list of scams whether it’s the Delhi Jal Board, whether Sheesh Mahal and definitely the liquor gate.”

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)