Firdaus Khan
Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). As I have already said elections come and go but in the last few months I have probably learnt as much as I have learnt during the last seven years... I learnt what it means to be completely convinced about something, what it means to be passionate believer in an idea. For me, this is no longer an election and frankly I don’t care about the what is the result of this election will be.... for me now this is a cause… and the cause is changing the fate of the people in this state… it makes no difference what is the outcome when the results of the election is declared the next month... .as I have been saying in my speeches what has being going on in Uttar Pradesh for the last 22 years is a crime… nothing less than that… I think that needs to be corrected… as a young Indian and as a person from this state I think it is our collective duty, particularly the young people of this state, to not accept this anymore…to not accept the misrule that has been going on here… and not to accept the types of games that are being played with the life of the people here…
I realize the power of the people of this state… I have realized the sheer energy and power of the youngsters of the state… and I have realized that this state can quickly stand up on its own feet… all that is lacking is the faith of the people in the leadership of the state… if the leadership of the state believed in the people of this state they would not have acted the way they act…
Regarding his mission:
Mission 2012 is your line, not mine…my mission is changing the state of Uttar Pradesh… the mission of bringing in development in Uttar Pradesh…the mission of ensuring a progressive Uttar Pradesh… this is elections 2012...elections will come again also...I do repeat in all my speeches… I am not going to leave from this state... till the time Uttar Pradesh stands on its own feet you will find Rahul Gandhi in the villages and slums…

On Congress’ performance
Do you think that I concede defeat? I concede victory…
I want to assure that Congress will get a solid result in this election... you will see... the people of UP are looking towards Congress...they are deeply observing and they understand our messages... wherever I go people do complain that for the past 22 years successive governments befooled them… every common man tell me so... I want to tell you that whether we get 200, 400 or 2 seats till the state of Uttar Pradesh stands up, till the people of Uttar Pradesh get the due respect, till the farmers and labourers get their honour my mission will not be complete…

Howe will you change… if Congress does not have the majority…
I have said during my meetings that we have come here not to form alliance with any political parties... we are here to change UP… Our strategy will be very simple... our alliance will be with the people of UP and the poor in the state and not with anybody else… as far as development is concerned there are two ways to look at it... one you can see it in a detailed manner... there is no point in going to the details as it is time consuming… but I will give you a broad idea... we will include people from every section of the society for development… for development we have to listen to their … for development we will have to realize the difficulties of the people... a Congress Government will go to the people, will ensure that the money meant for the people reaches them, will listen to the people, will include the people in the process of development and will fight for them... this is our principle... if you apply this principle, development programmes also can be made accordingly... when we fought elections in 2004 and 2009, we had not made 50-60 promises... we just talked about aam aadmi, that our government will be of aam aadmi... and when we formed the government following our principle we made the schemes such as MGNREGA, Right to food, Right to information, Right to education etc… we never told you that MGNREGA will be for a particular caste or religion... we told you that it is for the entire country… because we know that if we want to develop this country we will have take every person, every caste, religion, region and state along with us…
The biggest problem in the state is that the honour of the people is at stake... here the government and the leaders do not respect the voice of the people... we run a government at the Centre and we do respect the voice of the people... we go the people and listen to them... the MGNREGA is not our concept but the concept of the people in this country... the concept of waiving loans of the farmers is the concept of the farmers... we just listened to them and implemented program accordingly... same is the case with Bunkars’ package or any other policies made by us… but here for the past 22 years the government formed represented just 10% of the people... sometimes thieves and sometimes goondas... nobody is there to listen to aam aadmi... please go to any village and ask whether any one from the government came to them... they will say that no representative of the government visited them... there is no shortage of strength to bring about changes... if any state or region is not progressing it is only because that the strength of the people are not being used properly...
On corruption and Lokpal..
Let me explain this corruption issue... I stood in Parliament house... the Congress party took a Bill that was going to revolutionize the fight against corruption, it was called the Constitutional Lokpal... we said the Election Commission is an independent body… it is evident that it is fair body... it has shown that it can run large scale operation in a state... there is beauty in the design of the Election Commission... let us make a Lokpal Bill along the same principles... let us a make a Lokpal Bill that allows independence... which gives true power to a Lokpal... ok... Mr Advani and the other opposition leaders laughed at this idea... in Parliament House they stood there, I saw this with my own eyes while sitting there… and laughing... this idea is a fundamental powerful institution for this country and they laughed... and when you asked them why did you not pass the constitutional Lokpal they said it is not our idea... it is Rahul Gandhi’s idea or Manmohan Singh Ji’s idea or Sonia Ji’s idea... but no.. they got it wrong ... it is India’s idea... and it is going to happen whether they like it or not ... that is the first point...
The second point, if they go, Advani Ji goes on a yatra nationally... Karnataka, Reddy brothers destroyed the state… Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh these states are not visible to him... he cannot see them... wherever there have been a problem of corruption in Congress party, any place, any time, we take action... we have put ministers in jail... I am working for the past five years to revolutionize the NSUI and the Youth Congress... I am taking about an elected structure in the youth organizations... we have made massive progress. In these elections we have candidates who came through an elected system... please tell me what the opposition has done... what have they done to fight corruption except talks… we have put people in jail, we have given you the RTI, we have given you the Lokpal Bill... what have they done? They have a Chief Minister in Gujarat who is currently fighting to stop a Lokpal... So... sure it is a campaign... and it is an orchestrated campaign... we are fighting 5 elections right now... let us see what happens... let us see what happens in Punjab, let us see what happens in Uttarakhand, let us see what happens in UP...
The factor of the matter is... if you want to believe it, the fact of the matter is that the corruption is the fundamental issue... the people who want to fight the corruption, act.. they don’t talk... the people who do not want to fight the corruption, talk .. they don’t act... now please go and take a look what BJP did when they were in power... go to the soldiers in Kargil and ask them... ask them about the coffins their brethrens were put inside... and then go and ask Mr Advani that question…
About the caste factor…
First of all do not get confused... the caste in Uttar Pradesh exists...if anybody says that caste in Uttar Pradesh doesn’t exist has not walked on the streets of Uttar Pradesh... what I was doing with Sam Pitroda was telling a small community that listen… there is hope for you in this country... this gentleman here who happened to be from your community and has many other attributes has fundamentally transformed this country ... all you youngsters who sits in the front, who believe that you cannot transform this country are wrong... there is one person who has done it... you can do it too... that is what I would to say... it was you who interpreted it as a caste message... it was a message of hope to a community...
About his allegation that Mayawati did not visit Bundelkhand …
Let me tell you some thing... I won’t go into Mayawati Ji... because I think the right person to go to is Kanshi Ram Ji... I respect Kanshi Ram Ji... I think Kanshi Ram Ji moved the politics of Uttar Pradesh quite good... I am frankly fond of Mayawati Ji... as a human being I respect Mayawati Ji, you can ask for that I respect her, fond of her and the same case is with Mulayam Singh Ji and other political leaders... I don’t make personnel attacks... saying that Mayawati Ji has not gone to the villages to understand UP since she is the Chief Minister of the state is not a barb... it is an observation... as a Chief Minister of this state she owes a visit to the people of Bundelkhand and she should have gone to Bundelkhand... suppose you can’t do anything... still you have to go there and hold their hand and say that I am with you... I can’t do anything for you right now, I am the Chief Minister of the state, but I understand your pain... my problem with Mayawati Ji is that she has actually forgotten how to understand the pain of the people... and that is my problem with Mulayam Singh Ji also... I respect Mulayam Singh Ji also for what he did in December. I learn from my political opponents... I listen to them... and I hear what they are saying... frankly I have learnt from Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji and Mayawati Ji...
What I am saying now is that Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji by promising Israel in Bundelkhand, by promising free electricity to the whole of U.P and by promising to hand all youngsters of UP a foreign education he is not honest with the sentiments of the people of the state... going back to the question... how do you change a state? You change a state with idea... you change a state with hope... go to a village and give hope to a person... and that person will transform that state... UP has lost hope... and what I am telling you that I am not going away until the state regains hope... I don’t care what happens... I don’t care if I get 2 seats, 5 seats, 200 seats, 400 seats... I don’t care... until this state gets hope, until the villagers that they do believe in the future and they hope... I am not going... full stop... the end...
Aim is the important thing. My target is to induce hope into the people of UP I want to go to the people and tell the people that there is no one like you... If you free your hands then you can change not only this state but the entire world... because I myself realize this... what I am telling you, is what I learnt in the last three months... UP has such good people who go to Maharashtra and work there … fighting with the Shiv Sena people... still they run taxis there... you go to Ladak or Delhi. The strength in this state has been tied off...
now you say it is number game... the answer is very straight... the party, Congress will stand up high in this election... once it stands up, it will decide whatever political activities in the state... Whether it gets 100 seats, 200 seats, it will stand up...

About division of U.P as proposed by Mayawati…
These decisions are complicated. This is not a simple decision as it is the matter of the future of crores of people... Mayawati Ji just took a decision in two minutes... If you want to discuss on this issue seriously, then please come to me and we can discuss it over a cup of tea... I am not an expert in this matter. But there are experts who can be consulted with. This is a serious issue and we should take opinion of the experts on these matters.

About the complaint the Congress MPs are not performing well…
It is not correct that the people are not happy with our MPs. A vast majority of our MPs are performing well and some of them are not performing well. UP is faced with the fundamental question... are we going to grow like Kerala, are our schools going to look like in Kerala, or are we going to stay where we are... that is the question... you have an election in front of you... UP is not going to transform in six months... UP is going to take time to get transformed... you can make a huge beginning... with just one thing that your Chief Minister decides that we want to change... with due respect Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji and Mayawati Ji - I am not going to mention the BJP as they frankly don’t exist in the state - don’t want to change U.P
I am blind, not seeing anything else now... you are going to ask me questions about a, b and c... but I am blind to it... right now I see only one thing... what I have seen in the last years in this state is criminal... I am going to fight it and change those... I don’ t care what the cost...
When you working on an idea then all the other things are secondary... I am absolutely convinced, not 99%, not 99.99% but 100% that this state can be transformed... that this state has the energy, the youngsters in the state has the energy to transform the state... whatever the questions I had about that disappeared 6-7 months ago. Now I am absolutely convinced that UP can transform itself. All what Uttar Pradesh needs now is someone to hold its hands and say come on let us do it, it will happen... I am from Uttar Pradesh but an Indian. The cause of India’s pain is for what is going on in Uttar Pradesh and don’t underestimate Uttar Pradesh... this is the biggest state in the country... most powerful state in the country... largest amount of the money is spent here... do not underestimate the impact of Uttar Pradesh in India... Uttar Pradesh is slowing India down and it is not the fault of people of Uttar Pradesh... it is the fault if the leaders of Uttar Pradesh for the past 22 years... we are not going to tolerate this anymore... full stop... end...
About Priyanka Gandhi’s comment..
If Priyanka Ji said she is like a mendak (frog) during the rain, then I am like that as well because I am her brother...
Whether he will be the PM…
Every senior political leader is having an obsession... to become the Prime Minister... Rahul Gandhi does not have this obsession... I have got some other obsession... my obsession is to end the criminal act of not listening to the voices of the poor... I have no strength... if you think that Rahul Gandhi possesses great strength, no… I do not have any strength... zero... I just do one thing... listen to the people and take it to the Parliament and Assembly... I am a transmitter … beyond that I do not have any power. The only thing I have that some people of this country believe in me... I don’t want anything else... if one person of this country believes in me, that is good enough for me to start... I am not talking lies here... I am not promising lies... I am talking about the truth... And the people of Uttar Pradesh have seen this... they know that I am just repeating what they are saying... political leaders get confused and it is very easy to get confused... political leaders after a certain point start to believe that the power is something that they have... there is no political leaders in the world who has power...the people have power... political leaders can just transmit that power... we are just transmitters... our job is just to listen and to transmit... to understand and to transmit... but the crime that is being committed here, the crime that Advani Ji commits, when he goes for a yatra, is that he is not trying to understand the real pain of the people.... he is a senior leader, I respect him, he got a long political career but when he goes on a yatra nationally, he is not listening to the pain of the people... he is trying to convince his people that he can do something... but he knows that he cannot... I don’t do that... I have been taught this by my parents, by my grandmother... I will loose everything but I will never do that...
Normally, there is an obsession for the posts. But nothing is there in a post... the strength is with the people. Go to them, listen to them and do accordingly... This is what I do...
About Baba Ramdev and his campaign against black money…
Baba Ramdev Ji sends 4-5 people with black flags into my meetings regularly... He thinks that Rahul Gandhi will run away seeing some flags... but Rahul Ji is hearing the voices of people... you do whatever you want... throw chappal, shoot me but still I will go to the villages... do whatever you want to do... I am not afraid of anyone... I have learnt this from my grandmother... I am not afraid...