HT Election Interview: Snapshot of HT's interviews with key newsmakers

Dear reader,

India has been in the throes of the world’s largest democratic exercise -- to elect representatives of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies that will shape the country’s destiny over the next five years and beyond. The scale is staggering. Nearly a billion eligible voters go to polling booths located in cities and villages, in mountains and near the sea; often in searing heat.

There is a plethora of factors that influence electoral outcomes, but as always, the principal actors are people. Not only those that have exercised their constitutional rights to press a button on an EVM machine, but political leaders across parties who set narratives and shape conversation, canvassing for support and taking on their oppositions -- their fates inextricably linked with results that will be announced on June 4.

Across these months, HT interviewed several political heavyweights, crucial to their parties fortunes both nationally and at the state level -- each with their own perspectives on the political battle that embroiled them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in pursuit of his third consecutive term, led the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s campaign, and ahead of the fourth phase of polling, spoke to HT about his confidence that the overwhelming will of the people was for the BJP-led alliance to return to power. He said that his decade in power was “only a trailer”, and the foundations have been laid for a “Viksit Bharat” by 2047--the year India completes 100 years as an independent nation.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, however, painted a different picture, and said that the people of India had risen up against Modi, and were fighting the elections for the opposition. In an interview with HT ,he accused the Prime Minister of misleading people, and questioned why Modi often returned to conversations about “Hindu-Musalman Hindu-Musalman”.

BJP president JP Nadda rejected the charge that the party relied on polarisation, and told HT that a resounding majority was on the horizon because people had faith in the Prime Minister’s development agenda, and that the party did not foresee anti-incumbency as an obstacle in its return to power.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is leading the opposition charge in Uttar Pradesh -- India’s most populous and politically significant state -- punched holes in the BJP’s claim that it would form government again, and accused the ruling party of communalising the elections in anticipation of impending defeat. Yadav told HT that the BJP has focussed solely on the politics of negativity.

Chief ministers speak

HT also spoke to several sitting chief ministers, leading the campaign in their respective states. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who campaigned for the INDIA alliance after being released on interim bail by the Supreme Court, said that Prime Minister Modi had become cut-off from the people, and maintained that the elections were being fought not on the “Modi-factor” but on local issues like price rise and unemployment that impact the every-day.

His Tamil Nadu counterpart, MK Stalin, whose DMK is also a key constituent of the INDIA alliance, said that southern India will deliver a blow to BJP’s dreams of dominance. He told HT that over the past decade, the union government had not cooperated with non-BJP ruled states, and had interfered in their work through governors.

On the other hand, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde credited Modi for taking the country forward on the path of development. He spoke to HT and said his priority was making Modi the Prime Minister for the third time.

Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Uttarakhand chief minister, echoed Shinde and told HT that India had risen in the global order under Modi’s leadership, evidenced by the country’s achievements in space in the development of Covid vaccines.

His Punjab counterpart, Bhagwant Mann accused the BJP of "harassing" states ruled by Opposition parties, even as he urged the Centre to equitably distribute resources across all provinces. In Himachal Pradesh, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu made similar allegations and said the general elections this year were a battle "between the BJP and the people". 

The BJP's Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, however, called the Congress party "a sinking ship" that nobody wanted to remain on.

Union ministers on campaign trail

Amit Shah, Union minister of home affairs and cooperation told HT he believes that the country’s citizens are mature and vote carefully. He said people have accepted the BJP and the NDA’s return to power, which is one reason why there’s apathy among supporters of Opposition parties (and a dip in turnout). The party will also be the "largest party in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu (taken together)," he added.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she was certain the BJP’s vote share would rise in south India – a region that the BJP is looking to make inroads. She spoke to HT about a growing openness to talk about the BJP across Kerala and Tamil Nadu and how social schemes have reached every corner of the country.

Sitharaman’s cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal, who contested his first Lok Sabha election from North Mumbai, asked the Opposition to step out of fake narratives and begin conversations about substantive changes that Modi has brought about. In an interview with HT, he said the Opposition had cobbled together an alliance that had already failed.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar appeared to strike a positive note on the foreign policy front, saying there is "a sense of pride about where PM Modi has taken the country". India now takes not just clear, but confident positions whether it be over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the invasion of Gaza, or the South China sea, and he urged voters to "strengthen Narendra Modi’s hands because he is actually the guy who’s going to see you through the stormy period".

PM Modi’s magic and good governance continue to hold sway over Indians, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said, adding that the opposition is “rudderless” while the BJP has been delivering on its promises.

His colleague, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari told HT that not only will the BJP "be re-elected with a record margin", but the [ruling] "Mahayuti alliance is getting an overwhelming response" and will perform better in Maharashtra than in 2019.

Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani, who is in the contest from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, said that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi chose not to contest from the seat in 2024 because he knew he would be defeated, and told HT that there has been more development under her five-year watch as the constituencies member of parliament, than in decades under the Gandhis.

Union minister Bhupender Yadav, who contested his first Lok Sabha election from Rajasthan’s Alwar constituency, said the BJP will return to power with a clear majority on the back of Modi’s politics of governance. In an interview with HT, Yadav spoke about his promises to the people of Alwar, and the BJP’s developmental agenda.

Anurag Thakur, the Union I&B and sports minister, played up the BJP government's economic achievements and said PM Modi had helped pull the country out of the "fragile five" to a "first five" economy.

Top campaigners

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that people were fed up with politics that did not address their problems. In an interview with HT, she said she saw an upsurge against the BJP everywhere she went. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav said he was certain the NDA alliance would fall in Bihar, and people had now seen through the BJP’s lies. He told HT that the people gave the BJP a decade, but little work on key issues like unemployment had been accomplished.

In an interview with HT, former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat said there was great anger among the youth around the introduction of the Agnipath scheme and Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot said a large section of the people feel they have been left behind in the growth story. He told HT that farmers were aggrieved that the union government had not done enough for them.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and BJP national vice-president said he was convinced the party would emerge stronger in the East, West and South, even as he stressed that they were working for the people's welfare.

Key contestants

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, hoping to retain the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat for the fourth time in a state where the Congress and the Left are pitted against each other, said the latters tactics of attacking him would only help the BJP. He however told HT that his chances were still bright and this was unlikely to sour his optimism.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K Kanimozhi said the BJP would not win any seats in Tamil Nadu because of its divisive ideology, and in an interview with HT, said that people in the state had made sacrifices in the state to protect their identity.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi accused the BJP of trying to turn India into an authoritarian single-party state. He told HT that BJP’s poaching of Congress leaders was a show of weakness, while Mandi MP candidate Vikramaditya Singh said while the BJP had sought to bring him over, he was clear about his future in Congress. In an interview with HT, Singh accused the central government of discriminating against Himachal Pradesh.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Amritsar who was India’s ambassador to the US until January, said Modi inspired him as he worked with him for 10 years. In an interview with HT, Singh said that voting him to power would mean an influx of schemes for both Amritsar and Punjab.