"I think even Atishi will lose her seat..." Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri spoke about BJP's plan for the Delhi elections, controlling the pollution crisis in the capital, and a lot more in this conversation with Brut.
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00:00Today, the anger against the Aam Aadmi Party is clear, it is palpable and it is anger bordering
00:07on real anger.
00:09What would be the top two priorities for a BJP government in Delhi when it comes to power?
00:15To make Delhi livable again.
00:18We have with us India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, author and a former diplomat,
00:26Hadeep Singh Puri.
00:27Thank you so much for speaking to Brut.
00:29I wanted to start by asking the Delhi elections, which we are going to win by the way.
00:34That was my question.
00:35But very quickly, of course, in the public domain, there have been, you know, comments
00:40exchanged between the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP on the settlements of Rohingyas, right?
00:45My question to you is, Rohingyas, could they have not been stopped at the border?
00:51No, let me first of all say this is a false narrative.
00:55Okay.
00:56The Aam Aadmi Party doesn't seem to realize that there is something called an illegal
01:00infiltrator.
01:01Okay.
01:02And then there are refugees.
01:04The point about the Rohingyas is, wherever they've come from, who has encouraged them?
01:10The point is, if your MLA is shown on TV, talking to them and saying, I will give you
01:1510,000 rupees a month, I'll give you this, I'll do that.
01:17The idea is to bring, this is not only here, they're doing it everywhere.
01:21They're trying to bring in people who have no business to be here and they're utilizing
01:25those people to make them ration cards firstly and then ultimately get them a vote and then
01:30get them votes in the election.
01:31I mean to say, you know, I saw some statement, I couldn't conceal my amusement, BJP has
01:37settled them in.
01:38Do you seriously expect the Rohingya to vote for a BJP candidate?
01:41What are we discussing?
01:43I mean, and if you, if you, today I saw another tweet by Mr. Kejriwal, oh no, no, they are
01:48mistaking their, in the name of Rohingya, they are talking of Poorvanchali, he's talking
01:52nonsense.
01:54Today, the anger against the Aam Aadmi Party is clear, it is palpable and it is anger bordering
02:01on real anger because Delhi is polluted, it is mismanaged, the air pollution, the river
02:08pollution, etc.
02:09That's why these guys in the last list of 20 candidates that he announced, 13 of them
02:13were outsiders, brought in from other parties.
02:17I think they're going to be devastatingly routed in the next election and you will see
02:23a BJP government here.
02:25And on the Delhi pollution, sir, there's always a back and forth in terms of this is the centre
02:29saying this is a state issue.
02:30No, no, I haven't done it.
02:31When there was a Congress government in Punjab, it's the Congress government in Punjab which
02:34is not able to control Parali burning.
02:38Then when the Aam Aadmi Party government say, well, it's not Punjab, it's coming from X
02:41other place, Y place.
02:42Look, madam, if you are not interested in doing something, then this kind of diversionary
02:47talk will take place.
02:50I think Kejriwal's days, he's no longer the chief minister, but I think even Aatish will
02:55lose her seat.
02:56What would be the top two priorities for a BJP government in Delhi if it comes to power?
03:02To make Delhi livable again is the main priority.
03:06To make Delhi livable, it's such a beautiful city.
03:08I mean, if you look at Delhi in terms of its tradition, etc., its history, they have completely
03:14destroyed it.
03:16My own conversations with him will get me very worried.
03:19And this whole freebie culture, look, I am for freebies, make no mistake.
03:23Because if there is an economic incentive to be given, but our freebies are very different.
03:29You want to give 300 units of electricity free, what the prime minister says is, take
03:33a subsidy from me, set up a roof, solar panel on your rooftop, produce cheap electricity,
03:41use 300 units free for yourself, other you, we put up a charging station, you charge your
03:47card with it, and next we have a national grid, you put it into the grid and we'll pay
03:50you for it.
03:51That's the difference between good management.
03:53By the way, wherever there have been Congress led governments, today I saw that they were
03:56putting cess on all kinds of things in Karnataka.
04:00They wanted to tax toilets in Himachal.
04:02You see, if you don't know how to govern and if you are extravagant and you want to spend
04:08beyond your mean, then you will have to resort to all these things.