{Arun Jaitley**}
Why Am I here?
I have spent past five weeks extensively campaigning in Amritsar. Campaigning in constituency besides developing your political relationships also brings an emotional integration between you and the constituency. A question that frequently comes in to my mind is what will I eventually do for this constituency.
I am not here for the conventional political activity. I am here to make a difference. The people of Amritsar are full of life and extrovert. They are not timid. They assert themselves and are willing to grow. What is it that can turn Amritsar into one of India’s most fascinating cities? I visualize Amritsar as a much cleaner city, with broad roads, a lot of flyovers, elevated bus corridor, with a proper sewage and drainage system. I visualize it as a city which has modern industries at the outskirts and is buzzing with trade. I visualize it as a primary tourism circuit where the tourism infrastructure comprising of restaurants, guest houses, hotels, dhabas is extensive. I dream of it as a city which has proper public transport system. I visualize Amritsar with a lot more educational institutions, ITIs and skill development centres. Why should not Amritsar have a world class sports complex an amusement park, a walking bazaar where handicrafts are sold, a food street where people arrive from all over to enjoy the delicacies of Punjab, especially Amritsar. I can foresee the highway to Attari, buzzing with warehouses, offices and hotels which become the centre of border trade. I visualize a drug free Amritsar where the drug smuggling across the border is handled as strictly as the terrorist infiltration. I visualize Amritsar as safe city where there is zero tolerance for crimes against women.
For all this to happen, investment is required. I have decided to dedicate myself for this purpose. Amritsar requires a different kind of politics. It should be increasingly become more issue oriented and less personality oriented. It is only then that the people here can collectively make a difference.
Some stray points :
- Sound bites for convenience rather than out of conviction seem to be Gandhi-Vadra strategy. I thought that Mrs.Vadra made a good point when she suggested that no personal attacks should be made. In the very next breath, she raked up “snoopgate”. What she probably meant that no personal attacks against the Gandhis but the Gandhis are entitled to stoop to any level.
- Captain is increasingly becoming desperate. He issued statement a pointing that Arun Jaitley has become inaccessible because his website is closed. Sorry, Captain, my website has only been temporarily hacked. I am still available on the Facebook and the Twitter.
- The Congress put up a front to allege that Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, a Senior Advocate of Supreme Court, has appeared in some riot case. I checked up with Mukul who is incidentally one of India’s busiest lawyers today besides being my good friend. As an independent lawyer, he told me, in the recent past he has appeared for Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Chidambram, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, the Badals and even Captain Sahib’s family members. Since when have I become responsible for actions of Mukul’s clients?
******
**Arun Jaitley
Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha )
*Disclaimer: The writer is Leader of Opposition Rajya Sabha and the views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of INVC.
