Saaf Niyat drive not a retreat from Acche Din, says I&B Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore

I&B Minister says it’s a candid tag line of a government that has clear intentions and is working for the poorest of the poor

Rajyavardhan Rathore. File photo.

Union Minister of State for Information and BroadcastingRajyavardhan Rathore , who took independent charge of the Ministry recently, says the BJP’s new “Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas” campaign is not a climbdown from Acche Din.

The Narendra Modi government has completed four years in power. Are you happy with the response that you have been getting?

One of the ways in electoral politics to assess the confidence of people is by way of the vote they cast. In the past four years, right from the panchayat level to the parliamentary elections, you have seen how people have been very supportive of the government.

We have formed government in 20 States, and we have now the largest number of MLAs till date in the country. From the people’s verdict, the response is very clear. People feel that the government has very clear intentions and the path that the government has taken is of development.

That is why we came up with the tag line

Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas .

Isn’t this tag line a climbdown from the concrete promise of Ache Din to talking about just ‘intentions’?

No! The very fact that you have a government that has clear intentions, a government that has been taint-free for the past four years; the fact that we are working for the poorest of the poor; people are getting their own houses in every village. This is a journey and we are on the path of creating India of our dreams. These tag lines are absolutely candid and there is no ambiguity.

A united opposition, especially in Uttar Pradesh; does it give BJP reasons to worry?

It is our strength that we have been able to put up such a positive alternative for this country that every other party has now started coming together, dropping their own ideologies, dropping their differences that have been there since their inception to fight against us.

The previous governments and now yours too have tried to amend the working of the Central Board for Film Certification. There was the Justice Mudgal committee and then the Shyam Benegal committee set up by your government but their recommendations have not been implemented yet.

Many of the recommendations have already been adopted. The Shyam Benegal and the Justice Mudgal committee’s recommendations have been sent to other Ministries for comments. The process is on. Our government is very clear that it is CBFC and not Censor Board. Its job is to give certificates.

When the filmmaker insists on a universal certificate, that is where the issue comes in. If a film has explicit sexual content or violence, would people of India say it is okay to show to children?

What are your views on the phrase “Fake News”

We believe media houses and journalists are supposed to set their own self-regulations in place.

And good media houses have self-regulation at various levels and we are very satisfied the way Indian media self- regulates itself.

Your Ministry had lot of friction with Prasar Bharati on the question of autonomy. Has it been resolved?

We have never had any issues with the autonomy of Prasar Bharati. There is a parliamentary directive that till 2019, Prasar Bharati will be funded by the government. Therefore, the government was merely asking them for an account of how they are spending this money.