00:00And joining me now is one of our newsmakers of the day, the AIMIM Chief Asaduddin OVC, Member of Parliament,
00:08joins me.
00:08He's just forged that alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajik Parivartan Morcha with Chandrasekhar Azad's Samaj Party.
00:16Mr. OVC, is this alliance of you and Chandrasekhar Azad against Akhilesh Yadav and the Congress,
00:23the India alliance, much more than it is against the BJP of Yogi Adityanath?
00:28Am I right in saying that?
00:30No, you're absolutely wrong.
00:33This alliance was forged between our party and Mr. Chandrasekhar Azad's party
00:39to ensure that we stop BJP and Yogi Adityanath from becoming the chief minister for third time.
00:45And of course, yes, we'll have to fight with Samajwadi party,
00:51their political opponents, and whatever political party will be there.
00:54But the main objective was that the other parties have completely failed in stopping the BJP,
01:02whether it's 2014 elections, 17 elections, 19 elections, 22 elections, and 2024.
01:11And that is why we have come to the conclusion that we will form this alliance.
01:18But with due regard, sir, you're saying that the other parties have failed to prevent the BJP's rise.
01:24The fact is that the Congress, Samajwadi party was party number one or alliance number one in 2024 general elections
01:31in Uttar Pradesh.
01:32And the votes that you are seeking are votes that traditionally the Congress has relied on,
01:40Muslim, Dalits, Samajwadi party on Muslims.
01:43So you will be breaking the anti-BJP alliance.
01:46Let's be clear.
01:47You're saying that you're fighting the BJP, but the maximum damage you're likely to do is to Akhilesh Yadav and
01:54Rahul Gandhi.
01:56Well, is it an hegemony or is it a monopoly of one political party that some, their old bank becomes
02:04their private property?
02:06If one believes in democracy, if you believe in free speech, if you day in, day out talk about saving
02:13the constitution,
02:15then what is the message of the constitution?
02:16What did the makers of the constitution talk about political justice in the preamble?
02:21Have you been able to stop BJP? No.
02:25Have you been able to ensure that they're defeated? No.
02:28Now, when you talk about old bank, why did Samajwadi party went and campaign against AIMM in Bihar after taking
02:37our four MLA's?
02:38Was that taking a great Gandhian act?
02:41Why did you go and contest Nuttarakhand wherein BJP won?
02:46Do you know that Samajwadi party went and contested in Jammu?
02:49So, why isn't this question posed?
02:53No, the question will be posed to them, Mr. Ovesi, the question will be posed to them.
02:57But when I look at Uttar Pradesh specifically, AIMIM, you polled just 0.49% of the vote share and
03:04won zero seats last time in 2022.
03:07Azad Samajwadi party, 0.13% zero votes.
03:11So, by coming together, I repeat, by coming together, you're not going to be able to defeat the BJP, surely.
03:17The BJP is the dominant party of UP.
03:20What stopped you from aligning with the Samajwadi party congress alliance?
03:24Why didn't you become part of that?
03:25Say, why didn't you negotiate with them and become part of a wider alliance if your aim is to defeat
03:31the BJP?
03:32Well, if we believe you, and I'm completely sure your assumption is wrong.
03:37Well, if we believe you for argument's sake, why is there so much of pain?
03:42Leave it.
03:43Because if that is the old percentage we have got, then you go and have a good night's sleep.
03:48You know, but now we are contesting together, and as far as alliance is concerned, I have repeatedly said that
03:57we are open for our alliance.
03:59Even now, Chandrasekhar has said that if Congress and Samajwadi party want to join us, this is a formidable combination,
04:06and we are willing to accommodate them.
04:09In fact, he went to the extent of saying today that at the, you know, it might cause a loss
04:15to me. I'm ready for it.
04:16No, no, no. You want them to accommodate you, or you will accommodate them? I mean, let's be honest again.
04:25They are the larger alliance.
04:27I mean, surely you would want them to accommodate you rather than vice versa. That's the point.
04:32I mean, isn't there, I repeat, if your aim is to defeat the BJP, the sense would be all of
04:39you coming together arithmetic, right?
04:41Your arithmetic would help the Samajwadi Congress. Now, it will be division, not arithmetic. Not one plus one is two.
04:49Rajdeep, please understand.
04:51Five years ago, Arm Army Party contested 300-odd seats. Samajwadi contested 300-odd seats. Congress contested nearly 400 seats.
05:03I had contested on about 80 or 85 seats because we were part of the alliance, Mr. Babu Singh Kishwaha,
05:08who is now a John Poor MP of Samajwadi Party.
05:12Now, these questions are not asked. Please remember that, you know, in Bihar, we had said, give us six seats.
05:19You took away our four MLA's. Despite that, we showed our magnanimity. But no, you blamed me. You made wild
05:27allegations.
05:28We won back those four seats, which you had taken away. I'm thankful to Allah and to the people of
05:34Srimanchal. Rajya Sabah election in Bihar, RJD sitting Thakur candid. Despite my objections, my party said, no, sir, we will
05:42support them. I said, go ahead, but be careful. They blame us.
05:46You know what happened in Rajya Sabah election in Bihar? Six Congress MLA's, four didn't turn up. RJD had one
05:54Muslim MLA. That gentleman didn't turn up. We did our part. Now, that is why we are saying that there
06:02are so many internal contradictions of blaming us.
06:06You have a party which is in power in Punjab. They want an alliance with Achillesh. Congress Party calls them
06:13B-team. They call Congress Party with other kind of names. I don't know how to name them. What is
06:20this hypocrisy?
06:21At least we have a clarity as far as our alliance is concerned that we want to defeat BJP. We
06:27want to stop them from your government. Now, Rajya, please remember what has happened in the past. Is there a
06:34guarantee that will be repeated now?
06:36Now, if you believe that…
06:38No, Mr. Ovesi, did you make an effort to reach out to Achillesh Yadav? Is it true that you tried
06:43and the backroom negotiations failed? Is that true or not?
06:48Rajya, when Asaduddin Ovesi had publicly made a statement, not once, not twice, not thrice, but five to six times,
06:58that please look into it. We don't want BJP to come back in power.
07:03But you assume that you are the biggest Choudhury's of so-called secular values. And please remember, you talk about
07:12secularism. After independence, when Mr. Achillesh Yadav was the chief minister, there was biggest displacement of people in the Muzaffar
07:22Nagar riots.
07:22Please read the report of Neha Dixit, that famous, courageous reporter, journalist. Eight women went to courts for justice because
07:32they were raped. Seven were forced to withdraw. Only one woman got justice.
07:36Who was the chief minister in 2017? Mr. Achillesh Yadav.
07:402013. 2012-13.
07:43Exactly. He was a CM till 2017. He could have easily given them protection. But where was the secularism? He
07:50was busy in bringing those two-hour heroes to Saifi and see them dancing and very making what's happening while
07:58these people were suffering in camps.
