‘Govt can’t do anything about court case’: Naveen Jindal on joining BJP, graft charges, and his embrace of Hindutva

Industrialist Naveen Jindal is contesting as the BJP’s candidate from Haryana’s Kurukshetra, months after his overnight transformation from diehard Congressman to a BJP member. 

He is an accused in the alleged coal scam, which not long ago, was described by PM Narendra Modi as a major scandal. 

The cases by the CBI and the ED are still ongoing. Is that why the two-time Congress MP from Haryana switched to the BJP days before elections, like other opposition leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari and Himanta Biswa Sarma?

Asked about the opposition’s “washing machine” charge in this conversation with Sreenivasan Jain, Jindal says it’s been “more than 10 years this case has been going on” and asks “why would I wait 10 years”. “The case is with the court…So now the agency or the government can’t do anything about it.”

Asked if the BJP’s decision to allow the entry of leaders like him can be questioned as hypocritical, the politician says that “people can question each thing, each and everything. People can question whatever they want to question”.

On being asked about the Modi government’s role in the inauguration of the Ram Mandir, he says, “The government, after it got all the approval, from the Supreme Court and it built the temple, if the authorities, if they want the prime minister to come and take part in ceremonies, what’s wrong with that?”

“I am absolutely comfortable. I am very happy and I felt very proud. I was there on that day…not only me, the whole country and Indians all over the world, they felt very proud.”

On the average rate of growth during the 10 years of Modi government being lower than the UPA years, he says, “If your base is very low, to rise up, to have a higher rate, is low. But when you are already here, then to go higher, it’s difficult. Why does America have only 1 or 2 percent GDP growth rate?..because they are already developed countries…to go from the 11th economy in the world, now we are the fifth largest economy…you only want to see the negative.”

Asked about unemployment data, he asks “which country doesn’t have unemployment”.

Watch.