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Indore: Pushyamitra Bhargav, newly-elected Indore mayor and a surprise candidate by BJP, is all set to take oath on Friday. He might be a new face, but no stranger to politics. Only that now, with politics comes responsibilities and stardom. An avid swimmer, who feels that now he can’t eat golgappa on the streets without being crowded for selfies, Bhargav has set his priorities straight. He spoke at length to Ashok Kumar Yadav. Excerpts:
Q. From practitioner of law to full-time politician. How has the transformation been?
n Politics is not new to me. I was active in student politics. I also worked as ABVP executive member. As deputy advocate general or additional advocate general, I was exposed to a lot of political interactions. But being a mayor is new to me.
Q. How did people’s aspirations change… during campaigning and after the win?
n People met me with smiles during electioneering. But after the win, they look at me with expectations. Thousands of people approach with their small problems and expect me to resolve them. I have not met as many people in the last six months as I have met in last 15 days.
Q. What solutions do you propose?
n Time and team management are the two Ts which I am going to use to address citizens’ problems. There are people who want to work for the city with zero self-interest and I wish to provide them a platform to work for the city’s betterment.
Q. So, what are your priorities as mayor?
n Traffic, sports and doorstep governance are among the list of priorities — traffic being the most important one. We would be running campaigns to generate traffic awareness among citizens with focus on encouraging them to use public transport. A new sports complex will be developed to promote sports and support budding players. We also aim to establish an additional monitoring system to ensure timely redressal of citizens grievances related to civic services.
Q. What about water? Every year people cry over it.
n People should have a sense of belonging. They should be educated about optimal use of water resources. There is no water crisis, but we need to make citizens understand that they should not waste it. Distribution of Narmada water through new overhead tanks constructed under Phase 2 of AMRUT Mission will also be taken up on priority.
Q. IMC gangs have become notorious for highhanded action against residents. Some call it goondaism of ‘Yellow Gang’…
n Rules have to be enforced. There is a thin line between awareness and punitive action. One should behave very carefully. If people don’t understand after repeated warnings, then it calls for a change of tone. The Yellow Gang of IMC is the one that made and retained Indore as country’s cleanest city for five times in a row. IMC’s sanitation workers went out of the way to help people during the Covid-19 pandemic. They were the ones who cremated bodies of people dying from the infection. We must respect them. We can’t pass a judgement on the whole workforce of IMC for the actions of a few notorious elements.
Q. You were a surprise candidate. Though BJP won, but vote share fell. Is it because of resentment over the decision?
n There was no mayor for more than two years due to delay in elections. This caused a huge communication gap. People were dissatisfied and angry. It apparently led to a decline in the vote share. People never want to support Congress, and that’s what they did in this election and supported BJP. We contested the election on real issues and development, not on freebies or fake announcements.
Q. How has the support from your family been?
n I don’t have any free time. My family was habituated to my old routine. They will need time to adjust. They are my backbone, especially my father. He pushed me into RSS, backed me as I engaged in student politics and taught me to fight for just causes. During election campaign, my wife and brother stood by my side the whole time.
Q. How do they now cope with the new-found stardom?
n My personal space has shrunk. I can’t just go out and have patase (golgappe) on the roadside. People recognize and stop for selfies. This is new. But my family has not faced any inconvenience. My father, a doctor, goes to his clinic; mother manages household and wife.., she had been practising law, will resume her work soon.
Q. From practitioner of law to full-time politician. How has the transformation been?
n Politics is not new to me. I was active in student politics. I also worked as ABVP executive member. As deputy advocate general or additional advocate general, I was exposed to a lot of political interactions. But being a mayor is new to me.
Q. How did people’s aspirations change… during campaigning and after the win?
n People met me with smiles during electioneering. But after the win, they look at me with expectations. Thousands of people approach with their small problems and expect me to resolve them. I have not met as many people in the last six months as I have met in last 15 days.
Q. What solutions do you propose?
n Time and team management are the two Ts which I am going to use to address citizens’ problems. There are people who want to work for the city with zero self-interest and I wish to provide them a platform to work for the city’s betterment.
Q. So, what are your priorities as mayor?
n Traffic, sports and doorstep governance are among the list of priorities — traffic being the most important one. We would be running campaigns to generate traffic awareness among citizens with focus on encouraging them to use public transport. A new sports complex will be developed to promote sports and support budding players. We also aim to establish an additional monitoring system to ensure timely redressal of citizens grievances related to civic services.
Q. What about water? Every year people cry over it.
n People should have a sense of belonging. They should be educated about optimal use of water resources. There is no water crisis, but we need to make citizens understand that they should not waste it. Distribution of Narmada water through new overhead tanks constructed under Phase 2 of AMRUT Mission will also be taken up on priority.
Q. IMC gangs have become notorious for highhanded action against residents. Some call it goondaism of ‘Yellow Gang’…
n Rules have to be enforced. There is a thin line between awareness and punitive action. One should behave very carefully. If people don’t understand after repeated warnings, then it calls for a change of tone. The Yellow Gang of IMC is the one that made and retained Indore as country’s cleanest city for five times in a row. IMC’s sanitation workers went out of the way to help people during the Covid-19 pandemic. They were the ones who cremated bodies of people dying from the infection. We must respect them. We can’t pass a judgement on the whole workforce of IMC for the actions of a few notorious elements.
Q. You were a surprise candidate. Though BJP won, but vote share fell. Is it because of resentment over the decision?
n There was no mayor for more than two years due to delay in elections. This caused a huge communication gap. People were dissatisfied and angry. It apparently led to a decline in the vote share. People never want to support Congress, and that’s what they did in this election and supported BJP. We contested the election on real issues and development, not on freebies or fake announcements.
Q. How has the support from your family been?
n I don’t have any free time. My family was habituated to my old routine. They will need time to adjust. They are my backbone, especially my father. He pushed me into RSS, backed me as I engaged in student politics and taught me to fight for just causes. During election campaign, my wife and brother stood by my side the whole time.
Q. How do they now cope with the new-found stardom?
n My personal space has shrunk. I can’t just go out and have patase (golgappe) on the roadside. People recognize and stop for selfies. This is new. But my family has not faced any inconvenience. My father, a doctor, goes to his clinic; mother manages household and wife.., she had been practising law, will resume her work soon.
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