'Yogiji believes in a very strong rule of law'

'In the last five years of UP government, the UP police were given a fair environment and the rule of law always remained supreme.'
'In these five years, nobody within the BJP dared tell a police officer to act against the rule of law.'

Asim Arun, an 1994-batch Indian Police Service officer sought voluntary retirement from service last month. He then joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and was immediately nominated to contest the assembly election from Kannauj constituency in Uttar Pradesh, reserved for scheduled caste candidates.

Asim Arun tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com why he chose to join the BJP, explains the challenges he faces as a politician and defends himself against vallegations against him that he worked for the BJP even while in uniform.

Kannauj goes to the polls in the third phase of the UP elections on February 20.

From an IPS officer to joining a political party... what made you quit the UP police and join the Bharatiya Janata Party?

Firstly, my entry into the BJP from being a police officer is quite an interesting story. I still had nine years of service left and politics was not on my radar at all. But the party (the BJP) asked me if I could join them and invited me.

The BJP has a policy of inviting people, who are honest and distinguished in their field, laterally, and I got an invitation (to join BJP).

Who invited you to join BJP? Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath?

The top UP leadership invited me to join them. When I was approached by them, it quite surprised me. Then I gave it serious thought and realised that it was indeed a good idea. I told myself that no party other than the BJP could give me an opportunity to work selflessly with honesty and integrity for the people of Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP gave me an opportunity to come back to my motherland Kannauj; my father has done a lot of social work here. I could have done this at 60 as well (when he would have retired as an IPS officer) but doing it at 51 is indeed more appealing.

By political standards (at 51) I am youthful.

When did you get this call from UP's top BJP leadership, and how long did you take to make up your mind?

I was invited on the first day of the New Year on January 1. I took almost eight days... I met the honourable chief minister Yogiji on January 8.

I had some doubts (before I made up my mind) because I didn't want to join politics at the cost of my reputation, my father's reputation and integrity.

Yogiji told me that it was because of my and my father's reputation that the BJP invited me to join them, and the party and its leaders believed in doing honest politics.

This assurance from Yogiji as well from the top party brass helped me cement my decision to join the BJP.

On that day, I decided that if the party gave me a chance to contest the election I will ensure that I would be very transparent with my election expenses, and, more importantly, encourage more people like myself, from all walks of life, to join the party (the BJP) and work for the development of India.

What attracted you towards the BJP?

It was not that I was looking to join any political party; it was the party (BJP) that invited me to join them.

No other party asked me to join them. But even if any other party had invited me I would have refused.

The reason being the values, the principles I cherish -- like integrity, being courteous to people, doing things with perfection, inclusiveness -- I find them embedded in the BJP's founding principles as well.

I feel very comfortable in the BJP because I know that I won't have to compromise on any of my basic principles.

I followed the same principles when I was part of the police force on a smaller canvas, but now the BJP has given me a bigger canvas.

What are the challenges before you as a politician now that you are contesting from Kannauj?

As a new entrant into politics, as a candidate I have to figure out how best to contact the five lakh (500,000) voters of my constituency in a couple of weeks. Mainstream and social media have an important role to play in helping me connect with them and we are doing that.

The second is the physical endurance of the campaign, but here the BJP's organisational structure is very strong and is definitely a huge advantage. We have divided responsibilities for my campaign, but I will be 100 per cent responsible for my conduct and campaign.

I keep tab of all that is happening in the organisation, but the organisation is working with full force behind my candidature.

You said you will conduct your campaign in a transparent manner. Would you have any idea of how much an election campaign costs and how you are going to fund your campaign?

I wouldn't have much idea at this stage, but my life now onwards is a big and exciting experience.

At the same time, within a short span of time, I cannot change the basics and dynamics of how election expenses are managed, but let me assure you that in the next election I will definitely change these basics and dynamics.

However, I will ensure that the election campaign expenses that the Election Commission has capped at Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million) will be adhered to and every expense in that account is maintained in a transparent manner.

Within a couple of days we will be starting a crowdfunding exercise for my campaign.

We hope to generate enough funds through this exercise so that there will be more transparency and accountability.

When you meet the people of Kannauj, what are the issues they tell you affect them? What issues are you raising to seek their votes?

At the state level, the issues include the rule of law and order, security and corruption-free development to which people too are responding positively.

People's feedback suggests that law and order has improved substantially under Yogiji's rule, people are getting benefits from number of schemes in a transparent, corruption-free way.

Local issues in Kannauj relate to the youth. We need to improve our higher education institutions, set up public as well private institutions that train people in various employment-specific skills and train them for various competitive exams.

The other issue, which is very close to my heart and for which I have been working since I was working as police officer, is helping children develop new skills.

In fact, the UP government already runs the Abhyuday programme, in which officers like myself talk to students and counsel them over education and career options.

For farmers, the UP government runs several programmes to encourage organic farming and Kannauj, which is located along the Ganga, will surely benefit.

The main challenge here is to double farm income. To achieve this we will have to encourage cash crops and allied activities like dairy and poultry. We have worked quite well in these areas the results of which are evident now and in the next five years we would make much more progress.

Even before you joined BJP you raised a controversy alleging that the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party governments were lenient with criminals.,br>Why raise these allegations after you decided to join the BJP?

I would put it this way. In the last five years of the UP government, the UP police were given a fair environment and the rule of law always remained supreme.

In these five years, nobody within the BJP dared tell a police officer to act against the rule of law.

To be fair, it is alright to criticise a previous government for its policies; I would never get personal with anyone. But the question everybody must ask and is asking is why the previous governments could not give a law and order environment like Yogiji's government has done.

The fact is Yogiji believes in a very strong rule of law whereas most previous governments believed in rule of individuals.

Why are you raising this issue after joining a political party? Why not do it when you were part of the police force and when you would get such calls to be lenient with criminals? Why not expose those individuals the moment it happened?

I had resisted doing favours to anybody or acted under pressure from individuals.

But references (for showing leniency to criminals) were surely made (during the rule of previous governments) and when it goes above one's head one reacts.

Also, I can vouch for the fact that no police officer during the last five years can make such claims.

The political stability of this government was much better than that of the previous governments.

How can one take your allegations at face value? That what you are alleging happened during the rule of previous governments actually happened? Why should one believe your allegations are genuine?

I can't give the proof at this stage, but it was so rampant that it was part of the police force folklore back then (during the rule of the SP and BSP governments).

How do you react to the fact that strict action was not taken against the perpetrators of crimes in Hathras and Unnao under Yogi Adityanath's rule?

The UP police have reformed itself substantially, but lot of things (reforms) remain.

As a police officer I have always told my fellow officers to prevent misdeeds, illegal activities of cops. That no government should issue diktats about how law and order should be handled is a given and the duty of police officers is to maintain law and order.

But many times the cops on the ground do make mistakes. Like they make mistakes in how they perceive a situation... like mistakes did happen in Hathras by cops.

The question now is once it (alleged police misdeeds) becomes evident, was action taken against them? Action was indeed taken (against the policemen) in the Hathras case.

The government gives the broader principles and the cops on the ground are responsible for following those principles. But then they (the police personnel) make mistakes and the UP police have been very strict in such cases.

Whenever any cop or officer is found erring in fulfilling duties, the UP police comes down heavily against them.

In the Hathras case also, wherever mistake was made, action was taken against the responsible cops.

You joined the BJP at a time when OBC, Dalit and Brahmin leaders quit the party alleging that Yogi Adityanath has not been good to them. How do you respond to such charges?

My joining the BJP is not opportunism of any kind.

Let whoever quit BJP say whatever they want. The fact is the current BJP government has done a tremendous job for the upliftment of the poor and needy belonging to all sections of UP in terms of building houses, toilets, education, making provisions for cooking gas, agriculture and farmers.

The needy people are those who earn lesser income and these are predominantly the Dalits, minorities and OBCs. Yogiji's government has been very fair and inclusive in implementing its development agenda.

Obviously, anybody who is complaining after enjoying five years of power are doing it to fulfill their opportunism. That's deplorable.

The Samajwadi Party has claimed that you were working for the BJP even when you were in uniform. It asked the Election Commission to look into this charge...

There is absolutely no evidence that the SP can furnish to back their allegation on this issue.

Wherever I was posted, particularly the Kanpur police commissionerate, not one person from the SP complained that I was not fair in my dealings with criminals. I have always acted as per the rule book and spared no criminal.

I am proud of my clean record and integrity as a police officer.

• UP Assembly Election 2022