Seeking re-election for herself in India’s ongoing general elections, Chandigarh’s sitting Member of Parliament from Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Kirron Kher said Chandigarh is her home and she’s been living there since she won the 2014 elections.
Ms Kher, Bollywood’s well known 'loud and boisterous Punjabi mother', spoke with SBS Punjabi about the work she has done so far and what she intends to do if she is voted back into office by the people of Chandigarh on May 19.
Speaking of Chandigarh’s commitment to women’s safety, the actor-turned-politician said that Chandigarh is the only Indian city in which a police vehicle can ensure the safety of women if they ask for help.
“If a woman doesn’t feel safe using public transport, she can dial 1091 and a Police Control Room vehicle picks her from wherever she is and drops her home. Chandigarh is the only city in India which offers this service,” said Ms Kher.
India’s major political parties have sprinkled star power generously over the electoral canvas this time around.
Commenting on the efficiency of actors in the political fray, Ms Kher said, "there is no hard-and-fast rule to perform well in the political arena."
“I have dedicated five years to Chandigarh and did not do even a single movie. There are people who are not from Bollywood who do not perform well, while there are some from whose performance is good in the political arena… It depends from person to person, what they bring with them: education, calibre and desire to work.”
Taking a potshot at her predecessor, and current Congress candidate from Chandigarh, former railway minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ms Kher said that “he had 25 years to make a Metro Rail for Chandigarh. But he didn’t”.
“He always takes up the issue of the Metro during the elections. The central government is not in favour of the Metro for Chandigarh, as it is not feasible and will require an investment of Rs 14,000 crore. We need the Monorail and a better bus system, which drops people inside their colonies, not just on main roads,” she retorted.
"If we really need a Metro, it can be brought till Punjab and Haryana. Passengers can then be transferred to Chandigarh’s Monorail," she added.
Known as City Beautiful, Chandigarh has been sliding down in the Swachh Survekshan, a survey of India’s cleanest cities, since Mr Kher became MP. It held the second rank India-wide in 2016, from which it fell to the 11th in 2017.
Registering a bounce-back to the third rank in 2018, it plummeted again to Number 20 in 2019, something that Mr Bansal has highlighted many times in his election campaign.
“Chandigarh’s ranking went up last year during our (BJP’s) time. When the survey was done, the safai karamcharis (cleaning staff) were on strike, which is why we didn’t get a good rank. Next year, Chandigarh will stand first in India in terms of cleanliness,” said a confident Ms Kher.
Click on the player at the top of the page to listen to this interview in Punjabi.
