Good afternoon Mr. Bhandary.  It is nice to meet you and thank you for finding time to talk to us.
Good afternoon….it is always a pleasure.

What activities are you involved in these days?
To do social service one doesn’t need any post or office. In the last 10 to 30 years, I have been involved in the Social welfare activities both in individual capacity and also as a worker of the Congress party. In democracy one must respect the sentiments of people. After all it is for the people to decide whom they want as their leader.
People still come to me with their problems. People below poverty line have number of problems in their day to day life and it is they who need help. These are the people who have less education, less income and fewer resources to live a normal life and are deprived of equal opportunities and social justice. So when these people come to you, one must help them. So I try to help these people to the best of my ability.
Besides, as a Congress party worker, I am busy creating awareness about democracy and secularism among our people. Today we have a far greater responsibility to create a peaceful and secular environment so that people live as one, forgetting the narrow mindedness of cast, religion, language etc. Communal politics is dividing our own people today, who lived in harmony all along. So it is our duty to make people aware of the benefits of secularism so that they don’t fall prey to communal hatred.

Why do you think you lost in the last election?
For the past 35 years, people had not seen a different party other than Congress. So probably it’s a curiosity among people to see a change. BJP has exploited the emotions of people by using religion and caste card. Not only that they used God for political gain but using these they have evoked communal sentiments among Hindus and tried to divide the society. Other than that I don’t see any other reason for Congress party’s defeat. We have always served people above the party line. Congress party has not done any injustice to people. We have done lot of developments in the region. By sensationalizing hatred for a particular community and all the bad things - which destroys a stable society, BJP tried to misguide people. I believe that this is a temporary phase and deception can’t be used permanently to get the votes of people.

How strongly do you feel about the chances of congress doing well in the next election?
In the next elections Congress stands a very good chance of making a comeback in the costal region. Previously, BJP led government came to power by raking up religious hatred in the name of nationalism and cultural issues. For almost seven years at the center, they tried to misguide people with a wrong concept of Hinduthva, interchanging the term between religion, nationalism and cultural issues according to their convenience. Now people know the real motive of their campaign and have realized the deception.  Their “India Shining” phrase was only meant to depict a wrong picture but not of real issues concerning people. If it was really India which was shining then why did people vote them out and opt for a Congress led secular front instead?

First of all, the sole reason for their gaining power was their incitement of hatred and communal unrest by demolishing the mosque at Ayodhya and promising to build a temple for “Ram” at the holy place. Without this issue they were unknown entity in Indian politics. But despite being at the center and leading the NDA government for almost 7 years, they could not keep up their promise. That shows their main motive was power and not Ram Mandir. Ram Mandir was just to evoke the feelings of Hindus to capture vote. Even today if you look in Karnataka, both JD (S) and BJP have joined hands together for the sake of power. It seems like BJP has put their so called “Hinduthva” on hold where as their partner JD (S) forgotten about “secularism”. So it would be curious to know how these two parties will stick to their ideology and run the state administration.

Karkala assembly constituency had been a place of peace and harmony all the way since independence. There was no communal hatred among the local people but trust and cordial atmosphere among all the communities. But with the help of instigative speeches and a campaign of lies they created an issue called “Hinduthva”, which never has been an issue with the voters. This helped to spread mistrust and created an unhappy atmosphere among communities. When you spread misunderstanding and deception about nationalism and patriotism in the name of religion calling it Hinduthva, it gives rise to communal tension. BJP and elements of Sangh Parivar are directly responsible for the spread of communal hatred and tension. This is the contribution of BJP and people are slowly realizing this. One cannot hide the truth for a long time. People are very shrewd and they can’t be fooled for a long time. They are knowledgeable enough to know what is going on.
If you a take a look at the total votes polled for Congress candidates in the recent Taluk Panchayat elections, it shows that the Congress has gained back the confidence of people as the total vote’s shows an inclination towards Congress in the Karkala assembly segment. This shows that Congress will bounce back in the next elections.

Do you think the electorate (voter) has lost faith in secular forces?
No... People haven’t lost their faith in the secular forces. As I had told you, people were probably curious for a change and fell prey to a bad propaganda but now they have realized. It is impossible that people will lose faith in secularism. Without secularism India would not be united and would have crumbled as a state. If every single political party campaigns on a specific religion, cast and linguistic based ideology, India will break into pieces.  Secularism is the root of India’s constitution and the reason for its existence as a model democratic nation. This has been the reason for the India’s unity amid its diversity. Divisive powers are temporary and people will realize this sooner or later and will come back to keep faith in secularism. 

Why do you think Congress and other so called secular forces often go out of their way to gain minority votes? And do you see that as the reason why people opt for BJP?
This is not true. We in Congress have never told that we are for a particular community. Congress wants the progress and justice for all sections of the society. We want to maintain peace and harmony among all the communities in the society. Congress only wants to empower people who are backward, to join national mainstream. We know that there is still inequality both in monetary terms and that prevailing in our mindset. Congress is working towards uplifting of these people and wants to maintain that progress. Even for Hindus, various governments have created departments and ministries. For example there is a department of Social welfare for SC/ST Hindus. We are not here for putting a community forward and the other backward. We are not biased towards stronger and weaker communities as people might say that we do to capture vote bank. We do not want to create a rift among communities. We want everyone to be treated equally. It is not correct that our policies are favored towards minorities. Our policies have been directed towards to all those who are below poverty line (economically backward) irrespective of their caste and number status. All the wrong information regarding favoritism is only there because it is spread by false rumors by the opposition. For generations we Indians have lived together with trust and faith. If some political parties want to take advantage of our sensitivities by creating mistrust, then we have to fight these forces cutting across party lines.

What are your party's plans for the revival of that faith in people in South Canara?
People have not lost faith in Congress party. However, we have to be alert and have to create continuous awareness about secularism, inform them about the developmental activities we have achieved because of peace and harmony in the region. We would like to carry forward development in educational and social sectors etc. We are trying to reach people through mass contact programs about our party’s secular ideology, principles and developmental plans for the area. We are also creating awareness sessions among people. These are a few among the many plans that are in place for the revival of Congress in the region.

How would you convince people from our area or South Canara that secularism is the right way to live in a multicultural society?
Today fundamentalists are trying to misguide people by playing with their emotions. They are doing this by targeting a particular community and spreading hatred, lies and hypothetical issues. What they really desire is votes to come to power. In our country we have more than 3,500 castes and tribes. Even in Hindu religion there are hundreds of castes and we speak in hundreds of dialects. India is a huge country and we have different life styles and every region in India has its unique culture. If we go by the ideologies of opposition parties then there is no chance of multicultural society to exist. So one must question them as to how they are planning to keep India as one country by dividing its people.It is difficult if we fight among ourselves in the name of religion and region. Unfortunately, sometimes common men and women get attracted to this kind of despicable campaign devised and disguised to make it look like patriotism.
In the past many people have joined Buddhism because they were pained the way they treated by their own religion. The fundamentalist people are those who do not understand their religion well and spread their misunderstanding to other people. What I believe is in humanity. And all religions preach humanity, which I believe is the basic human religion. Respecting the freedom of every individual-being should be the common religion in a democracy. That’s why secularism is the only way forward to build a progressive united India.

Now, regarding campaigning…. has anyone ever asked a question about your manifesto?
I gather that a very few people read manifestos. There are definitely few people who ask questions regarding the manifesto. But the number is very negligible. Even though we have high literacy, the general awareness about politics is low. And it is easy to target uneducated people and misguide them. BJP is doing exactly that. They misguide who are educationally backwards and trying to win over them by playing with their sentiments.

Do people write to you with their grievances or suggestions?
Yes. People always communicate with their grievances or suggestions. Some people write to me, where as mostly people prefer to meet me personally to tell about their problems. And I try to do my best.

How would you like the youth get involved in politics?
We are involving youth at every possible level. We do not want to attract youth by sensationalizing pointless issues. We do not want to get involved in cheap tactics to attract them. Congress party has an ideology and we are trying to attract them to this ideology of secularism and nation building. We do not want any fundamentalists; we do not want anyone who stands for communal tension. Ideology is very important in nation building and not power. In democracy the real objective is happiness of our people. We can achieve that by eradication of poverty by constant development so that all the citizens live in the path of progression. Congress party’s “Sevadal” teaches all these values and is a way of attracting and teaching the values to the youth. As the saying goes in Hindu religion “Sarvajana Sukhino Bhavantho”, Congress is always committed to the welfare of all people. We have always opposed untouchability, corruption and misuse of power. If today a SC/ST can go to a temple, it is because of Congress. If today the difference between rich and poor has reduced it is because of the initiatives of Congress party. I am proud to be part of that campaign.Any sort of fundamentalism serves to hinder the growth of the country and freedom of its people. If you look at the world, Taliban is the best example for this. They sent back Afghanistan to Stone Age. So by preaching our ideology of secularism and development we are trying to involve youth in Congress.

What are your hobbies?
I do a lot of reading…I also play Shuttle Badminton and do Yoogasana… (Smiles...)

Describe a day in the life of Mr. Bhandary…
A day in my life……..
I get up at 5.30 in the morning and then spend half an hour to one hour in doing Yogasana or playing Shuttle badminton or do fitness related activities. After 7 AM my day gets busy with public service activities. There are numerous public functions or programs which I attend almost every day. There is no set time table for the rest of the day. It is difficult to maintain a routine. There is no set time to even have tea or lunch or dinner. I always try to be available for the people in my office. On a normal day, I will be in the office from at least 10 AM till 6 PM as it is the convenient time for my visitors. Sometimes I spend more time in the office by listening to my people in the constituency. Even if I am not there in the office, my staff is available during these hours. Very often, I end up spending more than office hours in my office meeting people of my constituency which I consider as my privilege.(While taking this interview Mr. Bhandary had people waiting for him and his phone was ringing constantly. While chatting, a person waiting outside said: “Shri Bhandari is the only leader who is available whether he is a MLA or not.”)

KanajarOnline.com wishes Mr. H. Gopal Bhandary all the very best in his future endeavors.