Q: But you need to know history. How can you say that history is not important? Perception is very important among people.
Chirag: See, you will not move forward if you'll keep talking about history only. That was the problem that I faced while going with this people alliance. People kept talking about Godhra and 2002. But for how long? You talk about youth vision then this is my vision. I don't want to become a prisoner of history. My priority is future. I want to project people who, I think, will do something for my party and nation. If you'll go into history then you'll get to see Godhra, Bhagalpur riots, Sikh riots and emergency. Which party is completely untouched by these things?
Q: You said that you did not go with RJD alliance because you did not want to join hands with Lalu Prasad who was convicted by a court of law. But you had also made a statement that you decided to walk out of the alliance because Sonia and Rahul Gandhi did not give to time to meet them. What was the reality?
Chirag: It was a compilation of many reasons. It was a fact that I was not comfortable in starting my career with an alliance with Lalu ji. There was definitely another reason as well- we were trying to meet Rahul Gandhi but could not succeed. We met Sonia ji twice and she told me- you should sit with Rahul and sort out the matter. I told her that I have been trying to meet Rahul for past three months but not able to get through. Then she said that she will speak to Rahul and will make him meet you in a couple of days but that day never came. We were in touch with C P Joshi, who was in-charge of Bihar at that time, so that the meeting could be fixed but there was a deadlock as no decision was being taken.
There were many reasons like Lalu Ji, Rahul ji, Sonia ji and of course, Modi ji with whom I personally wanted to go with. So the final decision was because of all these reasons.
Q: You are one of the few people who know Rahul Gandhi personally. What is your perception of Rahul Gandhi? People say he is a reluctant politician.
Chirag: We have been neighbours for almost 25 years now. I know him personally as well. He had come personally to watch my film when it was released. I was impressed with him when he had joined politics. He had come up with a new thinking and was taking strong decisions. But somewhere in the process, he lost the plot. I was impressed when I saw him tearing apart the ordinance draft. But he joined hands with the same person, Lalu ji ,who became the first victim of abandoning of that ordinance. He took a decision on Adarsh scam and then gave ticket once again to Ashok Chavan. I didn't like that .. It appeared to me that he lacks the guts to stick to his decision.His weakness became apparent there onwards.
As for ‘reluctanct politician', if you are not giving time to meet one of your important alliance partners then it reflects your reluctance. The way Milind Deora, Priya Dutt and Praful Patel made statements recently, it gives me a feeling that we were not the only ones who had complaints in this regard. In fact, this feeling was there among other party members and allies as well.
Q: So what you are saying is that apart from being a reluctant politician, he is ‘non-serious' as well and you agree with charges of incompetence that is being leveled against him by his own party men.
Chirag: I don't agree but this is how it is being projected from his end. May be, he is not incompetent but he needs to correct that projection. If you are not then you have to look aggressive and active that was completely lacking in him.
