Q: This is what the BJP is saying. They say you are not worried over the party's defeat in Delhi but you are happier with the AAP damaging BJP's chances of government formation in Delhi.
Mani: Why shouldn't I be happy? I regard the AAP as a naïve new political entity. They are providing us a laugh a minute in the AAP government. Their Law minister wants to summon all the high court judges. Rakhi Birla gets upset with a boy because his tennis ball came and hit her car. They get all their ministers to travel by metro and in the photographs that were published in newspapers; I saw ‘Ladies Only' written above their heads .What were the two men doing there? They arrive by metro hold a swearing in that cost Rs 80 Lakh to the exchequer when they could have done it for free except for the cost one Samosa and one Jalebi, in the Raj Niwas. And then this ‘Mohalla Sabha' idea! An excellent idea in principle but unless you have converted the Delhi Municipal Corporation ward councilors into those who are responsible to the Mohalla Sabha, the Mohalla Sabha is only mobocracy and all it can decide is whether Arvind Kejriwal shoul brush his teeth with colgate or Pepsodent. It's not a serious form of government. So we have no love lost with AAP.
Q: And still you are supporting them?
Mani: We couldn't have offered these 8 seats to BJP. This is a deliberate decision. These people are naïve but BJP and the Sangh Parivar as a whole are evil. The fundamental bonding adhesive of our nationhood as India i.e. Bharat is secularism and that means you have an innate belief that the Muslim, Christian and Sikh are as much Indians as Hindus are. But anyone who espouses the philosophy of Hindutva is using a word which was invented by V D Savarkar who was an atheist who then translated it himself into English saying Hindutva means Hindudom in exactly the same way as Christendom means the rule of the Christians. It's in his published writings. So if the BJP says that Bhartiyata means Rashtriyata and Rashtriyata means Hindutva, they are talking nonsense. It means they are 85 percent Indians whereas we, whether AAP or I, are 100 percent Indians. And this rift valley is so great and so critical to our nationhood that anyone who is opposed to BJP is potentially my friend. And I'm very proud to say that we have refused to work with BJP ever since the time of Jansangh. We are the only party in India that never had anything to do with them. That's the fundamental difference. It's not any other political party. I regard it as an anti-national force.
Q: Coming to economic philosophy of Kejriwal govt, do you think there can be serious ramifications for Delhi's economy in view of the fact that this govt is taking decisions like halving electricity bills and free drinking water?
Mani: He has postponed his decision on electricity. And I'm still laughing at his decision on water. Hre says he'll give 667 litres of free water provided it's metered. You can't get a meter unless it's connected and connections are only given to regularized colonies. So all those who can afford to pay for 667 litres of water are getting it free while all those who can't afford to pay are not getting water at all.
