What is the idea behind Pachmarhi?
Some weaknesses have crept into the Congress, the Congress President wants to sit together with partymen and discuss the solution, the issues facing the country.

Today if you were to go to the Youth Congress and ask what the Congress stands for, most people will not be able to answer that question.
At one time, Congressmen were examples in society. Unfortunately the political situation has deteriorated in the last ten years. The political spread over caste and religion blew away a percentage of the Congress votes. The Congress can only stand if the foundation of the party is ideological. That's how the party lasted for 113 years. We have to revert to the values of the Congress culture: simple living, simple food, simple clothes.

Today Congressmen prefer to stay in five-star hotels...
If I stay in a five-star hotel, I should be able to say that either I paid for it, or the party paid for it or someone else. I should be able to tell the world about it.

Some people in the Congress still feel that the party needs to revert to Nehruvian socialism.
Nehruvian socialism was the need of that time. Today we are reversing it but not totally, only up to a point. We have to remember that we are a rural-based economy. I am not opposed to liberalisation but it has to be done in a balanced manner. If you have two projects coming in, you can insist that one be set up in a backward area.
When I was in the Communications ministry, I had proposed no license fees for cellular phones in `A' and `B' cities provided the companies gave me free telephone connections in each panchayat in two states. The idea was to give a feeling to the villagers that Haan yehan bhi taar aa raha hai. But the bureaucrats shot it down.

Are you advocating a rethink of the Manmohan Singh approach?
Manmmohan Singh always talked about rural development. Linking liberalisation to village development is a must.

Do you see any chances of Congress-Left cooperation?
The views of the Communists and the Congress converge on many things except in some cases. They have worked together in 1967 and in 1972. I feel that all political parties opposed to communal forces like the BJP, RSS and the VHP should come together in the national interest.

On a common platform?
That is not possible. Nor is it the (right) time to do so. But we should forget our political differences. When a house is burning, you don't see who is throwing buckets of water and who is throwing mud to put out the fire. You just do it. So also we have to stop the advance of the BJP.

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra has said he would prefer to resign rather than arrest Bal Thackeray...
That means the law of the land is not important but that Bal Thackeray is more important. Rejecting the Srikrishna report outright without a discussion in the Assembly is not democratic culture. By not acting on the Srikrishna Report you are also degrading the judiciary. In future, they will say they do not want to be on judicial commissions.

But the Congress has also shied away from calling for Thackeray's arrest.
Let the law take its course. We are not shy of demanding any one's arrest. What we are saying is let us first have a discussion in the Assembly, then the government should respond and other decisions can come after that. Otherwise it 'll look that because we are against Bal Thackeray we are asking for his arrest. The words of Bal Thackeray in Saamna have sometimes been anti-national. When we were in government, we did initiate action against him (and against Simranjit Singh Mann and Naib Imam of Jama Masjid) when Sudhkar Naik was Chief Minister and he (Thackeray) had said that the Muslims should leave India. I was Internal Security minister. Unfortunately, it could not be followed up at that time. I can't give you the details, it is not in the interest of the system to do so.

Are you for elections or for forming a government were Jayalalitha to withdraw support to the Vajpayee ministry?
That situation should come before you ask us that question. Let them vacate first. Ghar khali to ho. To hum safai karayaen (Let the house be vacant, then we will get it cleaned up). It is not Congress culture to push someone out and sit there.

How do you see the Congress faring in the forthcoming assembly elections in November?
I think we will win in three states. In Madhya Pradesh we need to do hard work. The incumbency factor will harm us there.

Do you think the Congress should go in for alliances with other parties in these elections?
That will be a decision of the party. But I feel the time has come when the Congress should stand on its own feet. We have already damaged ourselves by going with parties whose ideology does not go with ours, like the BSP in UP.

The Americans have been invited for the first time to the forthcoming NAM conference...
That itself is an indication of how much the NAM movement, which was built up with great effort by India, has weakened. As for the Government, sometimes you have the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission going around, sometimes it is Vasundhara Raje, or it is Brajesh Mishra. It only shows how much importance the Government gives to foreign policy.