That’s right. That was the thinking. There was one more thinking that we got to know about after investigation. That when this type of situation is created, definitely minority suffers and in some minority families you can see some angry youngsters (who) are permanently available for you to create this type of mischief anywhere in the country. So, the idea is to recruit, those who have suffered - select them, catch them, train them and use (them) permanently.

• Did people in the city or friends in the party question you later? That why did you deliberately tell this lie on TV? That Muslims were also attacked when they were not.

Yes. Definitely. In fact, there was an inquiry commission and the issue was raised before Justice Srikrishna. And ultimately Justice Srikrishna understood, he did mention ki that was the correct decision, and we should not worry. What I had done was ultimately in the interest of society, the city, the country.

• That’s the difference between a politician and a mere administrator, isn’t it? Because governance is about politics.

Yes, governance is about politics

• So, looking back on 1993, and looking at the situation now, the city has just had a series of blasts, so polarisation between two communities is back?

To be frank, Mumbai was normal. There was perfect understanding between communities. It had started behaving like a cosmopolitan city. But this time again similar, looks like similar, experiment or what we’ve seen on that particular day in many places...

... contd.