The Indian Express Visiting Scholars

AMS:It’s most unfortunate. We are now in a deliberative mode and trying to build a consensus. But don’t think there is any admission that the concept of asking for FDI is fundamentally wrong. I think there is a huge amount of pluses in many features of the FDI,a huge number of safeguards. You can always tweak a few things here and there. But to suppose that we are pushing a fundamentally bad thing is wrong. And equally,therefore,the other political stakeholders need to be asked,and there has to be a reasonable give and take if you want to push forward a reform agenda for the good of the country.

Shreya Gupta: What is your view on the right to recall and the right to reject being demanded by Team Anna?

AMS: My personal view on the right to recall is that it is nothing but a hair-brained idea. There has not been the right to recall in any place on this planet,even countries 1/100th the size and diversity of India. I think most parties share this view. The right to reject is something quite different. That can be considered with a lot of safeguards and operational details. Even the Election Commission has supported the idea and some parties are not averse to it.