Day after: Uma bats for Modi, a little bit guilty

The Minister was speaking even as she was headed for a late-night meeting with RSS Chief K S Sudarshan. She elaborated, ‘‘There have never been any riots in states which the BJP has ruled. This is a kalank on India and specially on us (the BJP) since we were so proud about our clean record on riots…Four years have passed and we have said we have given a danga mukt, bhaya mukt country. The events of Gujarat are unfortunate for the country but for us (the BJP), it is a shame. I want to admit this on the record.’’

Nonetheless, the sanyasin-turned-politician said she did not blame Modi for the communal situation and described the campaign for his ouster as ‘‘undemocratic.’’ Her justification, ‘‘The situation is not out of control in Gujarat. The situation is out of control only in some small pockets located in sensitive and thickly populated areas. We cannot remove Narendra Modi because Sonia Gandhi and the media want him to go. A recent poll survey shows the people don’t want a change, the MLAs don’t want it. So if people in Gujarat think he is an able administrator, who are we in Delhi to decide otherwise?’’

Reacting to the acrimonious debate in Parliament and former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s description of her as a ‘‘Nazi,’’ she said this reflected his understanding of the Hindu religion. ‘‘He plays pure politics and behaves irresponsibily. He compared George Fernanades to an owl. He did not say it clearly but said he is a creature which cannot see at day time. So when he can say this about George Fernanades, what does it matter what he has said about me?,’’ she said.

‘‘If Chandra Shekhar compared me to Nazis it means he does not understand either the Nazis or me,’’ she said.

On the setback caused by the resignation of Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Omar Abdullah, she said the reasons for their decision were quite obvious. ‘‘As far as Paswan is concerned, I think the change of the scene in Uttar Pradesh has motivated him to leave. And the reasons for Omar to offer his resignation are also obvious. We are the same people and there has been no change in our attitute. They have to explain why they left.’’

She claimed that the defeat of the censure motion showed there was strong ‘‘bonding’’ between the the BJP and its allies and that the Government would last its full term.

Interestingly, Uma Bharti said she specifically wanted to record her observations on Sonia Gandhi. ‘‘I always found her to be graceful and well-mannered but yesterday, I was very unimpressed. There is no harm in chewing gum. We also have lavang and illachi (cloves and cardamoam). But the way she was chewing gum and poking fun of George Fernanades was immature,’’ she said. ‘‘It was like a college student, sitting in a restaurant having fun. I found it very disgraceful and shocking. I was hurt that the state of politics is so bad that such people have become the Leader of Opposition who don’t even have ‘‘tehazeeb (manners) to sit.’’

Elaborating on what she meant (in her speech) on getting to the root of the Gujarat problem she said just because the Hindus were in a majority, this did not mean they do not get hurt or did not need a healing touch. ‘‘The problem is not religion but the politics of power. I am saying this seriously. The Hindus are still hurt about the attitude of the invaders and the memory of Partition’’ she said. ‘‘There has to be no fanaticism on both sides. Hindus need a change in the social behaviour towards Muslims and the Muslims need a change in the religious behavior towards Hindus.’’