The Rediff Special / Varsha Bhosle

'Do you know how easy it is to make money in government?'

Charges of corruption:

Yes, they say that Balasaheb has taken crores to pass the Enron deal, and to free Sanjay. They say that he's the richest man in India today. I can't answer what 'they' say, since they never come forward with the evidence. Why don't 'they' investigate? Why don't you ask Rebecca Mark how much she paid?

Tell me, do you know how easy it is to make money in government? Do you know the value of Mumbai in crores? And the man who kicked away the chief ministership -- that man could have been bought like a packet of chana by Sunil Dutt? How much do you think Sunil is worth?

They say I took a lakh from each invitee at the dinner for Michael Jackson. Great. Why would I hold the concert? I'd have simply invited Jackson to dinner, called a thousand guests, and squeezed out a billion!

Husain's Saraswati:

I don't think there's anything wrong with the painting. I did not find it vulgar and obscene -- this kind of art has always existed in our culture. I totally ignored the issue.

The BJP-SS alliance:

Differences between the BJP and Sena have existed since before the alliance, but they do not hinder the government. Even before the elections, we dissented over two major issues: statehood for Vidarbha, and the renaming of Marathawada University -- the Sena opposes both. But we came together for an issue which supersedes these, ie Hindutva.

If we benefitted from the BJP network, it too, had had the advantage of ours in Maharashtra: In 1985, when we took the BMC, there was no alliance, was there? When the BJP emerged as the single largest party, Balasaheb extended his full support to it. But when the Sena wanted a few seats in some states, the BJP felt that we had no influence elsewhere. So we said, fine, let's test it. It's all part of the game.

The swadeshi agitation:

There's a lot of good in the western world and we must accept and embrace it. For instance, we must use the West's experience in tourism: unlike us, they know how to develop an area without destroying its character. By opening up the economy and inviting MNCs, we do not prostitute ourselves or sell India down the drain. There are foreign companies in every country --- it's standard business. I just can't see the need to kick up a ruckus as they did in Bangalore.

Grand Aim:

Five hears hence, I want at least 10,000 people to tell me that they have prospered due to the efforts of the Shiv Udyog Sansthan.

I'm about to leave, but one item nettles me: Two days ago, I'd found that Raj knew nothing about the Internet, and I hadn't bothered to enlighten him. I say to myself, girl, some other time. At the door, Raj twinkles at me: 'Oh, by the way, I'm putting the Sena on the Net from March. There are too many misconceptions about us all over the world; we need to inform people of our activities, and do it directly. Besides, before the interviews, columnists can, umm, do their homework on us from our site.' I'm stunned by his swiftness. And I also remember why I had itched to spank him.

Much happened between the interview and its submitting: Madhav Deshpande, Barkha and Gandhi. I could have updated it, but the events had no bearing on my motive -- which was to probe the bent of tomorrow. I had asked Raj that if he could, what would he change about the Sena. It was the only question he had refused to meet.

In any ideology, rigidity frightens me and discrepancy relieves, and Raj, I think, is a minefield of inconsistencies -- to those who have fixed views of the saffron brigade. The more I think, the more I'm convinced that the tragedy of Raj Thackeray is that the man who nurtured him happened to be a politician, and a successful one at that. The day he realises that what Balasaheb can carry off, his scions shouldn't even attempt, will be a step towards depth.

In the end, I gave Raj just two leeways: I set down his say, and I endured his haughtiness. The thing is, though Mumbai's still Bombay to me, I liked him. That is, unless he does a Navalkar on me.

This interview first appeared in The Sunday Observer, India's first Sunday newspaper.