Q : Do you think Pandit Nehru is the main stabilizing factor in the country?
A : No. We have got stability because our people are stable. They would rather put up with any nonsense than kick up a row. The indispensability of Pandit Nehru is a myth deliberately fostered.
Q : Will there be a war of succession after Pt. Nehru?
A : I think Congressmen will agree on a successor. Simple self-interest, if nothing else, would suggest to them to hang together.
Q : But their days are numbered.
A : Yes, for that very reason people should be warned of the communist danger. Today the Congress is preparing the way for communism by following communistic policies. Only the other day Pt. Pant said that if Congress failed, communists would come up on top. To think and say that communists are the one and only alternative, is to make them so.
Q : Charges galore are being made against ministries by dissident groups within the ruling party itself. How can Governments function at this rate?
A : One test of the bonafide nature of charges would be the record of the dissidents who make them. Governments should not be turned out lightly. Such a thing could only lead to instability, insecurity and distrust. And a situation like that could only end in the military rule or in the rule of a party with foreign backing. Neither of them would be beneficial for the country. All allegations, therefore, must be made with a sense of responsibility and treated with a sense of responsibility.
(With friends, in 1970)
Q : Can we look upon the Congress split as a mere internal affair of the party, or will it have any wider repercussions?
A : It denotes a general disease which has infected the entire body politic of our country - the disease of 'individualism'. Idealism has been supplanted by considerations of personal popularity and power. This is as much rampant among the opposition parties as in the ruling party. Once I was approached to help bring about the merger of Hindu Mahasabha, Rama Rajya Parishad and Jana Sangh. They all agreed to it in principle. But differences arose over who should be the President. That was the main hurdle! Again there was another proposal that Swatantra Party and Jana should merge. Swatantra persons said that Jana Sangh has workers and Swatantra has leaders. So, leadership should be with Swatantra. I asked them how they could be leaders without followers at all! Even there, the crucial point was, who should be the leader.
However, there are some good people in all parties. That is the silver lining in the otherwise dark political horizon.
(With pressmen at Bangalore, November 1965)
Q : Do you support our having the Atom Bomb?
A : I do. Whether to use it or not is left to our discretion. Without first having that weapon you cannot say that we should not use it! As you have read in Mahabharata, Arjuna gained such a deadly astra as Passhupataastra from Ishwara. But you know, it was never used.