It's a dharmayuddh, one of the most important battles of my life. I know it's not going to be an easy contest. But we are hoping for the best.
You've been in public life for nearly four decades now and have hardly lost an election - except in 2002 when you lost in Nadiad. Are you nervous this time?
You must understand that 2002 was different. There were hordes of emotionally swayed people who voted against the backdrop of Godhra. There was a feeling of false fear, instilled in the minds of members of the majority community. The BJP was down and out in the state. But for the happenings of 2002, they would not have won.
Today, five years later, people are fed up with this government and are realising this. I am certain that people will vote for change.
As far as nervousness is concerned, I am not nervous at all. My party has entrusted me with a big responsibility. And I'll give my best.
The Congress has been through a turbulent decade in Gujarat. Nothing seems to be going right for the party. What is your assessment of the situation?
In my opinion, it's impossible to defeat the Congress because it is one party that stands with the common man. Even today, some of the best co-operatives in Gujarat are managed by Congressmen. If the Congress has lost ground, it is not the BJP that is to blame, but the Congress itself.
Will things change this time round?
I have always been an optimist. We started working for the Congress when it had no base in the state. This was way back in 1967, when we (Dinsha and his friends) ensured that Babubhai Jasbhai won on a Congress ticket from Nadiad. I must have been in my late 20s then, but we assured Babubhai that we were ready to take on the goons of the opposition parties.
If we could pull it off then, I believe we stand a much better chance today. To put it simply: For the Gujarat Congress, the worst is over. From here, things can only look up now.
Most of your family members have settled abroad. What made you stay back?
Yes, almost all my family members are settled in the US. In the early 1970s, my elder brother insisted that I leave India and join them. But by then my political journey had already begun. Having joined the Congress in late 1960s, I got elected to the Nagarpalika in 1972 and continued there till 1982. In the meantime, I got an opportunity to contest and get elected to the Assembly on a Congress ticket from 1975 to 1996 - that's when the then prime minister, PV Narasimha Rao, insisted that I contest the Lok Sabha elections and come to Delhi.
You have done some pioneering work on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Tell us something about your association with him.
I played in the same mitti (soil) as Sardar, literally. The house where I was born and where Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born are next to each other in Desai Vago in Nadiad's Bhathi Khatri.
In the middle of the two houses is a marble statue of Mahatma Gandhi - the first statue of the Mahatma to be installed in the country after Independence.
Having come from a family of freedom fighters (Patel's 103-year-old grandmother, who lives in Nadiad, spent five years in Yervada jail before Independence), I was fascinated by both, the statue and the Sardar's house. As a kid, I used to wash the statue once a week - I remember falling from it once - and used to light diyas at the Sardar's house.
Today, I am the president of the Sardar Patel Memorial Trust, which is restoring buildings related to the great man.
How do you react when Narendra Modi projects himself as Chhote Sardar?
When I was a PWD minister in the Chimanbhai Patel government in early 1990s, we started renovation of Sardar Patel memorials - we renovated his Ahmedabad house, the schools where he studied.
Later, Keshubhai Patel also supported the activity. Unfortunately, everything stopped after Narendrabhai became chief minister. It's ironical that his supporters compare him with the Sardar.
So what will be your strategy to take on Modi?
My prime endeavour will be to convince people that there is a big difference between performance and marketing. I will tell people in Maninagar that while Modi is talking about Global Gujarat, his own constituency is afflicted by poor drainage and bad roads. And if this is the plight of the chief minister's constituency, I dread to imagine what the scenario in rural areas would be.
I will also talk about the high-handedness, the dictatorial style of functioning, which is detrimental to a democracy like ours in the long-run. 'Dumbh no dusko hoy pan satya ni shatabdi hoy che' (Hypocrisy can work only for a decade whereas truth will prevail for centuries). Their decade is over.
But hasn't Gujarat emerged as a hot investment destination in the past few years?
Gujarat has always been an industrialised state. As far as investments are concerned, it's not just the policies of the state but also some initiatives from the Centre which have helped the state attract investment. If the Centre is laying a pipeline, how can the state government take credit for it?
You are a Patel from Charotar, considered to be one of the richest regions of the state. Will you try and cash in on the Patel card?
I don't want to divide people along caste and community lines and seek votes. That is something the BJP has been doing. It may yield short-term gains sometimes, but it will harm the society in the longer run.
It is said Modi approached you to join the BJP in 2004. Is this true?
(Laughs) These are all rumours. Why would I even think of leaving the Congress?
