Left didn't criticise my performance: Patil

Then there was census. Something that was a secular exercise suddenly became controversial...

Because the emphasis was on wrong facts given by the officer. He did say the Muslim population had gone up. But then he changed his statement and said it had gone up if you take into account the population in Kashmir and Assam.

First of all, it was not necessary for him to emphasise on this point. He should have given only the factual position""and the correct position.

He did it in such a fashion that the emphasis was on nothing else but this thing. Why was it necessary for him to do it in such a fashion? And whom would you blame for this?

It was not the home minister who made this statement. It was not the home secretary who made this statement. It was the officer who did it. You should blame him.

The officer did not make a presentation to you?

It was not necessary. These are routine matters. He collected the statistics. He wanted to talk to the media. Do you think he would talk to me first before talking to the media? If he would have talked to me, do you think I would have allowed him to make a statement like this? Why do we say this is secular exercise.

Collecting the figures is a secular exercise. But presenting the facts wrongly is not a secular exercise.

So are you saying the officer had motives in doing what he did?

I am not saying anything. You have to draw conclusions. Why do you blame the home minister for this?

I just want to bring you to Dhemaji in Assam where there was a bomb blast in a school on August 15. This was followed by an explosion in Dimapur where there has not been a bomb blast for the last 25 years. Everyone appreciates that the government is trying to talk to militant groups. There is also a sense of equilibrium, especially in a place like Dimapur where militants run a visible, parallel administration. In such a situation, how did the blast happen?

First of all, let us understand the Constitution. Do I have my officers working there as police officers? Am I allowed to issue orders from here to the police officers? I assist the state government with paramilitary forces and sometimes, the Army.

In a federal structure, the law and order is under the state government's control. Whom would you hold responsible for this? I am not holding the state government responsible. Talks have gone on for seven years.

If people are interested in seeing the talks end in failure, that is the man I would hold responsible rather than the state government. How can you blame the Centre for this? If you do, did you blame the Centre when Gujarat happened?

At least we did not blame the Centre as much as we did the state when Narendra Modi did what he did. When the Manipur Assembly was burnt, when the Kashmir Assembly was burnt, when Parliament was attacked... did you find so much fault with the home minister?

Or when Gujarat took place, or when the Graham Staines episode happened in Orissa...

At how many places did bomb blasts take place then? How many did you use to judge the performance of previous governments in a period of three months in comparison to the performance of this government?

Maybe you are made more vulnerable by the fact that your own allies have criticised the performance of the home ministry?

Our allies did not say that. Surjeet, Bardhan, Raja...they did not say that. This was a policy that was made in consultation with them. It was a decision of Cabinet, and before that all these parties were consulted and the Opposition was also consulted.

There was a consensus on this. That is why, when it appeared in the press, they telephoned me and said: "Bhai kyon aa raha hai aapke baare mein". They (the reports) embarrassed me less than they embarrassed those whose names were mentioned.

So they were collectively misquoted by the media collectively, including television cameras, tape recorders...

I do not know who did it. I am not blaming the media also. But it did appear and it embarrassed them more than it embarrassed me.

Of course, I was embarrassed but they were embarrassed too. But they did not say that. They have no reason to be afraid of me or anybody. They can say what they want. So I am asking you: why did this happen?

At a recent supposedly closed-doors meeting, an adviser to the Prime Minister is reported to have said he told Manmohan Singh he would give an A to the Prime Minister but a C minus to internal security management...

Well, people want me and other ministers to quarrel, they want me and the Prime Minister to have differences, even between me and my leader. And now the adviser. Poor adviser. He has not said anything like this.

If he had he would have shared it with me. This is being cooked up and served to the people. Reports appeared claiming he would look after Kashmir and all that. He rang me up. The Prime Minister's Office had to issue a clarification. It is not correct.