You know, sitting here in this plush office, in South Mumbai, it is so easy to believe India is shining as the BJP is saying.
I think parts of India are shining. I definitely don't think India as a whole is shining. Leave aside villages but let me tell you something about South Mumbai itself. You say India is shining in the area of education, you talk of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan [Education for All], just go and take a look at a municipal school here. Kids are studying in classrooms filled with rainwater during the monsoon, they are getting electrocuted by overhanging wires, the buildings are dilapidated, the teachers are absent. If this is the state of a school in South Mumbai, you can imagine what it must be like in backward parts of the country. So how can you claim India as a whole is shining?

Do you deny there is a certain feel-good factor about?
I am not denying it. The feel-good factor is restricted to a few people in certain areas. And it is definitely limited on the basis of income. It is definitely not all across the country. Even in South Mumbai, you can see some people feeling good, some people feeling worse.

That may be so, but in common perception the buzz for the NDA is too strong for the Congress to withstand.
Some 50 percent of the country's population is under 25 years, a majority are first time voters, and we will counter the NDA by targeting this group.

Do you have a Plan B in place?
You mean, if I don't win? Whether one wins or loses one has to continue working. This programme we have initiated is not going to end because one has lost the elections. One continues working. And, once I have taken the decision to get into politics, taken a decision to make a change to the political system, through the political system, I will continue to do that.

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