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'Divide between two Indias is getting too wide'

April 30, 2009

During your campaigns, you have been harping on the fact that this is a national election. So what are your national-level concerns?

My most important concern is secularism. Today, everything is being divided regionally, in the name of religion, in the name of language, in the same of caste.

We have become too state-centric. We are not looking at India as a whole. Everybody is looking at their part and wanting to do things for themselves.

If you are from Maharashtra, then it is all about Maharashtra and Maharashtrians and my language... We are going back 100 years in time and it shocks me sometimes.

No matter how fast we grow and how much work we are doing, if our people are going to remain backward, how are we ever going to progress?

The divide between these two Indias is getting too wide, and that's scary.

I went to Bihar last year; my trust had a medical camp there for three months after the Bihar floods. And I was shocked to see that this is India.

When you go into places like Africa and you see those visuals of Somalia -- this is what you are seeing in your own country. It is similar in Orissa, in Uttarakhand. And we are so detached from all this. It's sad...

Also see: 'We are creating two Indias' | India Votes 2009
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