company will sink whether a Malia sinks or whether anybody else sings This has the it is under the chatrachaya of the Modi government there's a protection to the adani stock so it's like a sovereign Bond so in May investors no a I would not subscribe to this this opinion that there is under chatur because the Modi government has been equal to all and fair to everybody but yes the trust of the people is one by the record of Any Given company and if they commanded a certain amount of trust that also the credit goes to them so I think all the more reason that we should trust their their rise of Fortunes the heidenberg report came in it's now almost what a couple of weeks since it's been there it's made so much of noise in Parliament also the prime minister is going to speak in a few hours from now but somehow the the defense by the government seems to be muted it's as if the the BJP and the BJP government the party as


the BJP and the BJP government the party as well as the government is aware that the closeness that the adani group has with the BJP and the stupendous rise of this group uh is something that it is embarrassing absolutely that is the perception absolutely not this is a perception which possibly has also affected you but having said that the Maybe BJP is a party both as in the in the in the in the Carter as well as in the government follows a certain amount of discipline and doesn't start making noises without substance to which maybe a congress party or TMC are known for and therefore it it looks like that but the common people are very certain even if you uh take the opinion of the stock market commentators they are the firm view that this is just a passing phase and they do not subscribe to the kind of perception that you are referring to yeah yeah I get that that you what you're saying is that whenever something like this happens everybody sees the


whenever something like this happens everybody sees the stock market as an indicator about confidence in a particular industrial group or if there is no confidence nobody will put in the money but you can't deny that there seems to be some kind of a nervousness which is why you saw flight of capital also to some extent now perception is important uh the the Congress government if you remember before 2014 uh the Prime Minister himself at that stage said that the perception of crony capitalism was was something that they could do nothing about no I think only on the contrary it is the this government which has cleared all the air as far as the crony capitalism is concerned so it's not that easy to paint it with the same brush yes because uh there is a lot uh that the the the BJP party and the government has been talking about the antyodaya that this is a this is a party and a government which will work at the state and at uh Center towards uh providing for


state and at uh Center towards uh providing for the last man or the last woman at in the row so the entire build up has been but allegations of crony capitalism can damage that no but uh where is the allocation it's only allegation from the from some some quarters in the media and and some vested interest to whom it suits otherwise on the contrary if you go by the record of the eight years I think the performance of this government in the last eight years far surpasses that of the earlier seven decades whether you take a development wise whether you take it governance wise whether you take as you said reaching out to the Last Mile and even if you take the figures this is a tremendous and new areas have been opened up which where his hotel closed like for example space now we are ahead of all virtually every other country in the world and we started off our space only 75 years ago when uh America was on and Soviet Union was on the verge of landing on


Soviet Union was on the verge of landing on the surface of moon and look over here we are today we are launching their satellites and and earning Revenue out of it which was something which was unimaginable and now I think a good analyst like you or somebody wanted to think why this couldn't have happened 75 70 years ago or 60 years ago we have the pictures of sarabhai carrying a launcher on the The Carriage of his bicycle is no longer so there's so much of esteem to the kind of our Global Innovation index we have jumped 40 places from 81 to 41. this is not a small River I mean all these are reflections for economy to which of course the business houses are also a part of right whether you the one you name or the others Global Innovation running 40 we our economy is now number five we have taken over UK is that not a matter of Pride for any common citizen of India that we have taken over a country which ruled over us for two


taken over a country which ruled over us for two decades two centuries we are now ahead of them our startup ecosystem so ending number three in the world and where were we before 2014 we just had about 350 stock startups in India today it is almost ninety thousand we have more than 100 unicorns and you know our startups are now looked up to both domestically abroad so I think there's a whole lot of parameters which indicate otherwise and other things I think one other unspoken fact not often discussed is which is quite in contrast with the earlier governments is that the entire work culture has changed which has also changed the narrative The Narrative built by this government in the last eight years so strong so strong that are three days of gossip about all these things cannot you know falsify it if you talk of one today the gas cylinders have reached almost uh 11 crore households and when I see the change of culture which has created a strong narrative is that the lists were


created a strong narrative is that the lists were prepared of the needy families nobody asked where did you come from what was your religion Hindu or Muslim or a Brahman or a thakur they didn't even ask whether you had voted for BJP the last week they didn't even insist that you vote for BJP in the next election so in the entire discourse and the entire culture is undergradology about ten thousand uh or almost equal number if it was 10 crore gasoline is about 11 to 12 crore of toilets built toilet built in every household which required and the Prime Minister speaking audit from the rampers the Red Fort so the work culture the work style and also the political culture has entirely undergone a change it's not it's not looking it's not vote Centric or voter Centric it's rather citizen Centric and that that itself is what gives a tremendous amount of trust in Prime Minister Modi it's not easy to not to not to believe what


not easy to not to not to believe what he says now if he says you clap for kobit you start clapping even you did if you asked to light a Diya you do that you are asked to stay home and observe a home a civil uh locked out you do that that's because he has over the years with the kind of sincerity commitment earn that kind of trust which can't be easily so you are you've listed out some of the schemes which when you go in for elections in the state elections we saw this happening uh last year all the state elections you were talking about this and um and in the in the 2019 elections also uh when the rafalcon thing started with the Congress he Rahul Gandhi put that as their lead motive you know he went to the thing that yahape corruption and because of that the BJP is going to lose it didn't work when the state elections happened last year one saw that the whole labharti voters the ones


saw that the whole labharti voters the ones who benefited from the schemes which you just talked about they are the ones who voted for you now it seems that of going in into the state elections this year Nine States going into polls the the Congress is going to make this which is crony capitalism as their lead motive how do you see this state elections a you cannot uh I have nobody to decide what will be the Congress Manifesto be they have been on to it as you yourself said they used Raphael and where did they end up only the other day prime minister was there in Bengaluru NHL yes so you I think the Vindication is so abundant the hardly needs to be and and the the the the matter is also settled with enough evidence to disprove what yeah so I think we don't know that's precisely it didn't work so it will not work it will not work because people trust Modi people trust the the the the sincerity commitment with this


trust the the the the sincerity commitment with this with which the government led by Prime Minister Modi has worked so they are not going to be taken out by these manufactured lies these are manufactured perceptions which don't work any longer it might have worked 20 years ago because sometimes I feel that the congress party is still playing the the tricks of the last election while the voter has moved on water is no longer taken in by the by all this rhetoric which might have worked for them when Mrs Gandhi said greeby Hotel and then at one time they said so all these things don't work now you have to walk the talk and Prime Minister Modi has walked the talk and he's walked the talk so evidently abundantly that people uh have seen it happening and therefore uh I I think because the ultimate objective of uh modi's work culture is to bring ease of living ah to every section of society and to raise them to the same level so I think that is what gives


the same level so I think that is what gives him the kind of uh sustainers you know here is when we talk of Modi model whatever governance model I think you would appreciate this is a model which has sustained itself for the last 20 22 years and Promises to sustain the future so this is a sustainable model we talk of sustainable goals these days right from you and you know so this is here is a sustainable model of governance which defies the principle of diminishing returns any government whichever it be after one term two terms the graph starts coming down here is going up it's going up not because of Any rhetoric is going up because the hard uh work done which translated into real good for the benefit of the Common Man in this country and and now talking of the elections as you said these two three states do you think it will work in Northeast for example we have three states going to the polls yeah you have to see to believe the miraculous transformation


have to see to believe the miraculous transformation which has happened in Northeast yeah yeah I've been there for over 70 years or so that was one of the assignments you see when we went into uh Northeast in 2014 when this government came in there were at least three states in the in the region which had never seen a train you know for example so that reminded me of my village where you know people would uh they would they would pass away without having seen a motor car because just a bus came from the city and the train was of course unheard of it also because of the terrain has been restrained no not only trade territory of course is is there but train is same now also the the natural terrain the geographical terrain has not changed after 2014. God did not come down to change the geographical profile of North the kind of prioritization and you know why because the earlier governments followed a policy of vote centricity Prime Minister Modi did not he can you imagine he has


Modi did not he can you imagine he has visited Northeast even in his first term as many as 55 times 55 tries to win the conference of people to make them realize that to him they are as important as people in any other state of the country and I think that 55 must be more than the number of times all the preceding Prime Ministers together would have visited Northeast now we have trained ice ice referred to here arunachal today we have arunachal express running from itanagar to Delhi we have every state capital with an airport earlier we didn't have second didn't have an airport one of the most favored tourist destinations still not connected through air similarly shillong being the capital of the earth while state of Saab did not have a proper Airport when you landed in guwahati and people tourists wanted to go to meghalaya the Communist demand in 2014 was that they should increase they should increase the number of commercial helicopter flights for them now it's the other way around the


for them now it's the other way around the helicopter is available people prefer going by Road you know it's such a beautiful picturesque Journey so this miraculous transformation has has been possible because of extreme prioritization coupled with lot of hard work which is underground So Not only was he traveling he was also insisting every Minister should go there now I'll tell you one example when I was referring to the change of culture which has actually struck the card with the common people in this country I think about five years back Israel came up with an offer that they have a specialized area of food-centric parts now we have food Parks over here they they are now coming up with you know they were of course now India also but they were the first to come with specialized food Parks like for example citric fruit Park mango foodpa so they said they have the technology to set up a citric center of excellence Mr Cameron was the Ambassador over here so I asked him where best it could happen


so I asked him where best it could happen he said mizoram and this government did not take a minute for the last five years we have center of excellence in citric fruits in mizoram now mizoram is a is a state which returns one MP to Lok Sabha just one MP and the and the government is different party BJP doesn't have much of stake from that point of view in spite of that in spite of that so wherever what was required and was justified was done I mean this is quite unlikely culture which was being followed by the other earlier governments because they would not have looked the other way out the no stake you know in a in a place with just about if you mean electorally literally this government has actually or Modi I would say has actually changed that culture sought to move in the direction which is different from the earlier culture and that is what gives the kind of trust and belief in the minds of the people which does not allow these


the minds of the people which does not allow these manufactured perceptions to take root so in mainstreaming of Northeast India now there are eight states mainstreaming of this yes you see I the other day only yesterday four yesterday I was in meghalaya and I was telling them that Modi has transformed this region from a terror tag to a development model the development model of Northeast is being cited all over the country now whereas in 2014 when we would travel into by Road in the highway there there would be gunshots from the hilltops you know the terrorists and the militants trying to make their presence felt they look here we are allowing the YouTube We are giving you a safe passage but don't ever think that we are not there it's no longer like that now Manipur we used to have a Road blockage for four months five months shortage of baby food shortage of eatables I I'm sure the present generation would not be able to recall also what was the scene like that yes since


recall also what was the scene like that yes since we were talking about militancy and blockades and all that of course I'm going to come to your home state uh Union territory now cabulu I don't know what to call it now uh hopefully status won't change so soon but then uh everybody in Jammu and Kashmir seems to be wondering when is statehood coming back so could you give us a little bit about the framework I don't think I would be elaborating much on that because the home minister Mr Misha has already retreated more than once on the floor of the house in the parliament also outside that it would be reverted back to the state at an appropriate time so I think it will not be appropriate for me to add to what all right he's already been said especially because Parliament is on right now uh so I also want to ask you that you know elections however flawed have been held uh even if there wasn't enough representations that one would like uh elections to have


representations that one would like uh elections to have in 2008 they were held in 2000 and no 2002 8 and 14 if I'm not mistaken when are they going to be held because what the election commissioner is saying seeing the security and things like that no I think again again this question is also uh a region of the mindset which has got used to working in the congress-led governments for over half a century because we do not control the election commission of India so you wouldn't have been asking me of course I would because elections no elections Election Commission yeah is an independent body and they are free to decide depending on the various inputs certainly the input has to come in about security from the government only is again the election commission of India has the last word this is supposed to be and we this government does not interfere with the working of Election Commission the limitation is over so which means I think the chief election and commissioner would be the right person to be asked


commissioner would be the right person to be asked this question I can we ask only if as far as my party is concerned as a BJP as a BJP character you can say we are 24 into 7 into 365 party we are ready for any election anytime be it the local body the panchayat the Zilla parisha the State Assembly the Lok Sabha and anywhere you you would have seen us we are always in that mode always in an election mode no I know it's not that we follow a work culture which includes our our Indulgence even in elections as it does in our other work the social activity the public entry it's not that we become active and start visiting temples at the time of election it's not like that we are as I said we follow a routine 24 into seven if you are going to Temple going every day if you are working for election we are always working regardless of the election is happening or not so we we are ready now of course the last word has


we are ready now of course the last word has to come from the election commission you won two elections uh you know from Jammu Kashmir State now uh what do you have to say to the huge crowds that were coming in for Rahul Gandhi uh in your state in in no uh yeah in the Jammu region you pointed out there two elections and I I think just to at the risk of being boisterous I would have the second election is the highest ever margin in anything that was another big one the second time was Mr Vikram yeah but the second election so you have been Dragon Slayers but incidentally I think again the credit goes to prime minister modi's uh you know pushed to the development agenda which we have also sought we have we have tried to successfully carry forward my constituencies possibility the only constituency of the Lok Sabha which got not one not two but three Central sponsored medical colleges two passport office so like that I mean such a huge path breaking developmental


like that I mean such a huge path breaking developmental National level approaches the first ever River Rejuvenation project on the lines of Ganga happened in devika River so all that I think the credit would again go to the kind of patronage that we received from the present government without any kind of a discrimination which was possibly happening at the regional level by the earlier governments but having said that um you know as far as the crowd that you mentioned I don't think this is a crowd which actually carries any it's like it it doesn't carry any Moss any weightage for the simple reason if you if you identify the faces who are coming they're all disgruntled faces half of them didn't find a place in BJP half of them agree with the congress party half of them retired officials didn't find any Rehabilitation so wherever he went they were joining us so it's not a very meaningful to start uh people who are walking along with Rahul Ghana but other than there were


along with Rahul Ghana but other than there were hardly any districts no there's some disgruntled congressmen yeah certainly but they not that suddenly they will vote for them I'm sure it's good that you pointed to that many of them who completed would also not vote for congress that's all it's just that they thought Ana is covering us so it's a good opportunity okay and I can actually name some of them which I would not tell me uh it was quite surprising to see that Farooq Abdullah um they all joined the yatra how come this yatra United people who never shared a platform for a long time no it's not that I mean National Conference is known to strike alliances both ways they are parted ways in BJP with Congress also they have been doing so um but then uh you saw the kind of warmth that uh that the abdullahs and mehbooba given the kind of context it happens so I don't think National Conference going with the congress party uh for a


National Conference going with the congress party uh for a yatra means that they have struck a cord which is going to last long or other way around and if it is so then the congress party has to explain whether it is in favor of 370 or against it or three congress party has so far very managed a very inconvenient silence even when this yatra was going on they never did speak about it whether they should they they would bring back 370 you've given a choice or whether they support the abrogation whereas the national conference is openly opposing it yeah so there are not much of contradiction amongst themselves also but could they go for an election in case of forming an alliance do you see at any point of time as a as a politician from the state do you see any alliances coming up while keeping this contentious issue on the side on the background I think I think that will be that will be too early to actually draw any surprises because that will happen once the results come out


because that will happen once the results come out and whenever the election happens so I don't think but you can see some kind of a political activity increasing in uh in Kashmir uh suddenly the press conferences have begun and on 370 I think that's also because you see that again the credit goes to BJP and the modulated government because the milieu is now such you can have so much of political activity see for the first time the district council elections were held after 70 years I think that's also something to be answered why we could not have Zilla parishes in Jammu and Kashmir for several long decades when we had in every other state and this is these the party which you are referring to they are the ones which were raising the bogey or the slogan of a autonomy be self-ruled now what is self rule to my understanding self-ruly the rule of the self rule which emanates from the ground this has to be rule of the company that's a different interpretation so


rule of the company that's a different interpretation so this is so then in that case if that is different then this interpretation would mean rule of mine my family so so what I'm trying to say is so now the Modi government has created a milieu where there is uh there's Outlets available for expression of your Democratic aspirations a b the security scenario has also undergone a change you don't no longer have stone pelting as you so often had had earlier you don't have those Robin Hood Type terrorists now if you hear a new name in the world of terrorism you've been reporting every now and then in three days four days you find the eliminated Eliminator liquidated so that has created a milieu where you could indulge in activity be where you could Aspire for the Democratic activity so I think the credit for this activity which you are saying on the rise I would instead of giving credit to the these opposition parties I would rather give credit to Prime Minister Modi who has created such a


to Prime Minister Modi who has created such a milieu that they can come out so you know uh if you are saying that there is so much of positivity in the state in in Jammu or in Kashmir region if there is so much of positivity and peace which has come in elimination of terrorism that you're talking about why is it that the pundits are not able to return to their homes and relocate in the numbers that we expected it to happen no I think the process is going on to begin with just about six thousand jobs or whatever given and I believe only yesterday I was being told that more than half of them have already joined back of course unfortunately Target killing happens which obviously had to create a fear psychosis which it did and which you can't deny because the loss of human life anywhere and from any section of society can't be redeemed and there can't be any compensation for that so there had to be an initial uh reaction or response to that but


be an initial uh reaction or response to that but now gradually they are feeling because they know at the end of the day that their fortunes are not more secure with any other dispensation other than one led by BJP or Prime Minister Modi and this has been again proven by our track record but I was saying a few moments ago in the times of perceptions not simply perception it's been it's been walk the talk like you know in 1990 when their Mass Exodus happened we were not in for in government in most of these states we were not in government at the center at that point or in time also our leaders came forth to give them shelter to help them rehabilitate we we also struggled and created a education avenues for them in the higher education colleges schools in Maharashtra wherever for example if we had a friendly party there in power we managed to persuade them in madhya Pradesh like that so it was even at that time even when we did not have the strings


that time even when we did not have the strings of Power with us so I think the the kashmiri Patel Community also believes of course if if they are sometimes feeling little aggrieved they would obviously complain to us at the company it was because they have expectation from us they don't complain to others because they have already tried them so that I agree that they the expectations are from your party and only your party nobody else and that is why there is also this sense that absolutely absolutely and I think they are welcome to think like that and in the past in the present the future it's been BJP which will stand by them which has stood by them which is standing by them which will always stand by them but as I said now if if an incident happens which you know disturbs the entire milieu and which is obviously going to create a fear psychosis you cannot actually that sometimes you create some kind of a ripple which has been successfully got over now and gradually they are coming


been successfully got over now and gradually they are coming around so non-bjp parties are saying uh parties can there are only two now there in the State uh they are saying that you're trying to impose in the state a reimagined past that you especially you uh talk about uh talk about a past and talk about a future which is not which is not reality you want to bring in a new reality so how do you say what do you respond to somebody who says that yay this was not the reality ever in Kashmir and this is not going to be the reality in future see if you take it by the literal sense reality is reality it can't be new or old what is real what is there is real now what is new reality and what is old Realty old reality is possibly reality they are referring to which suits them the accession of the state I'm telling you that's what they talked about that that you believe so maybe for them the reality is that for


so maybe for them the reality is that for 30 years there was a wheel of fear ten percent voter turnout they would get elected as legislators their MPS form governments one after the other from generation to generation and that was a fine there's a comfortable reality for them because for three generations they could flourish in that reality so the change of that reality doesn't suit them the new reality is of course different new reality is the reality which is prevailing in the rest of India and why not why not is being a part of India even in those days whenever somebody said Kashmir issue I for one for almost three decades have been saying that there's no there was no issues such as Kashmir issues it was just manufactured because we kept debating about it even then as much a part of a state of India as any other state so new reality is something which doesn't suit them a secondly now that we have a democratic Grassroots set up over there we have people


democratic Grassroots set up over there we have people coming out I think there's nothing wrong if this is the reality which I should have happened the third now reality of Kashmir as you mentioned certainly if that means what they refer to as kashmiriyat now can you ever justify Kashmir in the absence of a kashmiri Pandit because Kashmir from that point of view would be representing a composite culture where you have a mix of both the religions both the Traditions the Sufism but with the kashmiri Pandit having been thrown out for the last three decades and the two generations of Muslims having grown up in in a different kind of an atmosphere where does that culture exist so in fact now with the return of kashmiri pundas with the return of the democratic order with the expression of democratic aspiration from the ground I would rather say that this is actually the reality which for which Jammu Kashmir sought to become a part of Indian Union and and


to become a part of Indian Union and and Maharaja harishing the then Maharaja signed the instrumental recession to be a part of India so forgive me for saying this but every time I speak to people from the state I mean this the term kashmiriat you speak about Kashmir to anybody outside of Jammu Kashmir the only thing they know and I'm telling you you know the youth those who have only seen Bloodshed they're saying the only Kashmir that rest of India has seen is just Bloodshed so when you hear politicians talk about the good old era of uh you know of kashmiriat where they talk about being a disputed State and all it angers Indians let me tell you this people say yes the same as punjabiat gun culture is what you remember there's a reason to that because the entire generation rather generation half has grown up under gun culture over the last three and a half decades so obviously they have no other Legacy no other memory those who are in their teens


Legacy no other memory those who are in their teens now or even there see those who migrated out as youth are now Elder citizens many of them around many of them not those who are Elder then are no longer around so what the presentation so all the more reason that the same culture and the same social milieu needs to be restored and if it is happening in a gradual way I don't find anything wrong in that so happening in a gradual way is what irritates most of India so that is the question that the congress party has to answer why this temporary provision which they themselves are the biggest greatest protagonist of temporary provision was the congress party in fact during the one of the debates in the Constitutions assembly with Dr Sava Prasad Mukherjee suggested that there could be a rethinking about including article 370 it was none less than the then prime minister then then prime minister nehru is already prime minister as part of the interim government who suggested okay Dr


part of the interim government who suggested okay Dr Mukherjee don't get worried and not only the address in writing in the bracket when they're very provision now ask Congress is the question that you are asking me should be asked to the successive Congress governments why they dragged on this temporary provision for seven decades because now I'll tell you why because they also at that point in time knew that if it was temporary it has to be temporary but over a period of time this temporary provision became a vested interest for them they thought carrying on with the perception of making Jammu Kashmir appear as separate from rest of India so-called special status so-called would actually was actually helping them they were operating in a limited space The Limited vote Bank can you imagine uh the the Pakistani refugees they did not have their voting rights for 70 years till Prime Minister Modi came in whereas two from the same general went on to become Prime Ministers of India Dr Marmon Singh I


Prime Ministers of India Dr Marmon Singh I sometimes shudder to think what would have been their fate if they had gone and settled in Jamal Kashmir yeah the destiny would have deprived them of the Privileges they would have been denied the destined privilege of becoming Prime Ministers yeah they would have never they would have lost that the what what was written in their horoscope If Only They had made the mistake of going and settling down ninja because you see this was all part of Punjab the ferozepur and Amritsar and then pathankot gurdaspur was the district through which the this line was drawn uh uh when the partition happened so many of them went this side when those events that said were deprived of their so I think now that if there were the states in Parliament now those who say now those who say that we want to have that and we are that's because they are comfortable with that kind of a separatist perception uh while being in mainstream they they


perception uh while being in mainstream they they try to function as so-called mainstream political party but certainly deprived Drive the benefits of a separatist perception so that is what sources that's why I said the new reality is the reality which should have happened in Germany I'm going to come to the new reality but old reality a new reality I don't know whether you heard um uh the former uh advisor to vajpai ji uh Mr dulath had said that at one point of time the NSA um when he wasn't NSA uh Mr doble had told him that up advani ji said if you just speak and he said I was on the other side of the Divide which meant that there was a divide in the BJP government at that at that time that other side is a divided so there was a divide and he was advisor to the Prime Minister on Jammu Kashmir but that was not important enough but the divide in the BJP at that time was important today where


in the BJP at that time was important today where are we no no let me first his father do heavy any reason to take what Mr the Lord says as a gospel truth a b I think it's hardly worth discussing many of these uh former diplomats and bureaucrats when they have nothing else left no stick left the result of writing books which can create outrageous uh you know some kind of an opinions and give some kind of attention both to them as well as the the books that they sometimes right and I having been and dealing with the civil services I have also formed an opinion that still 60 there is a retirement age 60 to 65 is a window when they look for getting membership in some commission some board after 65 and there's no straight left then they become nationalists they become realists then they start donating all these stories so is it now can you is this the propriety of a former to make such kind of statements if at all it happened that itself means that he


at all it happened that itself means that he was not equal to the job that he was holding at that point right so I think it hardly needs to be discussed we we don't need to get into uh discussing what is being said by Mr Abdullah and not we have any reason to believe or disbelieve it okay uh so let me come to the present then because uh you know just this week uh both Omar Abdullah and mehbooba Mufti while you might feel that they are inconsequential but they are in the sense that they are leading the narrative as far as the opposition is concerned in the state now they are both saying that there is a there is fear among people bulldozer and uh even in important places important in the sense which was considered important in Srinagar that bulldozers are going and poor people's homes are going to be destroyed without them getting notice about it no I think this issue has been uh under discussion of the last few days but


been uh under discussion of the last few days but I believe the lieutenant governor has sought to convey to them and also assure them that it is only those who have encroached with the misuse of Authority or power who are going to face this and not a commoner who's there otherwise so I think uh maybe if they have encroached upon illegally or illegitimately they have something to fear but let's trust what the lieutenant governor says that those who have not misused their position for this would not be brought to harm so and I'm going to quote her she says earlier we used to think that BJP has taken a cue from what Israel was doing in Palestine but now they have turned it worse than Palestine they want to make jnk like Afghanistan she's talking about without asking or without going by rule of law it's like the BJP is doing exactly what they want via the administration no I don't think that even doesn't even deserve a response I mean these


even doesn't even deserve a response I mean these are off head hand statements made without substantial teaching and we live in an era of evidence like she's saying her daughter's passport is also not coming through oh no there's so many other things now for the first time the the some decisive action has been initiated in the valley against both the terrorists and the perpetrators of terrorists what we were talking just a few months ago that Italian doesn't survive more than three days is just because of that which is no longer any kind of support or or or or a direct or indirect pattern is being offered by the so-called mainstream parties which are actually protected them at patronizing them so I think that is what is making uh them pinch so I also is it possible that you know like for example there was just uh I think this week itself was Kashmir solidarity day uh you know Pakistan observes that but it was very muted uh is it because many of the separatists in


uh is it because many of the separatists in in Jammu Kashmir now get no support either financially or militarily or you know in any other yes those channels have been blocked because the so-called these mainstream political parties when they were in power were possibly not sincere to the extent they were expected to be or they were acting to the extent they were expected to be and secondly if you go by this Palestine and Afghanistan and what what blah blah you would rather I would appreciate someday you would create some kind of a feature on the park occupied Jammu Kashmir and see the comparison there they are actually vying struggling yearning praying wishing that they should be made a part of India so more than India is a part of India it is there people living over there who are clamoring for this because the kind of you know unfair treatment and the inhuman conditions they have been made to live in so uh for the benefit of our audience I have done a lot of reporting


our audience I have done a lot of reporting but for our benefit of audience could you just explain a little bit about uh about Park occupied Kashmir and about Kashmir and the difference between the two and what is how uh what happened and where is what is India's position on this in a in a Christmas no I I agree you see this was there were a series of [Music] I said Congress actually missed it the opportunity in Kashmir which cannot be Redeemed by these yatras so yatra would be another one more addition to the misdoings so this kind of experimentation which the successive governments kept doing with regard to Germany I think the first to my mind if he was because I've been you know dealing with this subject and also researching studying it over the several decades the the the the the first step towards you know this uh wrongdoing happen with the with the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir not being allowed to be handled by the Home Ministry then


being allowed to be handled by the Home Ministry then home Ministry so the management Sardar Patel was handling all the other 560 princely States was not something which actually fed into his domain because the Prime Minister himself because panditji thought that he knew Jammu Kashmir better than others because he was from the state foreigners abroad who are not aware of the complexities of it yeah he was the Prime Minister first prime minister of India was from Jammu and he was a kashmiri pundit yeah but elected from uh uttar Pradesh yeah elected from up because the family had got their settled down there so he thought it is better so in a way you know then so he also did personal preferences there preference for Sheikh Abdullah and then the kind of perception that you know the prince here Maharaja Hari Singh was not in keep keeping with the compatibility because there was a lot of mistrust between the Prime Minister and Maharaja Hari Singh and uh then there was a


Hari Singh and uh then there was a delay in you know accession uh also because uh the then prime minister nehru was Keen that Sheikh Abdullah should be first handed over the power which was quite unfair family politics was not required because the instrument accession which had been drafted by Lord mountbatten simply asked for which preference Pakistan India is only two and Maharaja Hari Singh was clearly in favor of India but son somehow the Prime Minister himself said that someday we might have a referendum which was not required so it was an absolutely uncalled for statement by prime minister then stuck yeah we stuck to the prime minister's office of that time stuck to government and then there were Clauses to that referendum statement but Pakistan kind of yes you're right then it was used in different ways it could not have been it could have been avoided you know everything is not always taken in the same vein as it is said then going to Uno again yeah yeah at the behest


then going to Uno again yeah yeah at the behest of prime minister was not right in the sense that again it's created narrative as you're saying we suited others because and because no other in case of no other princely state we did we go not even in case of Hyderabad we didn't where you had a police action uh by the Home Ministry so thirdly then War Began When The War Began uh or their sponsored Warriors had already entered into we're talking about 47 now yeah some territory yeah October in program they already entered into some part of Jammu and Kashmir uh which where they were you know trying to capture it but then when the Indian army landed there they started throwing them out and they had to a great extent succeeded when again prime minister unilaterally declared a ceasefire I mean had he not done so and delayed it for another two three days maybe we didn't we would not have this park you were not gone in that but your family must have known about this


in that but your family must have known about this so then that that part of territory which was lost because instantly the suddenly the ceasefire happened so that part went to their occupation if it had not been announced and uh ironically prime minister nehru did not consult many on that I mean he just made a radio broadcasting so all these things happening and then successive governments Mrs Gandhi came in 1975 bringing back Sheikh Abdullah which was again had a very divided opinion across the country whether to have it not but then possibly Mrs Gandhi thought that this regime would not last long and he had the smartness to handle it but you know uh the importables happen in history this is 1983 and Mrs Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 just a few months later yes or hardly a year later so that and then the subsequent regimes and botched up elections and subsequent years in 1987 election so then it became a vested interest to keep the pot boiling so all


vested interest to keep the pot boiling so all these things happening in a manner and then West Pakistan which of course was then West Pakistan or Pakistan refugees many of them here like ik Gujarat one more thing all these people who made a mark for this even journalism and all those people they went there and uh you know they were deprived of their rights so and just because there was again a vested interest not to allow them to vote because the these parties were not confident whether they would be able to secure there so all these uh these management and mess over the years I think what began as a mismanagement and wrongful experimentation ended up in a vested interest to continue it in the manner it was going because it's then began to serve the purpose of a handful of people a handful of families okay so now let me before I know you have to go back to Parliament so let me quickly bring two issues which uh before we wind up one is your current assignments uh you


we wind up one is your current assignments uh you have like this plethora of portfolios so give me a little background about that what is it that are your goals and how much have you achieved in the past uh since you got those portfolios and by 2024 what are your goals no I think of the many departments that I've associated with one of course is the governance the department of personal and that is the Hallmark of prime minister modi's work style he had brought in a number of reforms uh Wireless chief minister and even now and I think the Paradox is that instead of bringing new rules this government is known to do away with the earlier rules so we have already done away with as many as 1600 odd rules which had lost relevance with the 1600 rules yes done away with okay you know each government each officer post retirement each Democratic electric Government after having completed terms takes pride in narrating stories to other local my time here is a government which would have to say and you will


a government which would have to say and you will be amused within three months of this government have been coming we were sworn in on the 26th of May 2014. in September or October we did away with that dubious rule which was a legacy of the British Empire of getting these certificates attested officers so and and I think we we sent out a message they look here now this is a new government headed by Prime Minister Modi which has the capacity to trust the Youth of this country and I sometimes wonder this rule should have been done away right at the the midnight of Freedom why why wasn't it because this was a rule because the British treated us as their character certificate yeah treated us as their subjects as a colony subject so and then of course for Level Playing Field the the interview practice of conducting interviews lower posts yes so many uh rules which test or something was or the other one yes yes yes we did now even in the staff selection commission we are going to have 12


the staff selection commission we are going to have 12 languages to begin with I hope we'll go to 22 all these situations only English Hindi so we try to create a Level Playing Field for every youth regardless of his background his socioeconomics data many of the reforms which have any of the rules which have been done with not often talked about because they don't make news for example but yeah from uh yes but from the point of views the social angle is very important like for example there was a pension rule that a separated daughter cannot claim the family pension of her diseased parent unless she produces a court judgment of having secured a divorce we did away with that and as an Evidence only if she has five meditation the receipt of having filed the petition is good enough similarly there was another pension rule that unless a government employee completes at least 10 years of service and if he dies in harness even before 10 years his family can't claim eventually so I said what is it I


claim eventually so I said what is it I mean you didn't ask him that he should hold on for 10 years to allow his family so if you didn't give any choice of choosing the timing of his death how can you deprive so he did away with that there are still some rules like you have to provide Proof of Life yes absolutely which was very inhuman and so what we did when we when we you know sought to undo it to my mind was to do away with all together but then some of the bankers came to me and they said they have been instances whether it's been misused okay you know some characters use the signed checkbooks of their parents and got away so you have all kinds of people in this Society so then I thought okay let's use technology so we started digital certificate which means you use biometry from home even on your mobile and now that the lifespan of an average Indian is on the increase we have more number of pensioners in India today than the number of


of pensioners in India today than the number of working employees which was the other way around at the time of day so and the people are living beyond 80 we are 90. there's a sizeable population of pensioners Above 90. So after 70 or 80 even the finger marks starts under Ouija so I think we were the first in the government to have introduced a faced recognition technology okay the gentleman or the gentle lady just looks into the mobile camera and uh the photograph is taken uh it it gets connected with the aadhaar number for verification and then gets immediately transmitted to the concerned bank and all this happened just in 60 seconds okay so this is like the digi yatra I think one of the Hallmarks of prime minister modi's rule has been that technology has been used very optimally which is the ease of living ease of living ease of governance and I think one of the good outcomes of that was that when pandemic struck all of a sudden nobody was privileged it


struck all of a sudden nobody was privileged it the working in the government of India offices did not get interrupted at all in fact sometimes you were working more so one of the uni officers told me the new mantra should be minimum attendance maximum output because many people were working from home working even on Saturdays and Sundays so yeah Earth Sciences which you uh which is commanded these new fangled names which confuse people no I'm glad you asked it because this is something really close to my heart and I think I we must thank Prime Minister Modi he spoke about it twice in his Independence Day address for the deep sea Mission which is uh being spearheaded by this ministry in 2021 independency and 2022 whereas I was either way in a lighter way in telling my officers in the administration I said there was a time if you did a survey and asked people in Delhi where on Earth is the office of the ministry of Earth Sciences nobody would be able to tell but


Earth Sciences nobody would be able to tell but suddenly this is game currency because I believe that when prime minister talks of Amrit Khal in the next 25 years which are going to raise India to an to a different level I think the entire value Edition is going to come from the sources which have remained unexclored and one of them is the ocean resources we never realized that the earlier governments didn't pay any heat to this fact that we have the longest possible costly about 7 500 kilometer and I was telling the friends from Australia the other day I said you come from a country which is Australia an island which is Australia continent which is but your ocean is not an Australian ocean we have an Indian Ocean and then I said because my ancestors were smart enough to realize a huge amount of wealth lying inside and I I can foresee in the next five seven years all the minerals biodiversity living and non-living you know resources richness inside the Indian seabeds is going


know resources richness inside the Indian seabeds is going to add value to Indian economy because all the other resources would have been and the second would be of the Himalayan resource the aroma which we have already started Aroma Mission and purple Revolution so this deep sea mission is what the earth science is carrying forward we've already launched samundarian from Chennai which is exploring the sea properties and I think in next two three years almost same soon after the gaganyan goes up a human Indian into the space and an Indian into the sea we are planning we have about 5000 meter seabed the deepest so we we we plan to have one okay a human being going down visually you know doing a Reiki there okay to discover what all is there so this is going to be a huge resource of economy in the times to uh come right so earlier in the uh when we started uh speaking you were talking about uh you know setting up universities and things in Jammu uh not many people would


and things in Jammu uh not many people would know that when you went to study medicine you went all the way uh to Tamil Nadu to study medicine I mean a lot of people from your state have been doing that because of the lack of opportunities uh and now they wouldn't need to yeah I think there were other reasons also because in my times and my generation we didn't have the concept of private medical colleges and the government sector uh of course you're right the fire and few in fact at the time of Independence there was only one college degree College entire North India there's Lahore foreign there was no accessibility so they were on those VA honors in English Okay so Mr kushwant Singh from there Mr Sani from there so only one degree College entire North India and one Medical College which is even today King Edward Lahore so after that you know we had Medical College Amritsar then much later Siri nagar so after partition you're right a there were not much of this thing and


right a there were not much of this thing and the quality education institutions were there in the South because uh the British came this way from East the East India Company first landed in Calcutta so first University Calcutta first Presidency College Calcutta then they came southwards Madras president Madras University yeah and that time the college where I went Stanley Medical College was a part of a trans University so it was supposed to be you know of the world standards yeah so that was also medical why did you move to politics what happened no actually I've been a medical professional once a medical pressure once a doctor is being a teacher of medicine for almost 25 years yeah before I put in my paper because the party asked me to take up an assignment everybody thought I have gone off my head and doing this because I was a professor there but he worked for diabetes about that yes tell us about that about because you know it's such a it's a epidemic of sorts you know in in our country please


of sorts you know in in our country please tell us also because uh easy to uh on at two or three levels it the change has happened a that earlier on The Diabetes Type 2 diabetes which is commonly was known to be a disease more of South India that's why we had the first ever Department of diabetology in Madras Medical College Somewhere In 1980 or so uh and North they were hardly you know if particularly when you went upwards to the north Punjab and to Kashmir people would not have heard of diabetes now it's become a pan India you know kind of a pandemic and we have the we are worlds virtually the world capital of diabetes also because the common Lifestyles and the difference also no stress levels have gone up tremendously uh now you were talking of kashmiri pandas I did a paper long way about 20 years back which was hit by the wh and they published uh the stress diabetes because earlier we came across family police which PTSD which


we came across family police which PTSD which didn't have a family history otherwise and and there was no consequently among the couple which sometimes happened in South India the husband and wife were not related also by any blood connection but still simultaneously almost they were developing titles so some stress factors in the environment factors are weighing very heavily it wasn't the diet uh yes diet diet also rice and red meat no I think also because we are having a diet which is uh not we are still evolving as an evolving Society even our diet is evolving we are neither here nor there we are having pizza Olson batura also we are having samosols and noodle also so and then in Diet also there are three components the quality quantity and the distribution often the dietitians and counselors they stress on the quality quantity not on the distribution point of it and the common uh dictum in our society is because the morning meal is breakfast but everybody says breakfast is the most important yes yes


everybody says breakfast is the most important yes yes absolutely absolutely you're right so it is break the fast so break the fast with just about 20 to 25 percent of the total calorie intake of 24 hours yeah and then heavier meal is your lunch with a mid-morning snack and the dinner is little early which is correspond corresponds to your supper at a bedtime snack so we don't follow all these things so that coupled with stress so now you did all this uh in your study yeah I've done all this I was practicing actually but cute showed up here why did you leave that for politics no no no I'll go back any moment when I'm not needed here when did you decide that okay not medicine and public service no no it's not that I didn't decide you would not believe I was practicing till 25th of May 2014. the day before I was born in okay so I came to I called up the BJP Carly and I said that uh modiji used


BJP Carly and I said that uh modiji used to be sworn in as prime minister and usually the program used to happen in the rashtrapati Bhavan with a limited vvips so I said we may not be expected because you see once you are in a practice not like lawyers also you don't like to leave your chamber for too long a period of time or interval so then I was told and you would recall the first time it happened you know outside in the open Lawns and uh because and that was the most watched oath ceremony of any head of state so then the same morning I I wasn't even carrying my clothes I just came with a briefcase I thought I'll attend the old ceremony and go back and take the earliest train or flight back home to catch up with my work and I had about three weeks of consultation in waiting so but suddenly in the morning I received a call on the 26th that I had to go to with Radha Bhavan so


I had to go to with Radha Bhavan so I thought this was my mistake was maybe my namesake some other person was me no no it was you only who had been caught so then I stayed back and I think it's a great privilege because to be figured out to For A Cause do you think medical profession absolutely because if you are a good practitioner You Are by temperament Bound to You Can't succeed as a good practitioner we have seen the best of the brains in medical profession I have dealt with three generations of them both as a practitioner as a teacher as a student we have some of the very very learned medical professionals who could not be successful as practitioners because that they're dealing with the patient requires a different kind of connect come this was a when I came in this seat had been lost to the party twice consecutively and I think I I had the added advantage of being a practitioner because virtually every household I had one or the other


virtually every household I had one or the other patients the kind of disease I deal with okay in in conclusion I have to ask you this question you know everybody that we've had out here talk about how polarized uh it's got since modiji came to power because everybody is either very Pro modiji or very anti-modiji there's no mid path everybody and this one sees even in families tell me your brother was in the NC now of course he's left the NC he's joined here family baby one brother in BJP and one brother in the NCAA I think how did that work that itself is is is is an answer to what you said because if he has joined BJ that means he is realized the Folly of being where he was and and and rightly so there's nobody against Modi I tell you I just give you an example when we were campaigning in up in Lucknow University there was kind of a star among some women uh students that you know they were not comfortable because of


students that you know they were not comfortable because of all these reasons which you're saying because these are reasons which are discussed in so-called intellectual circles so they take fancy discussing among students so some of these students had this position to know this will be you know some kind of a saffron so-called regime and all those things so then one day we we we used to sit with them in groups so I asked some of we asked them okay we leave it to you we are not here to you just think with a cool mind or take your time and then come back to us to tell us not not to please us so that we can carry your opinion to others also what would you think in the given scenario would be the Preferred Choice and we sat with them for a couple of you know you know the same group after a day or so when we said they said me so I asked I said no the other day you were making all those intellectual you know postulations I know what


all those intellectual you know postulations I know what happened and you know what was the answer of a young girl a sweet looking girl said okay come say come mama okay so there was this in which state you see different religion may not be conventional Pro BJP family but this is exactly what this girl said and that is The Telltale story she was talking all kind of postulation when they're fighting a name because he Comfort the ease of living which has been sought to be brought by Prime Minister Modi and his government regardless of religion we didn't reach out only to those who had voted for us so this was coming from somebody because at least and this is so how much of curtailment of freedom and thereby also curtailment of their normal activity happened so when you um meet with your constituents is this the feedback that you get even in your constituency where people are saying that you know after two terms of a government to go in for a for an election where


government to go in for a for an election where you're asking for the third term it's not an easy task it's going to be it's yeah it maybe they believe you but then out of share boredom that also happens you know for a third no I think uh yes I agree with you a of course instead of uh Indian currency there is pro incumbency and it's not easy not easy at all not easy it is I think you see you won't realize of course we talk of Prime Minister Modi Modi at 20 that means the chief minister is about 22 years at the same time he's also the one of the longest serving heads of uh government across the world you've seen so many presidents changing in White House so many prime ministers changing in 10 Downing so that is because even for himself his own performance he's been raising the bar you know he's he's put in too much of hard work consistent hard work with consistent Focus always you know dwelling on new ideas having seen him work


you know dwelling on new ideas having seen him work so closely over the last so many years being in his office so he he's raising the bar for himself he's never he never gets easily satisfied and that is also and he's a he's he's always studying always updating himself so if you go to him with a presentation with the best of preparation you would have made I'm sure you he'll give you two more suggestions so that's because he raises the bar for himself that's why the people also instead of that in anti-incremancy they feel no there is something more to look up to him okay if if in the last five years term modiji gave us this in the next five years he's bound to give us something more and which we've seen happening you know if the earlier five years were sure other things the next five years was 370 so there's always he's always moving beyond which is what when you talk to kashmiri pandits this is what they say that they are


pandits this is what they say that they are frustrated that certain things some of them are frustrated that some things are just taking too much time but they also feel that if it is not done by these guys then nobody else can do it so the expectation from you is tremendous and to be delivered now that is what this is now those who have been those who have gone through this nightmare would always be you know impatient to get out of it so one can't Grudge them you know the BJP is talking about this whole conspiracy uh which involves International media also uh it began before every election it happens they they cite Pegasus uh and they say that this whole adani thing is also exactly that aimed at the nine elections uh State elections and at 2024. do you think there is an international conspiracy against uh the BJP and against Modi well I think the manner in which India is on the rise would not be easily taken by many other countries in the


not be easily taken by many other countries in the world and India is now becoming the most preferred destination for business most destination to deal with for investment and definitely those who have Ruled The Roost over the years were not like India to be on the ascent and that to that fast but that is precisely that we will also have to deal with and I'm sure under Prime Minister Modi we are capable enough to deal with all those contradictions right thank you so much for coming on the podcast thank you very much I enjoyed it thanks thank you for watching or listening in to a r podcast with Smita prakash do write in to tell us who you would like me to speak to in the next episode please like And subscribe on whichever Channel you have seen this or heard this namaste foreign [Music]


this is my be-all end-all and I breathe eat drink you know sleep films no that was not the thing for me I'm a believer of sensuous things of sensuality and that's how I see Tipton was a very very sensuous song there was no in your face vulgarity uh as such in that we were a hit pair during Mora and even now when we bump into socially we all meet we all chat and I mean everyone moves on please no girls are changing their boyfriends every week in colleges since then to now but one engagement that is broken is still stuck to my head I don't know why 90s gossip magazines were the worst and some of those women I see roaming around today carrying the women's lib badge over their heads and their hearts who were the worst enemies of women would body shame women would shame women would do everything possible uh to bring another woman down and today they those they roam around being the biggest you know feminists I know others


being the biggest you know feminists I know others who've thrown press conference is inside oh I've got this baby from here and this and that but I didn't want to do that because at that time I just wanted to do this quietly and actually make a difference in someone's life this boy called Bollywood thing is a very very sad thing that has happened uh unfortunately because of a few bad apples there are a few bad apples everywhere so because of a few bad apples an entire industry cannot be put to blame all of us who were in the Jeep had tweeted that entire Safari video we only tweeted and we only installed it you tell me if I was doing anything illegal would I be tweeting it or installing it yeah am I nuts especially a man I'm an ambassador myself and I know what Wildlife laws are all about it I couldn't I couldn't help that foreign welcome to another edition of eni podcast with Smitha prakash today my guest is the must must girl of Bollywood


today my guest is the must must girl of Bollywood the shehar Ki larki The Girl Who Akio say goli mare she was the hot sensation of the 1990s raveena Tandon set the screen on fire in the 1990s she adopted two children as a single mother when she was in her 20s quit films when she was at the peak for marriage and a biological motherhood and then returned to do some selective films raveena ji thank you so much for coming on the podcast I look forward to having this conversation with you even though we've spoken on the phone several times umpteen amount of times and most of them have been SOS calls from me to you yeah there's some country what social media loves you doesn't it that's always been I've been quite um if you're looking dating control is she looking too good for her age if you were just like okay why she just knotted her hair yeah it's and that's been you've been in scrutiny since the 90s right yeah there's not a


since the 90s right yeah there's not a day that you can have a bad hair day you have to always look perfect right I know but what to do sometimes it it's too much pressure sometimes you feel at AR but then I think it's how you carry it off also there are many days when I just walk out of my house in just a ponytail and I used to be like that in the 90s not bothering uh now I think some of our fashionistas have spoiled it for us where they're so pretty and proper and they're so uh you know perfect going into the gym coming out when they walk out no there are a few cool ones also like I I I love the way Sarah's and John Lee's attitude is they're pretty chilled out so I think the new and newer Generation Now is much more chilled out as well about these things yeah so which is a good thing actually huh okay so now let's go back chronology the 90s sensation I mean everything about you you got the


sensation I mean everything about you you got the best songs and of course the cult you can't go wrong with shubham yeah I'm a huge fan of huge fan no yeah yeah I know that and you know frankly Hurst her voice is extremely strong and all that but somehow like you know you could take all voices uh as your background singer right yeah like it it didn't matter I think that has kind of worked for me I think uh every time when uh that that I I don't know how that has happened uh I don't credit myself for that but actually every hero also that I worked with everyone thought I always shared great chemistry with my heroes I mean at a time when Amir would be signing only one film at a time I'd sign three films with him uh nobody at that time could really uh you know understand how me and Nana party girl got along so well and you know he's still good friends and it's such a a pleasure always to talk to him so it's


a pleasure always to talk to him so it's it's it's um it's it's always been that I've always I think gelled uh along with uh with my heroes the same with my uh I think likewise with all the voices that I did uh from galji's voice to lataji's voice in my first film to my ever Eternal Asha bhosleji to Alka yagnikji uh to Shreya Ghoshal now so it's it's always been a a great uh you know tuning as far as I'm concerned I think I just kind of fluid maybe and fluid fluid that's a cool word that's a fluid yeah with teen kids you have to be like you have to use your gen Z language okay so tell me like let's go with uh you since you mentioned Nana patekar why did people think that why because you're Urban and where is at that time there were a lot of stories about Nana losing his school on a lot of people and with me he was always so beautifully uh well behaved


me he was always so beautifully uh well behaved and gentlemanly that everyone used to be like how does this happen with you that you get along with you know that he's not getting angry at all yeah and patiently explaining he was really sweet so it was not nayi it was always that I uh did films with with everyone uh and any hero any star that I would sign with I think somehow the pair used to just work and I would end up signing 5566 films with everyone and Amir Khan uh he's supposed to be this method actor yeah and you're more instantaneous spontaneous yeah yeah that was yeah that was that was one thing but then I think one has to learn to always accommodate and learn to adjust and see what is acting acting is ultimately a reaction to an action right and that action has to start from somewhere so if whether you're acting I'm reacting to you and then you will react back to me and that is a give and take kind of a thing and


is a give and take kind of a thing and that is where a performance kind of gets honed so whether it was Chichi's timing comedy timing or it was uh you know working with Sunil Shetty or it was working with Akshay or it was working with sunny or it was working with uh Amir or Salman or Ajay it was always one one has to kind of you know get into that mold of everyone has their own style and somehow you have to kind of you know gel with with the kind of tonality that they're picking up in a performance so you you have to gel with a hero or you have to have a bandwidth with the director how did what was it so I prioritize it see it if if you prioritize it's definitely the director first because that's how he ultimately okays but then like I said there's there's when a scene is being played out there are many characters and many actors in it and everyone has as their level so to set that timing along like


as their level so to set that timing along like chichirmi would set our timing together you know one would just follow his timing and one would just kind of react to his because sometimes he would just improve and when that improvisation would happen no I'm talking about scenes scenes also I'm talking only about scenes you can't really improvise on Dancing okay really the dancing has to be done according to the beginning dance was like you know it's very specific uh his his moves yeah okay so even with uh with like even with uh even with our uh dancing performances like actually Chichi and me would actually compete with each other because both of us were so fond of dancing in music you know it used to be literally like that and then every song of us that was so cute and actually nowadays every shot everything is a cut but uh Chichi and me would rehearse the whole antra and the mukhra together set up three cameras and do it from start to finish so we've


and do it from start to finish so we've actually finished a day and a quarter uh the full song in those days when songs would take five or six days to be shot umari was shot in a day from morning we started and by Sunset we had finished the whole song so because both of us were so good with you know uh picking up steps and learning and doing it in one go and it was very typical right I mean those songs which you did with him uh can't imagine it being done in any other manner did you enjoy it at all of course like I said it was fun so for us it was like a competitive game happening there you know it was a spot that we were playing out there Chichi and me so it would be like here I gave this shot my best now your turn you know it used to be literally like that so it was he had all the chemistry just with you and I think with Karishma Kapoor right those yes probably yes that's it yes


Kapoor right those yes probably yes that's it yes the songs the the you know the camaraderie it was so obvious to the viewers also yeah yeah right that's true that's very important between actors yeah you know who who else did you have it with did you have it with Sunil Shetty too oh I think I've had this this kind of camaraderie with all my heroes it's not been particularly most of them are still very very good friends of mine it's uh whether it's jagu or Sanju or it's Sunil or it's sunny or it is um you know Salman or it is um anyone you you name um I I've always had a great tuning because I I think I would end up being more or their body than than be seen as or hot chick has walked on the sets or something I was not at all like that I was always very tomboy so I was like always one of the boys yeah yeah and did they know you since because you're also from the industry did they


you since because you're also from the industry did they know you Pele not really I mean uh a lot of them were not from the film fraternity like Sunny the old would be whom you have acted no he was much senior okay but Bobby and I were in the same school and Bobby was about three years senior to me three or four years senior in mitibai college so he was much much senior sunny but um um I think uh Sanju because that Sab and my dad were very close friends so Sanju and Priya I know since I was a kid uh but again Sanju was always much older um um was there a comfort factor with them because you knew them as family always yeah Sanju treated me always like a little boy in his gang yeah he still does okay when I had the biggest crush on him okay even then he did so I was like oh God me and my little broken heart oh dear so you never considered I was the little boy in his group okay whom


I was the little boy in his group okay whom he had to take care of yeah okay so um you know there's this whole thing that uh certain actors want to work with actresses and during the 90s it was even 70s 80s 90s it changed after a while maybe but some actors would only recommend that we want to work with these people see there were times when they would recommend as well uh like for example but then ultimately it's also the salability of the person that would matter for example I'll I'll give you an example uh though it was prevalent definitely yes in the 90s uh there was a film that was offered to me which the original Star cast was um uh another very big hit pair and uh me and another person who was a hit pair but unfortunately for me that that person who was my course die in a couple of films started dating one of the heroines who couldn't stand me who had this real competitive jealousy rivalry with me so she kind of no of course


with me so she kind of no of course not so she kind of told him that you know if if I see you talking to her or something I'm gonna dump you and you can't do more films with her and we were a hit pair so and he told me also he said you know when she comes on the sets I'm not going to talk to you I said why we're friends I mean there's nothing and I mean you know whom I'm dating so what's the big deal I'm dating someone else so he was like no no no but don't talk to me when she's around okay and then and then suddenly one day I was told sorry you've got to leave these films because uh he doesn't want to work with you anymore I was like but why but as luck would have it that the the producer whom he went and said or recommended his girlfriend the producer only dropped him said no I don't want to sign up because she doesn't suit the role only raveena suits the


doesn't suit the role only raveena suits the role okay fine if you don't want Ravina for it I'll drop you and I'll drop her but I'll never sign that girl so there were people who stick to the conviction also as to what the character suits right so that does happen as well but but how do you drop a person whom you've already signed isn't that like isn't that okay they didn't ask the signing amount back or whatever I remember Praveen from time anymore you sign up and then if you don't take then yeah because I I haven't uh uh kind of breached the contract right it is from there okay and and then there are so many times that you also do it out of emotion uh I remember another very uh popular film director came up to me and he was in love with his heroine and he had signed me opposite Sunny for some film and he came to my house and said you're like my younger sister you're my sister you know I'm


younger sister you're my sister you know I'm madly in love with her and I want to marry her but she'll kill me and I've signed you and this and that so please you know help me make my relationship work I said no problem I'll step out of the film and she got the role and she got the roll Yeah well yeah it kind of that that film did kind of well yes that's your Social Service you take yeah so that's also I've done that also so many times help people but then so I think ultimately it's karma then yeah okay so uh you do this whole bunch of films and you know in your 20s you decide to adopt two kids as a single mother that was quite a revolutionary Step at that time yeah family stood by you they didn't say completely stood by me I mean my parents see my mom had been doing this work for the longest time my mom and my dad and they'd been working for the girl child for the empowerment of children in fact


girl child for the empowerment of children in fact they used to help out an orphanage where we've actually seen little babies being buried in the sand uh the fishermen finding them in mud and bringing them to the Prem sadhan and Asha Southern there so my parents used to work with these Asha Southern and Prime southern people and uh so I've grown up watching that and every time I I tell my mom you know let's take this baby home kind of a thing as things turned out that unfortunately an incident happened in our family where these kids uh their parents were normal when they were handed over to a very scrupulous kind of people and uh the minute I turned 21 I said listen I keep doing charity for the whole world this is something that's happening in front of me and I believe charity begins at home probably so if I am going around helping other ngos and other girls make their life these these two girls been born and brought up in front of me they're my


and brought up in front of me they're my cousin's children and I think they're not getting the kind of life that they deserve so I called a meeting of all my cousins and I said that listen this is what I plan to do I plan to take the girls in are you all all in support first my parents were very happy about it so they've been grandparents to them all along and um they were like yeah fine you know that's a great idea so Against All Odds you don't know how what a struggle it was to get both the girls back we got the girls and since that day to today they both legally it was not a challenge it was I could be the legal guardian in those days single mother adoption was not uh approved it was not legal today in today's day which I think is superb that it is so what did you become you became there I became the minute I turned 21 I became the legal guardian before that my mom became the legal guardian the


before that my mom became the legal guardian the minute I became 21 I became the legal Gardener but you could never become you could adopt them no no no I couldn't because that time the laws were not single women couldn't okay but what did your co-stars think at that time so they all knew about them they used to even now they asked me about them sometimes so they used to be on my uh shootings or most of the time only once they grew up a little when they were much younger uh I didn't bring them on the shoots and stuff because at that time media was also crazy you know they'd just write any kind of crap so one didn't want the children to be exposed to that kind of crap so I kept them kind of away from the media eye but then as they grew once they passed their tenth uh when they were in college they started hanging out with me and then then slowly and steadily I did talk about it and uh for example I know others


talk about it and uh for example I know others who've thrown press conferences and said oh I've got this baby from here and this and that but I didn't want to do that because at that time I just wanted to do this quietly and actually make a difference to someone's life and not get the girls complex by what people would be talking about them in the press or or however you know how people read and how sometimes peer group pressure can be really um cruel so I didn't want them to go through all that at that time and hence I kind of kept it under wraps and then a lot of uh people who are advocating uh adoption and you know uh ngos they came and talked to me and said we want you to be Ambassador but you must start talking about it so that it gives incentive to people to uh you know come up and do things like this and hence I started talking about it then okay so let's get back to the films now so the I'm


get back to the films now so the I'm going to go with the films that I like the most so I'll go with all the chichora food it has to be right in the 90s was something else you know that reminds me when um there was this talk talk about that uh deepika's song Deepika Shahrukh song that besharam rang song which was coming on and at that time everybody's like ah you know it's too vulgar and things and then of course because it was orange and so all the orange dressed songs came up you know that okay wasn't this valka wasn't this welcome wasn't this welcome yellow so your tip tip thing so when we were all talking which I think is I mean it's not a nice song this one I I at least personally I didn't like it I don't believe it should be banned but I didn't like it and this was on air by the way this is an honor discussion we had or one of the podcasts I think how dare


or one of the podcasts I think how dare you say tip tip so there were all these 90s kids these guys now they're in their 40s and they were like don't you taste any Village blasphemy this was how we he grew up on this is you don't know how much it meant to us and then later on camera they were like depressive happiness did you even realize in fact there was a point where I think even the co-producer of the film he kind of mentioned in an interview from his recently that raveena didn't want to do a song earlier and then we kind of convinced her because they wanted the whole song without the saree on and I was like hello that ain't happening at all I'm Gonna Keep My saree on and my yeah okay getting drenched is okay you're doing a rain song the whole world has done rain songs and the whole world gets drenched but I said no way Jose I am keeping my sari on so there's just that one


keeping my sari on so there's just that one flip of asari and then where he dances with the sari and then it's back on to me where I actually put it on so I mean there are times when you can put your foot down no one puts a gun on your head and says do these things and um see I've always believed that there's a there's a thin line between sensuality and sexuality in your face sexuality so I am not a person who would like in your face sexuality that come see I'm sexual I think that's a little too much uh I think sensuality can be in anything can be in a hair flip can be in your eyes can be in your expression can be even in the way you smile so that that is I'm I'm a believer of sensuous things of sensuality and that's how I see tip to barsapani tip tip is a very very sensuous song there was no in your face vulgarity uh as such in that you know where in those


uh as such in that you know where in those days when there was an ERA in the 90s where all double meaning songs and double meaning uh you know films like um uh I mean there's so many of those songs which are so well going so obscene and uh this was essential this was this had to portray a Kind of Love Making between the uh between the actors and it I think it did very beautifully well so this boundary that you're talking about or this this um yeah the lines that you would say that may that's for you as a person but did you have any objection or did you feel that this ought not to be on air uh some of the things the vulgar ones that you're talking about in those days yeah I mean that's my opinion but everyone it's a free world yeah everyone can do what they want even now it depends even now yeah everyone is allowed to do what they want and what they feel in their mind is right it's their problem yeah I I don't say that


it's their problem yeah I I don't say that go pick up a gun and go and shoot the other person there are some laws in this country that correct so it's it's not that but uh I do believe that it's a free world where a democratic country we have the right to do and think and say what we want and luckily we we we women uh I'm I'm proud to be born in this country which allows me the freedom to voice my opinions to walk how I want to and to talk how I want to so I don't feel any kind of Oppression or suppression and neither have I felt that way and this is the way I've been brought up as well so coming back to um uh one song that people are not liking fine you don't like it that's your opinion but the actors who did it they're loving it it's their problem and you feel feel that everything has a right to exist um so long as it's not harming Society in any manner as long


not harming Society in any manner as long as it's not harming Society in any manner yes of course I mean terrorism can't exist that's their uh freedom of speech probably that's bullets I couldn't I couldn't help very bad joke sorry but I mean talking about such a serious topic like terrorism but nonetheless that uh of course now that is not the freedom of expression that you would like to give anyone is violence so that definitely is a No-No and you you voiced uh an opinion very strongly about uh women and violence and you've talked about terrorism you you don't hesitate in speaking up when the when the occasion demands of course not I think we all should be speaking up because this is the country that we are going to bestow upon our kids after we are dead and gone is this the kind of uh uh you know planet or country is that what we are going to leave behind for our children and the minute I became a mother I was worried about every everything


became a mother I was worried about every everything that happened everything that happened in the newspaper was worried about and all I wanted to do was protect my kids so I think it's it's it's it's a different uh emotion altogether that you go through that let's get together and make make our country one of the best countries so that our children can be proud to belong here in fact the film industry is is often criticized that they don't speak up often enough considering that they are you know they are torch bearers damned if you speak and damned if you don't correct that both happens like I've seen the reticence in some very well-known people in the film industry who just don't speak up because they say even if we do offer right causes the right thing we say we still get pillar read exactly so what has happened is I mean there's a certain section uh for example according to me Twitter is completely polarized you know it's either the right wing


polarized you know it's either the right wing or the left wing and they've completely taken over there's nothing that you can do so either your uh uh what either your what's it called sanghi or you're an axolite it's either something like that yeah so I mean it's it's there's there's no middle path or else your minor media media yeah exactly so it's either or there's no middle path left anymore there is no neutral uh path that you can take but yes when it comes to my country and when I have to speak about my country because like I said I mean there is and and yeah I do get comments am I not a citizen of this country am I not a mother who has children who will be the next generation of this country am I not uh paying my taxes am I not uh paying my dues uh living in this country am I not proud of this country so what has taken uh me to be an actress to be taken my rights away to speak about


to be taken my rights away to speak about when I want to speak about my country so who are you to tell me that so if I don't come to your house and tell you don't talk about this who are you to come to my house to tell me don't talk about this so do your kids tell you mom don't calm down calm down but then yes even my daughter is like that she's righteous as well in fact that whole one Bihar thing that started she was the one who took the video who couldn't handle seeing the tiger uh you know some tourists throwing stones at the tiger and that's how the whole controversy erupted because what happened tell me about that I think I think I just ruffled a few feathers and it was completely you know uh Vendetta uh so your daughter without a forest she was at the one no no she was at the one vihar we were in Bhopal in mp um we were at one Bihar my daughter had gone with my entire


one Bihar my daughter had gone with my entire team to one vihar and they you can hear them tell those guys you know they were getting really angry so all I tweeted was that y'all are doing great conservation work and actually that one VR is one of the most uh forward uh Progressive zoos that we have is it cannot be called a zoo because the animals are actually not really caged it's almost like a rescue shelter and they're doing great conservation and breeding work so all I said was y'all are doing great work and excellent stuff and everything but please see that nobody the security is increased around the Tigers because this is incident that has happened today which we've seen obviously that ruffled a few feathers okay but not at the ministry level because I think the forest minister is one of the sweetest and the nicest guy and the work that he's done in and around bench also when you enter uh Forest the entire highway is fenced with huge walls so that there


highway is fenced with huge walls so that there are no Road kills here otherwise all our highways that are cutting across the forest they have a numerous amount of Road kills whether they're leopards or tigers or Elephants or or other things whether they're railway tracks or their roads so in fact they have taken such great medication measures and I've praised that umpteen amount of times that I've been to but see anything negative is more notice than all the positive that you've done true so it was in fact the forest Minister was so apologetic he's saying I don't believe this has happened to you you one of the Front Runners of our wildlife so I think uh the one officer who's who was really upset because what happened was the last time when I was in satpura Forest he had asked me for some bites Which BBC came and shot and uh I wanted some emails from them uh and they had invited me to stay at the guest house so I said please put it


at the guest house so I said please put it on email because as protocol I want everything in Black and White because tomorrow no one should say anything you know and me being an ambassador of Maharashtra Wildlife there has to be a certain protocol followed I can't just come and stay in the guest so I can't just come for uh this thing no not in another state that was not exactly the issue but nonetheless I'm promoting another forest in another State's Forest right though I promote our entire Indian Wildlife because I work a lot for the Indian my life as well so for me that differentiation is not there but to be ethically correct that there if I'm giving you bites and if you are in inviting me to be a guest for MP it has to come properly on an invitation like with proper protocol you can because everything has to be done properly it cannot just be done so I think they were upset that one officer was upset about that because when my one of my friends who


about that because when my one of my friends who was on the Jeep with me the day we went for that Safari he's one of the biggest uh Chiefs of one of the biggest Wildlife organizations so I was not this me and my daughter alone it was he was one of the biggest uh uh what do you say he does rescue work he does everything for wildlife and he was there in the front with me on the in the Jeep so we knew what we were doing and tigers aren't predictable in ranthamboree not the tiger Walks Like onto your Jeep literally they walk across your Jeep so it's a very very normal Safari but because these guys that one chap actually had a bone to pick with me because I didn't release the bites for uh and then I tweeted about one vihar has unnecessary called Ani and PTI and said sis and you will not believe it Smitha one week before I had only tweeted and uh that friend of mine all of us who


and uh that friend of mine all of us who were in the Jeep had tweeted that entire Safari video we only tweeted and we only installed it you tell me if I was doing anything illegal would I be tweeting it or installing it yeah am I nuts especially a man I'm an ambassador myself and I know what Wildlife laws are all about and I'm promoting it yeah so they have picked up that video CNN 18 had picked up that video and they had completely written again it was a very positive this thing these guys must have seen that they said and we know what the laws are and the other thing is actually when there's a tourist in the car for whatever reason whoever is driving the jeep is also from the uh mp uh Forest Department you can't take any car inside yeah so it was not my karna that was inside it was the forest vehicle that was inside it was a forest vehicle driver who was driving it was a forest Department's guide was sitting with us so never so


Department's guide was sitting with us so never so the whole leak out happened that there was a notice on me they can never be a notice on the tourist unless the tourists jumped out of the car irritated the tiger we did nothing we were quiet absolutely Russia and me and they just wanted to make a controversy their attitude and then after one and a half week I was Bhopal Ki beti so suddenly you do a lot of Photography also while yeah right you enjoy doing that have you always done that like it's been a long-standing passion of yours photography yes Wildlife at all we have been doing it since 2000 yeah and Peter is one another thing that Peter's one of the uh yeah animal organizations that I support yeah and see now I've moved away from your film thing too no but you know the best part was that these officers were trying to do this and that poor Forest Minister didn't know only okay why this is happening in fact he I know him he's


is happening in fact he I know him he's like a you know friend him and his family so when I went back to Bhopal this time his wife his son and his daughter-in-law poor things and they escorted me to the Jungle next just to make up for everything that those some some of these baboos can really spoil you know instead of giving it a good name they give it a bad name into the entire thing so we talked about what you do for uh for wildlife your Peta is one of the thing your photography is something then there's also for the girl child that you work and for organ donation tell us some of the work that you do there um well I've always advocated organ donation as well I'm an organ donor too so please go out and get your organ donor card today and carry it with you in your wallet because not that we would wish that on anyone but God forbid if there's an incident you can actually make a difference to at least 15