"I have nothing to do with Morarjibhai Desai, but all these things combined together are a calamity for the country.

"Basically I am against politicians. But we cannot discard politicians absolutely. Humanity is not yet in that state of growth and intelligence where politicians can be discarded. So they will be needed – it is a necessary evil.

"But evil it is. So it is better to choose a politician who at least has a flexible mind, scientific attitudes – one who at least has a contemporary mind.

"Morarji Desai is just out of date. He does not belong to this century, to this time. All that he goes on saying is sheer superstitious nonsense. He is at least one thousand years back.

"But once you are in power, whatsoever you believe, you can impose it on others. That is the danger. He is cunning, shrewd, unintelligent. A politician is bound to be cunning and shrewd and unintelligent, because only unintelligent people are cunning and shrewd. That is their substitute for intelligence.

"If you are intelligent, that's enough. There is no need to be cunning, there is no need to be shrewd, there is no need to use back-door methods.

"A story:

"A politician was teaching his little son to be less afraid, to have more courage, by having him jump down the stairs. He placed his boy on the second stair and said, 'Jump, and I'll catch you.' And the boy jumped. Then the father placed him on the third stair, saying, 'Jump, and I'll catch you.' Though the boy was afraid, he trusted his father, did what he was told, and jumped into his father's arms. Then the father put him on the next step, and then the next step, each time telling him, 'Jump, and I'll catch you.' And each time the boy jumped and was caught by his father. And so this went on.

"Then the boy jumped from a very high step, just as before, but this time the father stepped back and the boy fell flat on his face. As he picked himself up, bleeding and crying, the father said to him, 'That will teach you: never trust a politician, even if it is your own father.'

"I don't trust politicians."