I take no responsibility for what Pratibha does: Bardhan

RIGHT TO CLAIM: Bardhan says Pratibha is a simple woman who has not been charged of any crime.

      

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Keywords: Webcast, A B Bardhan

Karan Thapar: She hasn’t as yet.

A B Bardhan: But why should she? Just because somebody levies a charge?

Karan Thapar: Because her integrity is being impugned.

A B Bardhan: She will reply.

Karan Thapar: When?

A B Bardhan: After the nomination is over.

Karan Thapar: Why after? Why not before?

A B Bardhan: Why before?

Karan Thapar: Because the advantage of doing it afterwards is that it’s too late to withdraw. In other words you want it to become a fait accompli?

A B Bardhan: Somebody raises a charge, somebody raises a howl, somebody reduces it the most degrading episode and then you want her to withdraw for that? Let somebody else withdraw who stands as an independent candidate.

Karan Thapar: You refuse to accept the seriousness of charges or the fact that she owes a responsibility not to the country, but to herself.

A B Bardhan: I take no responsibility for whatever she might have done or her family might have done.

Karan Thapar: But you still nominate her to President?

A B Bardhan: I am only responsible for supporting her candidature.

Karan Thapar: And I am pointing out that you are supporting someone knowing that she faces hideous and serious charges.

A B Bardhan: And I am telling you that no such charges were levied when she was the minister, MLA, deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha or when she the governor of Rajasthan.

Karan Thapar: So what? They’ve been provoked before the nomination, that doesn’t mean they are invalid.

A B Bardhan: During all that period there was the BJP rule in the Centre and they did nothing about it.

Karan Thapar: Speaking in the Maharashtra Assembly as health minister on December 10, 1975, Mrs Pratibha Patil said we are thinking of forcible sterilisation of people with hereditary diseases. First of all, do you approve of forcible sterilisation?

A B Bardhan: I don't, I don't, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything she does or says.

Karan Thapar: Let’s explore this a little further. People with hereditary diseases include people with heart disorders, infertility, diabetes, even people with bad sight and bad hearing. Should such people be forcibly sterilised?

A B Bardhan: I don't think there should be forcible sterilisation of at any stage.

Karan Thapar: So, you completely disagree with her?

A B Bardhan: I disagreed with this whole policy of Congress at one stage.

Karan Thapar: Then how come such a woman who said this in the Assembly - it is recorded in the Assembly records - is your nominee for President?

A B Bardhan: She is not going to forcibly sterilise anybody, she is not going to follow those policies, and she is not called upon to.

Karan Thapar: But she stood for it. She’s never recanted. She hasn’t apologised.

A B Bardhan: We are electing a President within the framework of the Indian Constitution.

Karan Thapar: But she still has views and beliefs. She has not recanted or apologised.

A B Bardhan: I’m not called upon to support her views and beliefs.

Karan Thapar: Should she clear the air and recant and apologise for this?

A B Bardhan: Why should she?

Karan Thapar: So she stands by it and you are happy to support her?

A B Bardhan: Many wrong things, mistaken things have been said and done by the Congress and more so by the BJP.