When Morarji Desai became the prime minister of India – he thinks of himself as the successor to Mahatma Gandhi – he was trying to harm me as much as possible. When he was chief minister of Gujarat, he tried to pass a resolution in the assembly of Gujarat that I could not enter into Gujarat. The assembly simply could not believe it: “What kind of thing are you talking about? We may not agree with somebody, we can criticize the man, but to prevent him from entering into the state simply means you are a coward; it simply means you don’t have any argument.” And they don’t have any argument.
And finally he became the prime minister of India. Then he tried as much as he could to persecute me, to persecute my people, because I was simply saying the truth, that the country is dying – and he is teaching that if you start drinking your own urine all problems will be solved.
Certainly he seems to be the real successor to Mahatma Gandhi, because while Mahatma Gandhi was alive, in his ashram there was one of his chief disciples, Professor Bhansali – a well-educated man, a retired professor of a university – who lived for six months eating cow dung and drinking the urine of the cow. And Gandhi declared him that he is a spiritual saint! Certainly Morarji Desai is Gandhi’s spiritual successor.
Morarji Desai created so many legal troubles, without any foundation. He was gone within three years, but those troubles continue. He took away the tax-exempt status of the trust which was working for me, without giving any reason. Now he is gone, but bureaucracy is bureaucracy: the problem continues. And because the tax-exempt status has been taken away, in all these years one and a half million dollars’ income tax has gathered that has to be paid. So now the income tax office is asking for one and a half million dollars.
He prevented me from being allowed to purchase any land, any house, any property. I don’t have any money, but he prevented my friends who have been trying to spread my word. The commune in Pune has existed for twelve years, but all the properties that we have purchased are not in our name; they are still in the name of their old owners. We have paid the money but the ownership has not been transferred.
In every possible way…but the reason was political. They were all exploiting Mahatma Gandhi’s name in elections, and I was the only person in the whole country who was saying that, “It is time you forget Mahatma Gandhi. Thank him for the last time for trying to gain the freedom of the country, but now it is time to be free of him. The country needs technological progress; otherwise people are going to die.”
Mahatma Gandhi was against birth control; I have been in absolute support of birth control. If they had listened to me…I have been talking in favor of birth control for thirty years. If they had listened to me…at that time, the population was four hundred million, but they did not listen. Now it is nine hundred million.