Jaswant Singh, who has handled the finance, defence & external affairs portfolio in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet, says he is at his wits end. His party, which believes its chances of coming to power in New Delhi are brighter than ever, has denied Singh a Lok Sabha ticket from his home constituency of Barmer in Rajasthan. Singh now says he will contest as an Independent. Excerpts from an exclusive Q&A with Akshay Deshmane:I am no longer with BJP. I haven’t officially resigned. It has treated me rather shabbily. It will be decided only on the 24th.I don’t think I would like to categorise it like that. The reality seems to be that the conceptual and intellectual territory of BJP and principles to which it subscribes have been encroached upon by new entrants from other parties. The party leadership is not just accepting, but actively promoting the entrance into the BJP of encroachers. The assumption seems to be that they bring political dividends by way of number of seats. It can be counter-productive.I am outside the circle of advisors. I don’t wish to advice. Being a part of the Old Guard, you are certainly important for the party. How serious will the loss be to the party if you leave? I am not important. This is not humility; it’s accuracy of assessment.I decline to make personal comments. But I will say that it is disappointing. I, too, had a role to play in inducting her as CM. A good system was instituted (in the Barmer constituency) to consult everybody. About 200-250 active workers of the party, who were panchayat members, were consulted. In that, I know, about 90-95% said it (party candidate) should be Jaswant Singh. Same exercise was conducted with all the seven legislators (who were elected from among the total eight assembly seats which comprise Barmer parliamentary constituency) and all of them said it should be Jaswant Singh.I find this question insulting. It suggests my honour is for sale. It is a very insulting proposition. I wonder who has put it on behalf of BJP.I think Mr Advani, as a seniormost leader of the party, was deserving of much greater courtesy, consideration and consultation in the decision-making process. He is among the creators of the BJP because it is Mr Vajpayee and he who brought the party up from two seats to a government of the NDA.I don’t know if it has a position. It is rather barely articulated…(it appears that the RSS has) very effectively disguised its position.It is a bit of a strange conduct on part of anybody to venerate an individual and say ‘NaMo, NaMo’. I don’t think you need to chant ‘NaMo, NaMo’. It is part of an invocation of lord Shiva — ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. I would immediately restrain people (from chanting ‘NaMo, NaMo’). My wife had filed a case when some calendar had appeared in Rajasthan depicting somebody (Raje) as goddess. This tendency we should frown upon in India. It diminishes India.I am not making a comment on an individual but on a tendency. Why did Tagore write that wonderful piece of poem “where the mind is without fear and head is held high…”? If you infect minds of citizens with fear, then their heads will not be held high but be bowed down.It is a very beautiful state rapidly being turned into a second rate UP or a third rate Bihar!