Hindus From India

"He was shy, with a slightly nervous laugh, but to those who knew him he fully justified his public image of honesty, being open to discussion of any aspect of his career and willing to accept criticism."

"As Chief Minister, he cracked down heavily on the dacoits, who were terrorizing the south west Uttar Pradesh. He was applauded for his offer of resignation when he failed to subdue the problem."

"His self-righteous posturing is a cover so dexterously used by him to pursue his ambition, to hog the limelight by any means."

"His action which changed the course of Indian politics was implementation of a 10-year-old report advocating quotas in jobs and educational opportunities for those known as Other Backward Castes (OBCs)…. This action is seen as having been responsible for the rapid expansion of parties based on caste, particularly in northern India, although caste already played an important role in politics."

"Not a Raja, but an ascetic, the nation's destiny", which rhymes in Hindi and so sounds much more catchy."

"An unusual Indian politician, renowned for his obsession with honesty and his willingness to sacrifice office. He was coalition prime minister of India for less than a year, from December 1989 to November 1990, yet during that time he took a number of crucial decisions."

"Every day you are being abused by the press and by the sections that had abused us for millennia. If you stand by us, you will get your share of abuse."

"He was a lonely man in politics. He was neither liked nor trusted by his colleagues because he went against the grain."

"Are we not the youth of this country? The SCs form three-fourths of the country. Then why do they say the youth are against you? You gave us something through Mandal, and the whole country pounced on us. It is not the question of 27 per cent or 10 per cent, do we have a place of even 1 per cent in the hearts of the ruling elite?"

"As regards foreign investment, I said we have our own priorities and cannot open up so others can exploit us...Cutting red tape is one aspect of liberalisation, inviting all multinationals across the world is another thing. What I aimed at was a model of more internal competition, but resisting foreign capital."

"The market theory is, there should be international mobility of capital. I said, why not international movement of labour? Marketing theory only envisages mobility of all factors of production. That means their medicines can come, but our doctors cannot go. Their engineering goods can come, our engineers cannot go. Secondly, they want the developing countries to open up but deny them access to technology. Certainly, our economies have been too protected. But that has to go gradually."

"I had aimed at more internal competition but this government is inviting multinationals across the [[world."

"In the 20th century, only two other leaders had given politics such a decisive turn: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Indira Gandhi. The irony is that the man [V.P.Singh] who could disrupt the Indian political ethos could never accept his own changes."

"An iniquitous social structure has produced an iniquitous power structure. Individuals and parties are not at fault. Political, social and economic monopolies exclude a large section of the masses from decision-making. To that extent they are undemocratic. So far teams of the ruling elite played and the rest were called to applaud. Now the onlookers are saying we also want to kick and net a goal, and we have our own team."

"He confounded his critics by never seeking office after he was ousted, but remained in public life by campaigning for causes he believed in."

"While politics is the art of the possible, history is the art of the impossible. I have never hesitated in attempting the impossible. What is historically relevant may not be politically prudent. One has to make one’s choices."

"No, I have not been able to reconcile them. It is, perhaps, because of the conflict of the different approvals the different persona demand. The political personality survives in no small measure on approval of others. The creative personality needs an emotional seal. The ethical one ordains the approval of one’s conscience. I have not been able to integrate them."

"I said bring equity back on the national agenda. And equity is a broad concept with facets like political equity, decentralisation, electoral reforms, freedom of the press. It includes economic and social equity: for women, for SCs and STs, for the minorities."

"Their argument was that no one comes here to sit with prayer beads, they all have ambitions and if they are not fulfilled, they go away."

"The visual always fascinated me. As I grew up, I slowly realized that we not only see through our eyes, but also from the heart. Feeling is living. Beauty is understanding. I was overwhelmed by the harmony of creation. My youth was one rapturous communion with nature. The ecstasy is gone but fragments of its memory, still, at times, shimmer, to give a sudden insight. My paintings are such fragments. Yes, they are fragments because my life is so."

"I do not know why everybody says that I am after power. If I were after power, I would have accepted it in 1996 when so many leaders came to my residence asking me to become prime minister."

"One thing the ruling elite should understand, if we keep driving the deprived sections of our society to the wall, we'll have more unrest. Hang V.P. Singh, but give the deprived justice. Otherwise this country will go beyond anyone's management."

"What we have to ask is not what we have got out of it, but what we have been able to get for the poor and the oppressed. For one, equity is now on the national agenda. No party can ignore it. They now enumerate how many candidates, chief ministers, Rajya Sabha members they have fielded from the deprived sections. The same is true of the choice of President or vice-president. So we have changed the political environment."

"I believe whoever is in power, people should fight the establishment over issues. This is the weakness of our democracy. We vote, then for five years we remain dormant. The farmers’ movement will remain but we need a formal political party to fight elections."

"I would be a disaster as a prime minister."

"In his 10 months in office he has aroused more controversy, and attracted more condemnation, than any of his predecessors in the same period. Students continue to immolate themselves in the belief that he symbolises the forces responsible for their ever-mounting frustration in the search for employment. At the same time, he has authorized the arrest of Lal Krishna Advani, whose rath yatra was projected as a holy campaign to arouse Hindu awareness of the need to salve the hurt caused to their religious heritage."

"Everybody knows I worked with Rajiv closely and we also fought each other over our beliefs. We fought the elections on the (Bofors) issue and the people gave their electoral verdict. It was an honest fight and I want to make it clear that at no point of time did I make the charge that Rajiv personally took money in the Bofors affair."

"He made big news as PM by visiting to the Golden Temple asking forgiveness for Operation Bluestar, released militants in exchange of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter, and had tussle with Reliance giant Dhirubhai Ambani."

"I have always been straight in my dealings, whether now or in yesteryear. There was no flip-flop/"

"He decided to end the Indian army's unsuccessful operation in Sri Lanka where Rajiv Gandhi, his predecessor, had sent it to combat the Tamil separatist movement."

"The Dalits are a powerful secular force. Then, the backward forces can provide an effective bulwark along with the minorities against the forces of coramunalism. Because what has been established in the past half a century is the upper caste Hindu raj, depriving the backwards and the minorities."

"Gandhi, Nehru and all did try to improve the situation. They tried to break a lot of economic and social stratifications. But inertia and the system prevail."

"When Nanda was Union home minister in the early '60s, he set up a special cell to lodge complaints against corrupt officials and politicians. He came under pressure to wind up the cell but didn't yield. Subsequently, a riot in Delhi - which he later discovered was engineered - led him to resign."

"As a child, his grandson once drew a sketch and went to show it to his grandfather. After praising him for his effort, he [Nanda] admonished him for using the official stationery. One can't even dream of this kind of honesty."

"About the two occasions when her father was interim prime minister - after the death of Nehru and later after Lal Bahadur Shastri's demise - Pushpaben says: "On both, he took it as part of his duty. On the second occasion, there were some in the Cabinet who wanted him to continue as prime minister but he didn't allow himself to become part of a power game."

"Appointed vice-chairman of the Planning Commission by Nehru, he played a vital role in the drawing up of the First Five Year Plan and headed important ministries till 1971."

"No praise will be too high for the pioneer work he did in the cause of Labor. He introduced the principle of arbitration in settling industrial disputes. Every year the Association spends Rs. 50,000 to provide educational facilities for the workers. It has marshaled a volunteer corps of 1000 strong. As a result of his efforts the highest wages are paid to the workers and there are fewer strikes. The Labor Association has the largest membership in India."

"A conviction of virtue, a spirit of service and a habit of mental rectitude bear witness to his work. Treasures of tenderness shine (d) within his being."

"Authored the First Five Year Plan, and was a key member of Jawaharlal Nehru's trusted inner circle."

"He had constituted the Kurukshetra Development Board which set up Panorama and Museum and Light programme depicting the history of Mahabharata. By setting up a library and a museum, the people visiting this holy pilgrimage would get a glimpse of the life of the great leader..."

"He was largely instrumental in organising the Indian National Trade Union Congress and later became its President."

"He is one of those extraordinary leaders of our country who had devoted all his lifetime in the service of the people especially in fighting corruption and social evils prevailing in society."

"Formed the Majoor Mahajan, believed to be the country's oldest labour organisation. His political activities led to internment in various jails."

"Once on solar eclipse day, like any other pilgrim, he visited Kurukshetra to have a sacred bath in the Brahma Sarovar. He smeared his body with slush from the holy spot and returned as there was little water in the lake. Disappointed with the neglect of a well-known religious place of pilgrimage like Kurukshetra, he set up Kurukshetra Development Board in August 1968."

"In 1971, when Indira Gandhi returned to power with a huge majority, he retired from politics, saying he found himself "out of tune" with the changed circumstances, and took to social and religious work. In later years, he guided the activities of the Navjeevan Sangh and the Manav Dharm mission, two organisations founded by him."

"What set him apart from almost all the freedom fighters who held high offices in independent India was his complete freedom from material desire. He had no source of income and would not accept money from his children or from well-wishers. He had to be forced to sign an application for the freedom fighters pension of Rs 500 per month."

"His name is firmly connected with India’s labour reforms. His interest in the subject goes back to the early twenties when he did post graduation work in Allahabad as a student. He had taken labour as his subject. Therefore he was sent to Ahmadabad to do this field work and to study trade unionism. The process of wage settlement was introduced in 1918 when textile weavers there went on a strike seeking increase in wages and Gandhiji went on a fast on this issue."

"Just before he went to Dhulia Jail in 1931, he promised the 10-year-old Pushpaben [his daughter] a wristwatch if she came first in class. Taking him at his word, says Pushpaben: "When I demanded my gift from him, [[w:Jamnalal Bajaj|Jamnalal Bajaj, who was his jailmate, jokingly came up with a ghada (a water pitcher) instead of a ghadi (watch)."

"Nanda was associated with the Planning Commission from 1950 right upto to the time he became Home Ninister in 1963. Later in 1970, he became Railway Minister in 1970."

"[In 1956], Prohibition we have to make it successful. To whatever extent we go forward it must be attained effectively. We are told that only a very small percentage drink in India. That should be an added reason for carrying out prohibition because it should be easier to make it successful. When large numbers drink there is a no strong opinion against it. But if ninety percent do not, it is reservoir of public opinion which if utilized properly is a guarantee of success of prohibition."