Maneka Gandhi

"I have not done anything to merit being thrown out. I don't understand why I am being attacked and held personally responsible. I am more loyal to my mother-in-law than even to my mother."

"Three years ago, I came to you as a bride. Today, I come as a widow who, with a small child, was thrown out of her mother-in-law's house."

"I mean, winning an election is no big deal. It's what you do with the power afterward that matters. And, well, for me anyway, it's proving you can do something entirely on your own, entirely your own way and for a commitment that is larger than yourself."

"In India, no power plant runs beyond 58 per cent of its capacity. I believe instead of making yet another plant which is really disastrous, what you should do first is to go in for conservation - that is increase your 58 per cent to 90 per cent. Your power problem would be solved right there."

"Has prostitution come to an end because of warnings against it?"

"For many years, the country has believed these pesticides are vital to keeping away starvation, to advance the green revolution. The main concern was food production and disease control - not public health safety. Some of us believe this must change, but it . . . will take some time."

"The movement I have initiated against the entry of junk food has already resulted in the reduction of sales of KFC in Bangalore to a record low."

"Whether they serve lamb or vegetable burgers is irrelevant. McDonald's is the largest killer of cows in the world."

"Among a certain class this winter, there wasn't a party in Delhi that didn't have cocaine."

"It is so naturally high in fat that it leads to obesity, the cause of all modern disease. Ayurveda actually lists milk as one of the five white poisons."

"One problem is the destruction of the habitat, and the second is this constant catching of elephants for training, for tourism or logging. And this training that we are doing is the most brutal, primitive and stupid in the whole world."

"If men get injured, it is another reason to ban jallikattu. Anyway, it is not a sport, but a torture to make the animal do an unnatural act. This is being practiced by a bunch of drunken youngsters."

"Can we afford to let Laloo, whose knowledge of anything except caste structures is non-existent, damage the rural economy further? The long-suffering railway ministry, which has by now lost its ability to resist any absurd decision by any of their ministers, has agreed to budget Rs 250 crore a year to buy kulhars. While all that money comes from your pocket, where will it actually go?"

"If there are 500 tigers left in India, I'd be surprised. They are even skinning the tigers in Indian zoos."

"In all cases that have been investigated, the only time a state government gives permission for nilgai and wild boar shooting is when it is requested by vips, hotel and tourism people or friends of politicians."

"We are already into the crisis. It will accelerate in the next five years. There will come a time in the next 10 years when it will be irrelevant which party comes to power. The word democracy will be irrelevant when people rush to grab whatever available resources are left."

"While I respect culture, this bull-killing ritual causes extreme suffering to an innocent creature and has no place in the modern world. Tradition is not an excuse for cruelty, and many societies have ended or are working to end ‘traditional’ practices—such as slavery, cannibalism, infanticide, female circumcision, foot-binding, bullfighting, and fox hunting—that cause animals or humans to suffer."

"Meat can no longer be protected as a personal choice. If your meat is going to destroy my health and our environment, you ought to have to pay for it."

"On the positive side, at least we know now what to stock up with in case of a nuclear war. Also filmstars might consider injecting liquidized McD into their faces to halt the ageing process."

"Let me clarify at the outset that this decision to permit hunting of wild boars and blue bull in the wild is not taken for the sake of farmers, but to benefit those private forest lodge operators who have clients from Middle East and other countries."

"When I was studying in Bangalore, temperature would be around 21 degree and now it is 31 degree. The drastic increase in the level of temperature is due to industrialisation."

"Just see how well the Jains and the Marwaris do in life. It cannot be a co-incidence that they are so well educated and affluent. It is because of their way of life which involves least harm to a living being."

"We are changing the law and I am personally working on it to bring 16-year-olds into the purview. According to the police, 50 per cent of the crimes are committed by 16-year-olds who know the Juvenile Justice Act. But now for premeditated murder, rape, if we bring them into the purview of the adult world, then it will scare them."

"Money through trade of slaughtered animals goes into terrorism, therefore goes into killing us, why are we allowing this?"

"It is a win-win situation for us — no harm to janitors by way of daily exposure to chemicals, and cows will be valued more."

"You have 2,000 girls who are killed in the womb every day. Some are born and have pillows on their faces choking them."