Activists From India

"The Indian State instead of the encouraging objective rendering of the history have encouraged few vested interests to hijack the historical narrative. This has resulted in present situation where the history, which is taught in our schools and colleges, is the British imperialist-sponsored one, with the intent to destroy our history... An accurate history should not only record the periods of glory but the moments of degeneration, of the missed opportunities, and of the failure to forge national unity at crucial junctures in time. It should draw lessons for the future generations from costly errors in the past... It is disturbing to read the amount of intellectual investment that has been made by the forces that are inimical to our country. These forces have penetrated into our democratic institutions to hollow them from inside."

"Income tax must be abolished. We must also increase the Fixed Deposit interest rates."

"There is a need to make public the Operation Bluestar files so that people know the whole truth."

"I'm in politics because I want to be the prime minister some day. At 41, I'm old enough to run the country, though young enough to wait."

"In the present state of appalling gloom which has given birth to such wreckers of national unity as V.P. Singh and L.K. Advani, Swamy in comparison appears to be a man of patriotic commitment despite his provocative idiosvncracies."

"If Subramanian Swamy did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. He is a multifaceted intellectual dynamo. He has been elected to the Lok Sabha six times and Rajya Sabha three times. He earned a PhD from Harvard University standing first. He also taught at the university. During Emergency he became the Indian Scarlet Pimpernel. An arrest warrant had been issued against him. Regardless, he turned up at Parliament House, signed the Rajya Sabha attendance register and eloped."

"If Dr Swamy talks sense he is an SJP (Samajwadi Janata Party) leader, when he talks nonsense he is the Janata Party president."

"I came across Subramanian Swamy as associate professor in Harvard in 1967. I was his student for one semester. He was younger than me. I was there with my wife and she is a good cook. I'm merely saying that he was fond of all good food and my wife would produce something which would vaguely satisfy him and so he would come over. We got along extremely well even when I finished my course with him, we were still very good friends. I couldn't afford a car, so we went together on weekend picnics. I'll say Swamy is a brilliant man, Swamy is an intelligent man. We used to be such good friends that when his daughter got married, I did a lot of work."

"Academics and observers of the academy have for several weeks now been professing shock at what even one of the perpetrators has called unprecedented at Harvard – the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ striking of uncontroversial economics courses taught by now-controversial Indian politician Subramanian Swamy, without even inviting him to defend himself. But we should not be surprised. Punishment for uttering politically incorrect ideas, often with little regard for fair procedure, has plagued Harvard students, faculty members, and even, in the eyes of some, one now-former Harvard president over the past two decades. The disgraceful action taken against Professor Swamy is par for the course."

"I saw an upset-looking gentleman alongside me watching the fire. I asked why he was there. He said that all the notes and research for his current book, inside that building, was literally going up in smoke. That was Subramanian Swamy, then a young economics instructor."

"Varun Gandhi is a nice chap, hardworking, intelligent, studies a lot, writes books, and he has won the Lok Sabha election three times. The party should use him. You have to get out of this notion that the BJP is owned by Modi and Amit Shah."

"He (Swamy) spoke about his Swadeshi plan for 10 percent economic growth, and he mesmerised everybody."

"Modi is ungrateful, and no one can doubt my talent for some of the ministries and my knowledge of the subject. They did not even let me become an MP. Eventually, it was the RSS that had to move in and it took till 2016 before they could budge him."

"He (Asaduddin Owaisi) polarises Hindus in our favour, but whether that is deliberate or not, I can’t say. I like Owaisi. He is my friend. If you see us meeting in Central Hall (Parliament), then you will feel like two buddies are meeting."

"Everyone thought that nothing could nail the Gandhi family, Swamy showed it’s possible."

"He (Swamy) speaks what he feels and believes, and he is not afraid to declare his views publicly."

"Sachin Pilot is a right man in wrong party."

"I’m an ordinary member of the BJP. If one were to say that the BJP is represented by Modi and Amit Shah, I have nothing to do with them. If BJP is essentially a party floated by the RSS, I’m a part of that."

"I disagree with Swamy on most issues, but I always find his ideas interesting when it comes to matters of economics. You may ignore his Hindutva chants and his rants against the Gandhis– but listen carefully when he speaks on economics. Amit Mitra, my Presidency college classmate and West Bengal’s finance minister, once told me over dinner in Aveek Sarkar’s residence that of all the people who had taught him in Harvard, Swamy was by far the best. And Mitra, remember, studied under Manmohan Singh and Paul Samuelson."

"I meet BJP MPs in the RSS shakhas. I sit with the BJP MPs (in Rajya Sabha), who are all extremely friendly. Yes, but it is a highly disciplined party. They don’t like to disobey decisions taken at the top. I think that is wrong in a democratic society. I’m very critical of the complete lack of knowledge of economics that is being foisted on us."

"Swami is prime ministerial material because of his integrity and honesty in the manner that he has pursued the 2G Spectrum scam."

"He (Swamy) was very well spoken of, and he was very popular."

"I do not fear a threat of war from Pakistan. We (India) are ten times bigger. If Pakistan were to attack us, we will smash them."

"Last week's measures increasing raising import surcharges on a wide range of industrial products run counter to India's commitments to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to reduce tariffs. Once we have managed the IMF loan negotiations we will get that (approach) reversed."

"He (President Obama) should mind his own business. Two million Hindus who are working there (in the US) are not allowed to build their temples; they are not allowed to celebrate Diwali. He only gives lectures here. He says in America they have worked out a harmony. In America, the majority was brutalising the minority. In India, for 800 years, the Islamic minority was brutalising the majority Hindus."

"I feel that only those who have been oppressed by the society and have been forced to live a backward life should given reservations. If Muslims want to study, then should be given scholarships, good schools, But Muslims and Christians can't have reservation as they have ruled our country."

"The recent announcement that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi will patronize screening of the mega budget movie on Saint Thomas and his fictitious missionary activities in the first century in Tamil Nadu, read with the Union Government's decision to cancel the allotment of forest land to the Amarnath Shrine Board intended for creating facilities for housing and parking Hindu pilgrims, are a part of the pernicious and sinister attempt to put the Hindus under siege, about which I have been warning the nation for the last three years."

"Earlier, the scams were related to the defence deals, where things were difficult. Now, they have got into things within the country. And since there are lots of players, some of them spill the beans."

"National politics has become devalued today because of casteism, communalism and regionalism. A few seats from one state is enough to launch you nationally."

"If the Pakistan prime minister thinks he can threaten us with war, let him know that 98 crore Indians are ready for it."

"The best economy for India is when the Government functions more like an umpire in a football match rather than a participant, unfortunately the Government is the umpire, the goalkeeper and the centre forward..."

"I admire his intellect. It was always a pleasure to speak to him. When he was President I would meet him quite frequently...he was a great Constitutionalist."

"Despite having a large unmanageable population and complexities, India's democracy has strengthened. A great contribution to strengthen our country's democracy goes to his credit."

"He was not one thing to his voter, another to his Chief Minister, one thing to colleagues, another to the Prime Minister. He was not one thing to the Shankaracharya of Kancheepuram, another to Secretary General of the United Nations Organisation. He was not weak to the strong, he was not strong to the weak."

"Steeped in the Gandhi-Nehru tradition, he had propounded the theory that the President in the Indian context was like the 'emergency light' which automatically came on when the normal flow of power was broken and went out after normal working was restored."

"The trying times demanded his decisions on a gamut of tricky constitutional and political issues-- Sri Lankan crisis, Bofors Gun deal, assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Stock Scam and the Defamation Bill."

"He had also made a conscious suggestion for establishing a national government during a fractured verdict."

"He had respect for first principles that go beyond oneself. And these first principles included awareness of the fact that politics is larger than a political party and that the country is larger than politics. This awareness was his greatest asset in the steering of India's Presidency...his procedures will be a reference point, a benchmark, on which future Presidents can confidently rely."

"Again, he later veered drastically towards the BJP camp and issued statements in support of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Perhaps, those were attempts by an elderly statesman to fight oblivion and assert his relevance in a changing situation."

"In the years of long retirement, he at times shocked and surprised his admirers by statements that often appeared to be at odds with his personality. He once found fault with K. R. Narayanan, then president, for not accepting Sonia Gandhi's claim for prime ministership in 1990."

"A copybook president, he skilfully guided the country through a testing period of coalition politics in its nascent days that saw three prime ministers in two years."

"As president, seniority - the first attribute of a teacher - came to be virtually imposed on him by virtue of him being a good deal older than most in the government and in the political class of the day. His strained eyesight, which required him to wear high-correction lenses, and his pure silver hair helped perpetuate the Headmaster image."

"As chairman of the Rajya Sabha to be equally cordial and firm with everyone across the benches, pulling members up for inadvertencies as much as for intentional misconduct during Question Hour, the 'hour' that he scrupulously spent in the House. Prolixity, additional supplementaries, 'irregular' Calling Attention Notices, Adjournment Motions would be summarily put down. "Nothing will go on record, nothing…" was heard in the familiar high-pitched voice on the Chair whenever someone broke the decorum of the proceedings by speaking without authority. Members doing a 'walkout' would invariably hear the Chairman saying with a smile "Walking out? All right, anyway attendance is optional…" making the MP look and feel utterly un-heroic. Predictably, he earned the left-handed title of 'Headmaster'."

"He was as fallible as any human being. He made errors of assessment, of judgment, often in the way he reposed trust in people who deserved less. And, in the larger interest, sometimes 'looked the other way'. But in our times when mala fide intent exceeds 'honest error', he was something of an oddity."

"In his stint as the country's eighth President he held office from 25 July 1987, which coincided with the period when the Indian electorate threw up a fractured mandate and politically the country was yet to accept coalition governments as a means of governance."

"He was a great teacher for making people aware of good aspects of politics and leadership. management. He was well known for sowing the seeds of making Tamil Nadu as an industrially advanced state."

"As Defence Minister, he was personally responsible for bringing me from space programme to missile programme, shaping the missile programme to cover the entire missile systems needed by the nation and naming it as Integrated Guided Missile Development Program."

"During my regular morning walks under the 14 banyan trees nurtured by him, I am reminded of his purity of life."

"In his long and distinguished political career spanning more than four decades, he served in key capacities with the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank."

"His abiding interest in law, particularly relating to labour, and trade union activity led him to an association with politics. He was a member of Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution."