Government Ministers Of India

"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."

"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."

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

"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 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."

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

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

"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 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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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 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."

"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'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."

"Raj Narain is a liability anywhere. When out of power, he behaves like a wrestler, which he is. It's martial art for its own sake, not for the sake of achieving an objective. And when in power, I don't trust this man at all. His conduct after he was thrown out of the Cabinet is all on record now. Like a worm, he crawled to Sanjay Gandhi to conspire against the prime minister. He was called a bar by Sanjay Gandhi, yet he smiled. It's unprecedented shamelessness."

"I still have a lot of admiration for RSS. They're disciplined. They're prepared to sacrifice. They love their nation. But I'm not their slave. I didn't quit the Janata Party to join BJP when the RSS ordered each of its friends and followers to do so. It was an immoral act. I've never compromised on principles at RSS's behest."

"I will be able to consolidate the national democratic forces, largely because of my clear identification against the communists. I also have a better relationship with Morarji Desai and Chaudhary Charan Singh. I sincerely believe that unless these two leaders come together it is not possible to counter the Soviet-inspired Left Front in the country."

"During the last few years, the party organisation has been neglected at all levels. There has been a complete neglect of party finances, front organisations and district level committees. I will concentrate on the organisation. Maybe because of my Jan Sangh background, I will do better. If I become the president, half the BJP will join the Janata."

"The people must know that V.P. Singh, the man leading the Opposition today, is untruthful, conspiratorial and lacks an ideology. His commitment to fight corruption is totally shallow. The people must know that Ramakrishna Hegde who claims to be Mr Clean is the biggest looter of the people of Karnataka: on every possible transaction of the Karnataka Government he has made a cut, either directly or through his relatives."

"Sanjay Gandhi admired me for my guts. We got along very well. In the case of Rajiv Gandhi, I will be frank, I find the vibes right. I can't not like him. I will not deny I find his company pleasant. He is very, very well behaved with me. I have met him in his office five times in the last year, in connection with China."

"I will accept money from anybody as long as it is Indian. As a good Brahmin it is my right to accept money. When I ask a businessman to give me money I speak as if I am demanding it. I collect money for the party. I have collected money for the Lok Dal(A), for the Janata Party elections and there is no secret about it. But my personal life has not been aggrandised by it."

"My mission has been to liquidate the Janata Dal. It is an illegitimate organisation."

"The operation Blue Star was supported by the BJP."

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

"The US wants only 51 per cent adherence as against 100 per cent adherence demanded by Russia."

"If I can persuade Rajiv Gandhi and Chandra Shekhar to come together, I have sufficient self-confidence to make the prime minister Chandra Shekhar accommodate this concept of liberalism."

"V. P. Singh participated in the whole thing of Bofors. He and Arun Nehru were in cahoots. They misled the people. V. P. Singh held talks with Bofors and Swedish government officials in Stockholm on June 10 1985."

"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."

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

"I was later called by Morarji Desai who said I should not press the matter as it was in the national interest that the basement be kept sealed. The government has something to hide and the issue should be thoroughly investigated."

"Once, at a get together, I called him my guru and explained the gurukul system of our rishis. He said: "Ah! That is what the US needs." Samuelson was a rishi in the way he treated his chosen students and saw them through difficulties. He was a great and gentle guru."

"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."

"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."

"It is first of all factually correct that Muslims of India have DNA wise the same DNA as us. And therefore there is nothing wrong with them acknowledging that their ancestors are Hindus. If they say Hindus are not their ancestors, then who could be their ancestors? Now after all we created Pakistan for those Muslims who didn't consider themselves as ready to live with their Hindu brothers."

"Fanatic Muslims consider Hindu-dominated India an unfinished chapter of Islamic conquests."

"Amartya Sen is not Indian. He had lost his Indian-ness after he left his Bengali ex-wife and married two foreign females. He has lived abroad and only visits the country for a couple of months, which cannot make you Indian."

"It has a very small life span. It is a party led by people committed to naxal ideology. They are not improving the society, but rather disrupting it."

"If Bangladesh does not agree to take back its people, then the country should compensate by giving land to India."

"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."

"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."

"A mosque is not a religious place. It is just a building. It can be demolished any time. If anyone disagrees with me on this, I am ready to have a debate on the issue. I got this information from people of Saudi Arabia."

"We Hindus offer Lord Krishna's package to Muslims--give us 3 temples and keep 39,997 masjids. I hope Muslim leaders don't become Duryodhans."

"There is only one way to purify JNU. Shut down the university for four months, question every student, especially those pursuing courses in political science and sociology who are extending their stay by several years while insulting the nation."

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

"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."

"Operation Bluestar was a mischievous blunder and it should not have been done."

"The main problem is his (Narendra Modi) extraordinarily unhealthy centralization of decision making. And the utter disregard that party president (Amit Shah) has for the workers."