Punjabi People

"Arun Shourie quotes Govind Singh as declaring: 'Let the path of the pure [khâlsâ panth] prevail all over the world, let the Hindu dharma dawn and all delusion disappear. (...) May I spread dharma and prestige of the Veda in the world and erase from it the sin of cow-slaughter.'"

"Salutation to Him, Who is Primal and Immortal. He hath Created millions of Krishnas like worms. He Created them, annihilated them, again destroyed them, still again Created them. He is Unfathomable, Fearless, Primal, Non-dual and Indestructible. Yonder and Yonder is He, the supreme Lord, He is the Perfect Illuminator. [96]"

"Though Govind Singh is considered as the founder of the Khalsa order (1699) who 'gave his Sikhs an outward form distinct from the Hindus', he too did things which Sikh separatists would dismiss as 'brahminical'. As Khushwant Singh notes, 'Gobind selected five of the most scholarly of his disciples and sent them to Benares to learn Sanskrit and the Hindu religious texts, to be better able to interpret the writings of the gurus, which were full of allusions to Hindu mythology and philosophy.'"

"Guru Govind Singh (...) sought inspiration from the deeds of martial Hindu deities like goddesses Chandi, Sri and Bhagwati."

"He was a versatile scholar who knew several languages, kept the company of learned Brahmins and composed excellent poetry on varied themes. He had been fascinated by the Puranic story of Goddess Durga particularly in her incarnation as Mahisamardini. He performed an elaborate Yajna presided over by pundits of the ancient lore and invoked the Devi for the protection of dharma. The Devi came to him in the shape of the sword which he now asked some of his followers to pick up and ply against bigotry and oppression.... Soon it became a hallowed tradition in many Hindu families, Sikh as well as non-Sikh, to dedicate their eldest sons to the Khalsa which rightly came to be regarded as the sword-arm of Hindu society."

"When all other methods fail, it is proper to hold the sword in hand. [22]"

"Someone is Hindu and someone a Muslim, then someone is Shia, and someone a Sunni, but all the human beings, as a species, are recognized as one and the same. [2|15|85]"

"Arjun’s martyrdom inspired his own son, Hargobind, to arm his comrades, who stood ready to defend their religion with their lives, converting the pacifist faith of Guru Nanak into a militant new order pitted against Mughal tyranny."

"Before that kãfir [Guru Arjun Deva] was executed this recluse [meaning himself] had seen in a dream that the reigning king had smashed the skull of idolatry. Indeed, he was a great idolater, and the leader of the idolaters, and the chief of unbelievers. May Allah blast him! The Holy Prophet who is the ruler of religion as well as the world, has cursed the idolaters as follows in some of his prayers – “O Allah, demean their society, create divisions in their ranks, destroy their homes, and get at them like the mighty one.”"

"'From Hindus and Muslims have I broken free', said Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Sikh guru, in the 1590s. (...) Yet, it is not as straightforward as separatists might wish. No Sikh Guru was ever a Muslim, ergo the half-sentence: 'Of Muslims have I broken free', does not mean that he abandoned Islam. Therefore, the other half need not be construed as a repudiation of Hinduism either. Rather, it may be read as repudiating the whole 'identity' business including the division of mankind into Hindu and Muslim categories, on the Upanishadic ground that the Self is beyond these superficial trappings (the Self being neti neti, ?not this, not that?)-but that is a typically Hindu and decidedly un-Islamic position. To the Quran, group identity (being a member of the Muslim ummah or not) is everything, is laden with far-reaching consequences including an eternity in heaven or in hell. To Hindu society, it is also undeniably important; but to Hindu spirituality, it is not. Likewise, another verse of the same poem, 'I will not pray to idols nor say the Muslim prayer', is more anti-Islamic than anti-Hindu: it rejects a duty binding every single Muslim (prayer) and a practice common among Hindus (idol-worship) but by no means obligatory."

"These days the accursed infidel of Gobindwal was very fortunately killed. It is a cause of great defeat for the reprobate Hindus. With whatever intention and purpose they are killed – the humiliation of infidels is for Muslims, life itself. Before this Kafir (Infidel) was killed, I had seen in a dream that the Emperor of the day had destroyed the crown of the head of Shirk or infidelity. It is true that this infidel [Guru Arjun] was the chief of the infidels and a leader of the Kafirs. The object of levying Jizya (tax on non-Muslims) on them is to humiliate and insult the Kafirs, and Jihad against them and hostility towards them are the necessities of the Mohammedan faith."

"In the very first year of his reign, he [Jahangir] tortured Guru Arjun Dev to death. His contempt for Hindus comes out clearly in his Tuzuk-i-Jahãngîrî: “A Hindu named Arjun lived in Govindwal on the bank of river Beas in the garb of a saint and in ostentation. From all sides cowboys and idiots became his fast followers. The business had flourished for three or four generations. For a long time it had been in my mind to put a stop to this dukãn-e-bãtil (mart of falsehood) or to bring him into the fold of Islam.” According to other accounts, he asked the Guru to include some sûrahs of the Quran in the Ãdi Grantha, which the Guru refused to do. In the eighth year of his reign, he destroyed the temple of Bhagwat at Ajmer. He persecuted the Jains in Gujarat, and ordered that Jain monks should not be seen in his kingdom on pain of death. Finally, he sent Murtaza Khan to Kangra for reducing that city of temples. The siege lasted for 20 months at the end of which he himself went to Kangra for slaughtering cows in that sacred place of Hindus, and building a mosque where none had existed before."

"There was a Hindu named Arjan in Gobindwal on the banks of the Beas River. Pretending to be a spiritual guide, he had won over as devotees many simple-minded Indians and even some ignorant, stupid Muslims by broadcasting his claims to be a saint. They called him guru. Many fools from all around had recourse to him and believed in him implicitly. For three or four generations they had been peddling this same stuff. For a long time I had been thinking that either this false trade should be eliminated or that he should be brought into the embrace of Islam. At length, when Khusraw passed by there, this inconsequential little fellow wished to pay homage to Khusraw. When Khusraw stopped at his residence, [Arjan] came out and had an interview with [Khusraw]. Giving him some elementary spiritual precepts picked up here and there, he made a mark with saffron on his forehead, which is called qashqa in the idiom of the Hindus and which they consider lucky. When this was reported to me, I realized how perfectly false he was and ordered him brought to me. I awarded his houses and dwellings and those of his children to Murtaza Khan, and I ordered his possessions and goods confiscated and him executed."

"After Guru Arjun Deva had been tortured and done to death by Jahangir, he [Ahmad Sirhindi] wrote in letter No. 193 that “the execution of the accursed kafir of Gobindwal is an important achievement and is the cause of the great defeat of the Hindus.”"

"The Mughal rulers of the Punjab were evidently concerned with the growth of the Panth, and in 1605 the Emperor Jahangir made an entry in his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahāṅgīrī, concerning Guru Arjan's support for his rebellious son Khusrau Mirza. Too many people, he wrote, were being persuaded by his teachings, and if the Guru would not become a Muslim the Panth had to be extinguished. Jahangir believed that Guru Arjan was a Hindu who pretended to be a saint, and that he had been thinking of forcing Guru Arjan to convert to Islam or his false trade should be eliminated, for a long time. Mughal authorities seem plainly to have been responsible for Arjan's death in custody in Lahore, and this may be accepted as an established fact. Whether death was by execution, the result of torture, or drowning in the Ravi River remains unresolved. For Sikhs, Arjan is the first martyr Guru."

"One of the issues that I discussed with (Sri Lankan Foreign) Minister (Mangala) Samaraweera was the importance of information technology for the development of both our countries [referring to India and Sri Lanka], and to take advantage of the opportunities that the new digital world offers"

"The ‘Digital India’ initiative is one of the key measures to make government transparent, responsive and citizen friendly. The objective is to create a digitally empowered society and infuse technology into government, healthcare and education. From creating infrastructure to services, from manufacture of products to human resource development, from enabling citizens to promoting digital literacy, ‘Digital India’ aims to impact all aspects of life in India."

"The President recalled the very warm ties that exist between the two countries build on civilisational links of thousands of years. We felt that there are enormous opportunities of cooperation between the two countries in the field of information and digital technologies"

"When I look at Virat, I think he needs someone in the support staff who can constructively challenge him and help him grow. I think if he had a really constructive person in his environment, who could talk to him, make him think, maybe even challenge him with some different ideas, in a constructive way, not an angry or aggressive way, but make him think, open his eyes to other possibilities, that would make him a really good leader. I don't know, when I look at him, if he is a long-term captaincy option for India."

"As captain, I think, he is still not at his best. The Indian cricket system has to feed off Virat Kohli. Going from MS Dhoni to Kohli has been a drastic change. Dhoni is so calm and Kohli is the complete opposite. He can be intimidating the dressing room and sometimes his teammates can wonder who Kohli really is. There can be a fear factor in the dressing room and you don't want that with so many youngsters coming into the side. Indian cricket, thus, has to find people who can help and influence Kohli into ways of improving and becoming an even better leader."

"When he (Virat Kohli) fielded, he said something to me, and I said to myself, 'I'm going to show you you're not the only good batsman.' That's the way he is. He's very arrogant, he's very aggressive when he fields, and when he bats as well. He's just a very aggressive person. Those things motivate our players and it certainly motivated me. That really urged me to bat the way I did - to show him that he's not the only one who can do it. That played a big role."

"“It's a joy to watch Virat Kohli bat. He can break my records”."

"He has a lot of ability. The team depends on him. He is a star. He is going to emerge as an all-time great in the future. I see that much potential in him. It is very difficult to spot his weakness. He plays on both sides of the wicket. He plays both on the front and the back foot. He has a good temperament, technique."

"He is a man who is in control of his batting and he knows exactly what he is trying to do. He knows how to do it and for a guy who has got a fiery temperament in a lot of ways, you seem to be getting involved in shouting matches on the field, it is the fiery temperament, but he seems able to keep it under control in tense situations like that where he is chasing down the target. He seems to have himself totally under control whereas other times I have seen him where he looks out of control, but never with the bat in his hand"

"I think that the Virat Kohli era has dawned over the last year or so. It's been there ever since he took over the Test captaincy and because he is now going to create a completely different niche as far as Indian cricket is concerned. I think this era of India cricket is going to be a highly entertaining era."

"Yeah, absolutely because I said on-air that he'll [Kohli] become the next Sachin Tendulkar of Indian team because when I was growing up I watched Tendulkar. Similarly Tendulkar watched Sunil Gavaskar."

"I would love to do that. They (Kohli and Root) have been playing brilliantly. I love both. Outstanding cricketers and they have been fantastic for a long period of time. Watching these two bat and perform in the way they have been performing, you can learn a lot."

"When he sees a bowler not say things, he will get bored. He needs action in the middle to be at his best. When he doesn’t get it, he will find it boring and that’s when he can make a mistake. With players like him you need to be smart and not do the things that you will do with other batters. So when you bowl to him try and stay silent and make him feel bored. That’s your best chance of getting him out,"

"Sachin Tendulkar was obviously one of those rare players that the world has seen. If Virat continues to work hard and do the things that he has been doing now in the years to come, then he could be the next Sachin Tendulkar. It will be a proud moment for me if that happens because we were backing a young Kohli since his early days. It is so good to see him flourish and express himself and I am happy for him. Hats off!"

"Virat Kohli is becoming like a wall in the Indian team. Earlier, it used to be Sachin Tendulkar who won matches for India and now it is Kohli who is playing that role."

"The bat is not a toy, it's a weapon. It gives me everything in life, which helps me to do everything on the field."

"Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It is time we carried him on our shoulders."

"I just want to congratulate Kumar again on a wonderful career. I have spoken a lot about him, everyone has, in the last week, but I can't help saying it again that it has been an absolute pleasure playing with you."

"If I'm playing the peacemaker, you can imagine what was going on out there."

"The people you choose to have around you make all the difference. My family and close friends keep me grounded. You have to have a mind of your own and a strong head on your shoulders. Cricket is the most important thing to me, so the rest of it pales in comparison."

"I would like to thank the crowd, it was unbelievable, the support helps you push through those tough times. You need challenges in every game, they improve you as a cricketers...I don't know what to say, I am overwhelmed by,"

"We have named Smriti Irani as Cylinder Cindrella as when the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led UPA government was in power at that Smriti Irani used to hold protest demonstrations by carrying LPG cylinder on slight increase in LPG but now she seems to be ignorant about the LPG price and is maintaining a silence."

"Which gay man, without a uterus, has a menstrual cycle?"

"Now trust me, I have left my house at Delhi in the morning at 4 today, I caught a flight at 5 to go to Kochi, I did a conclave there, caught a flight at 5 to come to this programme, by the time I get to anything called food, it will be 10’ O Clock. If you’ve called me at any time of the day today from Gallup and asked, ‘Are you hungry’, I’ll say, Oh yes, I am."

"Smriti Irani's comment on Rahul Gandhi that 'ghar par ladka hai par lad nahin sakta' (There is a boy at home who cannot fight) is wrong. Being a woman, such a statement is incorrect. Instead, she should encourage women by saying that they should fight for themselves."

"Being a brand ambassador for such a noble cause is a matter of pride for me. I get to preach what I practice."

"It was decided at the BJP National Council that Mahila Morcha wing of the party will protest against this anti-women policy of Congress-led UPA. Hence, on October 12, the anniversary of our leader Vijayaraje Scindia, Mahila Morcha will organise protests all over the country."

"How could you embarrass an embarrassment? It’s an oxymoron... If you stand in the capital of India and say you support “Bharat ke tukde honge” (India will be broken into pieces), I don’t have an iota of respect for such individuals."

"What I do in my personal life doesn't come under responsibility of media. I appreciate your efforts to keep me in the headlines."

"In that kitty of mine where people call me anpadh (illiterate), I do have a degree from Yale University as well, which I can bring out and show how Yale celebrated my leadership capacities."

"The man who broke the Bank of England and is designated by the nation an economic war criminal has now pronounced his desire to break Indian democracy. George Soros, an international entrepreneur has declared his ill-intention to intervene in democratic processes of India... [Smriti Irani called upon citizens to] denounce the intention of this individual who seeks to demonise our democracy and who brings an onslaught to the economy of India so that he can personally gain... Those who Mr Soros finds pliable need to know India has defeated imperialistic design before and shall do again. Democracy has prevailed in India and will continue to do so. Designs to weaken Indian democracy will be met with might of India under leadership of PM Modi."

"I am not an astrologer, but I can assure you that the BJP will form the government. If not, do you think Congress leaders who have been humiliating Hindu Gods would prostrate before them now?"

"A failed dynast today chose to speak about his failed political journeys in US. Rahul Gandhi belittled his political opponents in America. It is not surprising that a dynast has absolutely no support. The fact that Rahul Gandhi chose to belittle the Prime Minister is not surprising rather it was expected. After not getting any support within the country, Rahul Gandhi is expressing his pain in foreign land."

"If the BSP leader is not satisfied, I am ready to behead myself and lay my head at your feet."

"I read it because I was asked to explain what the truth is. I said it with a lot of pain. I myself am a practicing Hindu, I myself am a Durga worshiper. These are authenticated documents from the university itself."