Activists From India

"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."

"He actively participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942, resulting in a two-year detention. In 1946, when the transfer of power from the British to Indian hands looked imminent, he was sent by the Government of India on a panel of lawyers to Malaya and Singapore to defend Indian nationals facing charges of collaboration during the Japanese occupation of those two places."

"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."

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

"During Indira Gandhi’s second innings in particular, he became part of the core decision-making process, and was a member of the powerful Parliamentary Board at a time when the Congress had a powerful political and electoral presence all over the country."

"Worthy successor to Dr. Radhakrishnan though Radhakrishnan was a towering scholar while he started out as a labour lawyer, both had the common traits of dignity and fairplay."

"He was perhaps the last of the great public servants who came out of the Congress stable in the old Madras Presidency and who distinguished themselves at the national level. He was in league with stalwarts like C. Rajagopalachari, T.T. Krishnamachari, Kamraj and C. Subramanium."

"His active participation in the trade union activities at the grass root level was the foundation stone and the first staircase of his successful career up to the Rashtrapathi of the Rashtra (nation). Like his predecessors, in his early age, he who at the beginning reached the position of a trade union leader, courted imprisonment during the Quit India Movement with many other dedicated sons of the soil. He started his career in the Congress as an ordinary worker, and later, as an office bearer before entering Parliament. He in fact climbed all the ladders step by step before he reached the highest position."

"The developing world to which we belong, above all, needs peace, because it is engaged in a historic task – the task of rectifying the imbalances created by colonialism; the task of clearing the debris of departing empires. It is, therefore, necessary to work towards a world order that is democratic and truly multilateral and based upon equity and justice."

"He was a versatile personality, a grass root worker, a labour leader, an able lawyer, and above all a good parliamentarian. His active and outstanding participation in Parliamentary proceedings therefore, attracted the attention of the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The net result of this was that Nehru assigned him the coveted job representing India as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly."

"During his Rashtrapati Bhavan days between 1987 and 1992 that he presided over the change from the one-party era to coalitions, having to work with four Prime Ministers — Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, Chandrashekhar and P. V. Narasimha Rao."

"If he showed it was good to be intelligent, he also showed it was intelligent to be good."

"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."

"The vocabulary of growth must be held in position by the grammar of financial discipline and the punctuations of a social ideology."

"Violence and terrorism has no place in any civilized society much less in India which is home of ahimsa. The perpetration of violent acts, especially on innocent victims, therefore, causes the greatest sorrow to us. But wisdom lies: in refusing to let the acts of a few provoke us into any form of rancor or ill will between communities or regions. The people of India have a deep faith in a peaceful, democratic order. This faith of our people must be zealously protected and strengthened."

"Remember, under this Flag National Flag of India, there is no prince and there is no peasant, there is no rich no poor. There is no privilege; there is only duty and responsibility and sacrifice. Whether we be Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs or Zoroastrians and others, our Mother India has one undivided heart and on indivisible spirit. Men and women of reborn India, rise and salute this Flag!"

"Unfortunately, people in office develop a rigidity or a false sense of prestige that the Government should not yield to pressure. I was no exception to it during my earlier career in charge of vital departments. Wisdom dawns when it is too late or the situation is beyond redemption."

"I, however, saw substance in the plea that the defeated ruling party should not be asked to form the Ministry as it had forfeited the mandate of the people. But I also saw the danger of vesting discretion without objective criteria in the President. While the monarchy in Britain is hereditary and unconnected with parties, the President of India is elected by the majority party and his actions could be partisan or liable to be questioned as partisan. On the other hand, if he followed strictly the criterion of calling the largest party, he would avoid the charge of partisanship. Besides, the President would not be able to play politics by calling a party other than the largest on the basis of his subjective assessment that such a party, in his opinion, was capable of providing a stable government."

"Outside support has always been a danger for the smooth working of the governments. If the President assertively persuades the parties concerned extending outside support to join the government, then such type of most unfortunate situations could have been avoided. If Rajiv Gandhi’s party had joined this government, this crisis would not have occurred."

"Adult franchise is the most powerful instrument devised by man for breaking down social and economic injustice and destroying barriers of caste, creed and religion. It has given the right to the people to choose a government through the democratic process of elections."

"I ruled out any discussions on the subject [on the constitutional issue of raising any issue on the exchange of letters between Prime Minister and the President, in the Parliament], upholding the principle of confidentiality of communication between the President and the Prime Minister …a significant constitutional precedent."

"I had just returned from an official trip to Botswana in my capacity as Vice President of India about one year before President Zail Singh’s term was scheduled to end. That was when I first received a hint from Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi that he intended nominating me as the Congress party’s candidate for the high office of the President of India."

"About the Bofors issue: He (Rajiv Gandhi) said that he was quite ready to get all the details regarding payments to Indian nationals, but then Bofors Company did not want to violate commercial secrecy as it would affect its future deals. I told Rajiv, as Deface Minister I knew that all arms manufacturers were employing agents and remunerating them under different names. Therefore, it would be unrealistic to think that foreign arms dealers did not have agents. But utmost care should be taken to see that they did not influence our decisions."

"Coalition: If the political developments in the country have created a situation like this, then it is for the country to decide whether they should have this Constitution or frame something which will take care of such situations. But as the Constitution stands, we cannot ask the President to do many things. The Constitution as framed is inadequate to deal with situations of the kind that have risen since the framing of the Constitution."

"When we framed the Constitution, we adopted the British model. Therefore, the President acts as the crown. You see, Britain has no written constitution. So, there is nothing unconstitutional there. But in India we have a Constitution and any legislation even by Parliament contrary to the Constitution is void. As the Constitution now exists, the President has to follow the British precedent in many matters. Unfortunately, there is no British precedent in this matter."

"A country is not born as a democracy. It evolved and matures into a democracy. We are only in the infant stages of the democracy."

"I am deeply shocked to learn of the physical assault on you; Thank god you have not been injured. Such are the hazards of waging peace."

"The people of India may be poor, many of them may be illiterate, but few societies in the world can match the Indian people in the confidence and maturity with which they exercise their democratic rights."

"I will have to speak for my candidature versus Justice Krishna Iyer's. That in itself will be unpleasant. But more importantly when the country is plagued by so many divisions, what is the point of a future Rashtrapati, going about dividing the country's Presidential vote...? Let the electoral college decide on the basis of its knowledge of the candidates and a reading of the situation … I will keep quite."

"Anyone and everyone can join politics today. The day's newspapers were on the table in front of him. All he needs to do is to show enough money towards his electability, enough vote-bank numbers on his side, and he gets a ticket."

"In my opinion, the Union Government's decision to impose President's rule in UP is flawed. That some members of the House indulged in violence and unruly behaviour does not warrant the conclusion that the government of the state cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution."

"The House has the power to take action including suspension against those people who are indulging in violence. Again, the House has passed the vote of confidence and the decision of the House cannot be thwarted by the unruly conduct of a few people. The President's returning the proclamation is both constitutionally correct and praiseworthy."

"In a healthy democracy both the ruling party and the opposition have a responsibility to the country and surely the people will judge them in the discharge of that responsibility."

"There are two things to remember. If the President is asked to do something against the Constitution, the mere fact that the Cabinet has reiterated its earlier decision may not be binding on him. If it is an administrative matter, then the reaffirmation of the earlier decision by the Cabinet will, of course, be binding. But no government and no Cabinet can ask the President to do something that is unconstitutional. So, this line of distinction will have to be drawn."

"Three basic postulates for ideal citizen laid down by Srinivasa Shasttri are:1) a sense of public spirit, meaning thereby the desire to sink one’s own personal ends in the larger ends of the community, 2) a practical common sense meaning thereby an ability to cope with and overcome the challenges to individual and collective life that arise from time to time, and 3) an ability to understand and appreciate what constitutes the welfare of the society, that is, what are the different elements that go make up the welfare."

"The welfare of the weaker sections of our society has been entrusted to the nation’s collective care by the founding fathers of our polity. Their advancement must, therefore be regarded by the nation as its privilege."

"Narayana Menon quoted in "Rukmini Devi Arundale, 1904-1986: A Visionary Architect of Indian Culture and the Performing Arts", page=17"

"A full flowering of the arts is only possible when Literature and Art, Philosophy and Science interact with one another. Kalakshetra is among the very few institutions where all such disciplines interact."

"However, Hindu savants worked tirelessly to remove the Christian slurs cast on this art form. Chief among them was Rukmini Devi Arundale (1904–86), who protected and revived this dance by founding the Kalakshetra Academy of Dance and Music in 1936. She made it an acceptable norm for girls (and even boys) from middle-class households to learn Bharata Natyam. Though operated like a modern institution, it functioned as a traditional gurukula , focusing on prayers to the deity Ganapati, vegetarianism, and a guru-shishya relationship. Throughout Tamil Nadu, the guru-shishya form of decentralized, one-on- one learning spread in various ways as part of this revival. Thus far from being dead as intended by missionaries, colonialists and their Indian cronies, Bharata Natyam again became well established as a spiritual art-form in South India, and started to achieve acclaim throughout India and abroad. Kalakshetra grew into a university with a large campus in Chennai... Rukmini Arundale, a guru who rescued the dance form from the era of colonial evangelism, speaks of dance as 'Sadhana which requires total devotion'... She speaks of the Ramayana and Mahabharata as the 'essential expressions of Indian dance'."

"An iconoclastic dancer, visionary institution builder, educationalist, elite woman privileged to travel the world when she was barely 25 years of age and empowered to work for global causes in Europe, Australia, England and America. Also perceived as uncompromising traditionalist, quintessential South Indian Brahmin girl, champion of animal rights, woman parliamentarian, craft revivalist, social reformer, cultural educator, and national icon."

"Why was India a world power? Because Sri Krishna had lived in this country, Sri Rama had lived here and so had Lord Buddha. It was their Teaching that made India a great world power."

"Rukmini of glorious past will be guru Agastya’s messenger to the women and young ones in India taking up for a large part of the work there that I have been carrying on for years. Young in body, yet she is old in wisdom and power. Child of the indomitable will is her welcome in the higher world."

"Some people say, 'I believe in universal religion', but when I ask them whether they know anything about Hinduism, they answer in negative. They know nothing about Christianity, nor about Buddhism or about any other religion either. In other words, universality is, knowing nothing of anything. . . . Real internationalism is truly the emergence of the best in each. . . . But, in India, when I say India, I mean the India of the sages and saints who gave the country its keynote, there arose the ideal of one life, and of the divinity that lives in all creatures; not merely in humanity."

"All the songs we dance to are of Gods and Goddesses. You may ask, why so many Gods and Goddesses? The only reply I can give is, Why not so many Gods and Goddess ?"

"Why does the story of Kumarasambhava please me? It is because of the symbolism. Finally what Parvati wins is not passion but the devotion and sublimation of herself. Parvati wins Siva and she becomes united with Him, because she has discovered the greater, indeed the only way of discovering God. This is very beautiful symbology. Siva burnt to ashes all that is physical. So must a dancer or musician burn to ashes all thought which is dross and bring out the gold which is within."

"She used to visit me and dine with me, I had a very good cook then, and we both loved good food. She had great knowledge of music," reminisces."

"We dance with our bodies, but we finally forget them and transform them."

"Dance was really the art of the temple and that her temple theater was built with that purpose in mind. It has many features of the temple , and we have adopted as much as possible all the ideals enshrined in Natyashastra."

"Women have everything to do with bringing culture into everyday life, with the expression of it, with the helping and influencing of a nation, not only because they are mothers but also because they themselves are an example as individuals. The modern world needs a new force for the revitalizing of its ideals. India’s art has always been unconscious, unconscious of its own beauty, unconscious of others’ admiration, unconscious of the physical though expressed in Form. India is now beginning to be conscious and we do not know how to express ourselves consciously. A great dancer’s art must depend first on the life he or she expresses, secondly upon the beauty of technique and lastly only, upon its arrangement, costume, and presentation....Though form, technique and skill are essential, great Art must have the impetus of genius, and inspiration. Then there is permanency."

"That she learned ballet not with the idea of becoming a full-fledged dancer. It was just to train my body and more for the sheer joy of learning something beautiful."