Narendra Modi

"See, you asked the wrong question. What is good or bad is not my issue. If you pick up things from every nook and cranny and demand answers from me, then aise kaam kaise chalega [how will we manage]. Whatever my party’s official stand is, I reflect only that."

"My work never ends. I am a workaholic. Other than sleeping and eating, I spend all my time working for the people. Even today, I have just come from the airport, the whole day I was in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. I held three meetings but when I left Jalgaon I found out that there is a huge storm. So started to check from there itself, what the condition is, if there were any casualties, if there had been any loss. This I why also got late in reaching here. So you see, I cannot sit still. To me I am a worshipper and the people are my god."

"Swami Apasthanand is still there, he is very old now, but I had gone to see him and stayed with him for quite some time. But it is a different world, why get into it here."

"The country does not function with sharpness, it functions according to the constitution, and it will continue to function according to constitutional integrity. Sharpness is for elections only, not for running the country."

"I just don’t get the time [to watch films], earlier I used to watch. Once I saw Paa on its launching with Amitabhji, and once with Anupamji I saw A Wednesday!. These two films in the past 10 years, and a film [that was] made on Swami Vivekanand on his 150[th birth] anniversary, that I saw because I also worked to make it successful. [...] It was good. It is good for giving a message to the young generation, on an international level too. I liked that they did not show any miracles but kept it simple, the story of a social worker."

"Participation of all, for the development of all."

"From the time, I have been in politics, your love has kept me going. All Guj[a]ratis have all right on me, but you have now shared that right with the people of India."

"I will never let down the faith you have shown in the BJP, the words of our workers and me. The rivals were busy mudslinging but the people of India have said that the answer to their problems is vaikaas [development]."

"Todne ki rajneeti ka yug samapt ho chuka hai, aaj se jodne ki rajneeti ka yug shuru. [The era of divisive politics is over, it is all about getting people together now.]"

"Those who criticised me didn't know Modi is such a magician who also made them speak on important agendas. But all these discussions also told the country that only development can save the country. Even if they spoke about Gujarat negatively, they still spoke about development. There is only one medicine to all problems—development."

"Salutations to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the 2001 Parliament attack. Their bravery will never be forgotten."

"They can call me 'Neech'- Yes, I am from the poor section of society and will spend every moment of my life to work for the poor, Dalits, Tribals and OBC communities. They can keep their language, we will do our work."

"In 2014, one of the key agendas of the BJP’s election campaign was highlighting the dismal management of the Indian economy, ironically under an ‘economist’ prime minister and a ‘know-it-all’ finance minister. We all knew that the economy was in the doldrums but since we were not in government, we naturally did not have the complete details of the state of the economy. But, what we saw when we formed the government left us shocked! The state of the economy was much worse than expected. Things were terrible. Even the budget figures were suspicious. When all of this came to light, we had two options – to be driven by rājnīti (political considerations) or be guided by raṣṭranīti (putting the interests of India First)... rājnīti, or playing politics on the state of the economy in 2014, would have been extremely simple as well as politically advantageous for us. We had just won a historic election, so obviously the frenzy was at a different level. The Congress Party and their allies were in big trouble. Even for the media, it would have made news for months on end. On the other hand, there was raṣṭranīti, where more than politics and one-upmanship, reform was needed. Needless to say, we preferred to think of ‘India First’ instead of putting politics first. We did not want to push the issues under the carpet, but we were more interested in addressing the issue. We focused on reforming, strengthening and transforming the Indian economy. The details about the decay in the Indian economy were unbelievable. It had the potential to cause a crisis all over. In 2014, industry was leaving India. India was in the Fragile Five. Experts believed that the ‘I’ in BRICS would collapse. Public sentiment was that of disappointment and pessimism."

"If there is a loss to the country due to my mistake, please criticize me which you must… punish me… but just to oppose me or any other political rival, one shouldn’t forget national interest. This much intolerance is not good."

"How Galileo was nearly killed for opposing a belief but in India, when Charvak, an atheist, challenged the Vedas with logic and rejected the idea of reincarnation, he was given the title of ‘rishi’. Indian thought isn’t about tolerance, it’s about acceptance."

"Usually I get up at 5, it’s a habit I have had since I was in the RSS. I don’t need much sleep, three hours is enough for me. My friends and my doctors complain that it is too less, but it is sufficient for me. You can see, I have worked all day but even now I am sitting here easily talking to you."

"I have the ability to pick stones thrown at me to build a staircase to climb up."

"It is not necessary that all the time there will be so much anger against the government. But the process educates people — the process of political awareness building is a constant one and must continue. If you look at Mahatma Gandhi’s life then you will find that each agitation led to increased awareness in a new area.’"

"I did not become the Chief Minister of [Gujarat] on 7th October 2001. I have always been a 'C.M.', I am a C.M. today and will remain a C.M. tomorrow because by 'C.M.' I mean common man or Aam Aadmi."

"It is our endeavour to remove all kinds of divides—those between the high and low, touchables and untouchables—as well as other aspects of discrimination which have filled people’s hearts with conflicts and divided the entire humanity into fragments...Rishi Valmiki taught us that in order to make progress in society, you have to take along Shabari with you; if you want your society to progress, you have to ensure that even vanars stand by you. If you want to move ahead, you have to embrace Kevat. ...We have come together at this place to express our commitment to follow his message."

"I am familiar with the traditions of this institution... If we examine the millennia-old gurukūl tradition, we will find that most of those who became immortal [through their great actions] in history received their saṁskārs from the gurukūl system. This tradition had so much samarthya (capability) because it did not just provide book knowledge, livelihood skills or merely train people to acquire degrees. This tradition taught human beings to become humane. This institution cultivates in men the capability to rise from being mere men to becoming divine (nar sē nārāyaṇ). This institution has cultivated an atmosphere that inculcates the saṁskār of rising above ahaṁ (self-hood) towards vyaṁ (ourness), whereby people are transformed from being self-centred to being inherently society oriented, and inclucate saṁskārs (values) of collectivity to widen people’s perspective towards life. This great tradition teaches students to honour their gurus; it cultivates śraddha towards saṁskriti (culture) and the desire to dedicate one’s life to doing good, whereby there is constant inspiration to sacrifice all one has for achieving excellence. This institution carries out a nirantar yajña (never ending devoting) for crafting such a lifestyle.... We need a new movement in our land to promote collective thinking, whereby the best aspects of the two civilizations can be deployed for the benefit of humanity. We need a new thought movement in our land to give our society a new direction."

"Due to 1000 years of slavery, we have developed a mindset that we are inferior. Those who ruled over us have consistently carried out ideological assaults to remind us that we are useless as people—that we have nothing worthwhile of our own. This sense of inferiority and guilt has poisoned the social atmosphere and eroded our strengths. It is very important that we recreate a sense of self-confidence in our country. This sea of humanity has been living under the weight of guilt due to 1000 years of slavery amidst an environment of negativity. It lacks sufficient awareness of its own goodness. I have come to pray to the sants (saints) that their blessings may generate the creative energy that enables the 5 crore Gujaratis and 100 crore fellow Indians to acquire so much self confidence that our society is rid of negativity and guilt..."

"We need to create awareness that this country of 100 crores, immersed in the quagmire of pessimism and weighed down by guilt, is actually a very worthy society. It has the ability to offer a lot of excellence to the world. This land has the potential to do good to the entire world. Our ancestors had this faith. How do we re-create that faith again? What kind of educational institutions should we create? What kind of curriculum and syllabus should we follow? How does our entire education system bring about such awareness in the social environment that inculcates nacikēta bhāv (lack of attachment to material gain and inclination towards spiritual development) among our people to help develop the ‘we can do it’, ‘we will do it’ spirit and self-confidence in our own society? This is a matter of grave concern today. I feel that after independence, our society became rudderless. We could win freedom because at that time people felt that even if they have to sacrifice their all, they would not rest until they succeeded in winning independence for India. But after independence, our leaders could not provide us a direction nor explained why we fought for freedom. As a result, the sense of duty towards society began to get eroded. The sense of ‘rights’ became strong while the sense of duty began to disappear."

"This ‘sense of rights’ (adhikār bhāv) is making us indifferent towards ‘sense of duty’ (kartavya bhāv). Any society where the sense of duty is destroyed and the sense of rights alone triumphs hurtles towards a dark future. Who is going to take on the role of social reconstruction? It is not possible for politicians to undertake this task. The sants of our raṣṭra (nation), the gurukūl tradition of our raṣṭra, the acharyas of our raṣṭra have to nurture a new generation, which combines self-confidence with a sense of duty. If we cultivate these two qualities, the strength emanating from them will shape the future history of our society...."

"It is my tamannā (deep desire) to do something for our society; I am inspired by the desire to live and die for my country; ...I want the glory of Gujarat to reach the whole world. ...I’ve used the mantra of lokprem (love for people) through Lok Kalyan Melas organised by the government to make the administrative machinery an instrument of lokseva (service of the people). ... To the baseless propaganda of the Congress, I have only this to say: Oh lord! Please give wisdom to those indulging in evil propaganda and give strength to those who live by good and good pure thoughts."

"I've not come to defeat or to put down anyone... I've come to win the hearts of the people of ."

"I am not the ruler of Gujarat, I'm a servant of Gujarat. The environment in which I grew up, seva is treated as a dharma, not power."

"Please ask Congressmen whether their candidates are in favour of running illegal butcher houses? Do they want to protect the hapless animals or the butchers?"

"I have allowed the media to behave as it wants. [...] I am not worried. The truth will certainly be known."

"As far as the BJP is concerned, our belief has been the same for years. Justice to all, appeasement of none. We cannot support divisive politics. We strongly believe in President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam when he says we need 'unity of minds'. People who played the politics of appeasement have ruined the country, not us. Blame them."

"I have always criticised violence in my speeches but the way the trouble in just two per cent of the area is blown up and used against us should be countered. Arundhati Roy paints Gujaratis as rapists and then goes scot-free by apologising. Isn't it an insult to Gujarat?"

"In Gujarat, the poison of casteism was injected in the name of the KHAM Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis[,] and Muslims] theory. Gujaratis rejected it and turned towards the unity of society. Casteist forces have been rejected in Gujarat, the people's mood is anti-casteist."

"In this country we do have a justice system. In this country you buy an argument when someone claims that just because a few kārsēvaks didn’t pay the money for the tea they bought, it led to the torching of the # S6 compartment. This is possible and you consider it valid. But when the police investigates the case and puts forward the case, you consider it invalid. Don't you have a biased mind? All over the world you circulate the e-mail narrating a fictitious event which claims a girl was abducted on the platform, she was raped and that lead to the torching of S6. You can show that within just three minutes all this is possible. For people like you the question should be: Whom do you trust?"

"For any humanist such an incident would cause indescribable grief. But at the same time creating disturbances (aśānti)[,] indiscipline[,] and expressing outrage (akroś) is not the solution."

"Won’t you help the [g]overnment in saving Gujarat? Won’t you help us in maintaining peace and harmony? The Government of Gujarat appeals to you for help, appeals to you for śānti (peace) and saṁyam (restraint [or] self-discipline)."

"Let us serve Gujarat by maintaining śānti and saṁyam. Let us strengthen the arms of law."

"I understand your anger and outrage, I understand your pain. And yet in the self-interest of Gujarat, and to ensure that we don’t jeopardize the future of Gujarat, that Gujarat doesn’t get a blot on its face [or] carry a stigma connected with these times all the 5 crore Gujaratis need to keep calm and exercise self-restraint."

"It is my request to you, tit for tat is not a solution. Ver ver thi shamtu nathi[.] [Hatred is never won over by hatred.]"

"Jai jaigarvi Gujarat mantra jeevant karne ke liye hame shanti ka marg hi chahiye. [In order to give life to the mantra of Jai Garvi Gujarat, we need to follow the path of peace.]"

"I want to assure the people that Gujarat shall not tolerate any such accident. The s will get full punishment for their sins. Not only this, we will set an example, that nobody not even in his dream, thinks of committing a heinous crime like this."

"You all wanted that someone be made a scapegoat. I did not do that. I allowed you to break all pots on my head alone. You have all decided-all these riots happened under this man (Narendra Modi). Until this man is removed from the chief minister’s post, we will not rest in peace. My best wishes to you in your mission."

"After the Godhra incident and the subsequent riots, Shastriji was head of the Gujarat VHP. He was a firm advocate of Gujarat's welfare. In a newspaper interview he said TV channels and national newspapers had spoiled Gujarat's image after the riots. By not speaking of the Godhra incident but only of the riots that followed, they had damaged Gujarat before the world. These channels would be damaging to Indian culture, he said. With a great deal of courage, Shastriji had rallied the Hindus."

"Hindus were tolerant, he said, and would remain so. But tolerance didn't mean they wouldn't defend themselves. Looking at the terrorism that had been encouraged to spread in the last few years, Hindus would have to be aware of their need for self-defence. Else the coming days would be dangerous for them."

"Shastriji had digested the message of the Gita. Some of us have memorised it in full and spout couplets from it at will. But I learnt of what it meant for someone to have actually digested it from Shastriji."

"I am busy with my work. I am committed to Gujarat and I am dedicated to Gujarat. I never talk about my image, never spent a single minute for my image and confusions may be there[.]"

"The friendship should continue. You came here. I am happy and thankful to you. These are your ideas, you go on expressing these. I can't do this interview. Three–four questions I have already enjoyed. No more please[.]"

"Enemies of the nation have today stained with blood the soil of Mahatma Gandhi's Gujarat. Terrorists have continued their war against India."

"Killing innocent people is not only a crime but is a form of enmity with the humanity. All those who believe in the humanity should prepare themselves for a long war while maintaining peace."

"He said that, uh, there is an allegation that you have won elections on a communal card. I said, there are so many media persons here, they are not noting, but now they've started. You see, this is the tragedy of the country. Because when I was talking about development, they were not ready to note even! Now do you understand why I love Cho?"

"I gave a reply: that my election speeches are available with the election commission. My statements are available in the newspapers. If you will find out a single statement that you can brand as communal, I will declare myself defeated. No one dared to come forward."