Politicians From India

"Rahul Gandhi has no right to use the Gandhi surname. He has reached the level of a fourth-class citizen. Can such a person be born in the Nehru family? I have doubts about it. His DNA should be examined."

"Feroze was furious, to say the least. He fought her with all means, through the press, via other politicians and face-to-face with her over the breakfast table at Teen Murti. According to Janardan Thakur, well-known political correspondent: ‘It was her husband who perhaps first called her a “fascist”, way back in 1959 when she was Congress President, Indira Gandhi had been lobbying hard for intervention in Kerala and Feroze had taken a stand against it. He thought it was undemocratic to dismiss an elected government, whether it was a communist government or otherwise. The issue had come up at breakfast table at Teen Murti, and there had been quite a row between Indira and Feroze, with Nehru looking on very distressed. “It is just not right,” Feroze had said, “you are bullying people. You are a fascist.” Indira Gandhi had flared up. “You are calling me a fascist. I can’t take that.” And she had walked out of the room in rage.’"

"While the raiders came to our land, massacred thousands of people -- mostly Hindus and Sikhs, but Muslims too -- abducted thousands of girls, Hindu, Sikhs and Muslims alike, looted our property and almost reached the gates of our summer capital, Srinagar, the result was that the civil, military and police administration failed. The Maharaja, in the dead of the night, left the capital along with his courtiers, and the result was absolute panic. There was no one to take over control. In that hour of crisis, the National Conference came forward with 10,000 volunteers and took over the administration of the country. They started guarding the banks, the offices and houses of every person in the capital. This is the manner in which the administration changed hands. We were de facto in charge of the administration. The Maharaja, later on, gave it a legal form.... (...)I had thought all along that the world had got rid of Hitlers and Goebbels, but, from what has happened and what is happening in my poor country, I am convinced that they have only transmigrated their souls into Pakistan..."

"After the ceremony, Nehru and other Congress leaders addressed a mass meeting on the river bank. As the meeting ended, Ran Ahmed Kidwai whispered to me: "Jawaharlal has performed the last rites not only of Gandhi but of Gandhiism as well. Now that the master has gone, there will be no one to discipline the crowd. The High Command is dead.""

"“ He does not struggle against compromise ; he seeks to canalise the anti-compromise feeling towards himself. Instead of fighting against compromise he is only waiting to take advantage of it. On the basis of neo-Swarajyism, Bose cannot create a breach between the bourgeoisie and the existing bourgeois leadership, nor can he win the abiding loyalty of the masses. He can only shoot a racket and see it going up, in smoke. ”"

"“ One can tear off the hair of one’s head looking for some scientific system in Bose’s politics. He is happy without it. Gandhi relies on his ‘inner’ voice—Bose goes by intuition. We get behind Messiahs who are prepared to lead provided we follow them in their blindness. Such is the debacle to which bourgeois leadership, whether Right or Left, is reduced."

"All open-eyed and serious people saw the change but there were two groups in our country who did not—the Congress Socialists and the Forward Blocists (p. 40). We took time to discuss the new world situation. The result of our discussion and collective opinion was embodied in a resolution of the Politbureau of our Party and a booklet by P.C. Joshi, Forward to Freedom. We came to the conclusion that it was an entirely new situation, demanding a new Policy, new strategy. We said: ‘We are a practical party and in a new situation it is our task not only to evolve a new form of struggle for it, but also to advance new slogans appropriate to the new stage, suiting the new form of our national movement. The key slogan of our Party which guides all our practical political activity is : ‘Make the Indian people play a people’s role in a People’s War.’ The second feature in the new situation was the entry of a new Power in the war, a power of a new type, a People’s Power, the Soviet union. We saw the new prospect for humanity that opened through the Soviet entry into the war (Pp. 44-45)."

"“ Rapidly marching events left no choice for Bengal Congress. In December we communists broke with the Forward Bloc. Bose wanted to give a call for national struggle for Swaraj and was against an immediate struggle for civil liberties and against a call for satyagraha for Swaraj either through the Forward Bloc or the Left. Bengal Congress under Left leadership had stomached more imperialist terror than the Congress had ever done under Right leadership. What was such Leftism worth ? Was it Leftism? Was it not just using Left slogans to escape struggle ?"

"“ There were two ways of fighting the offensive from the Right—the bourgeois and the proletarian. The bourgeois way meant making constitutional arguments against the unconstitutional acts of the Working Committee. The bourgeois leadership could not be fought in the bourgeois way. The proletarian alternative was not a constitutional but a Political alternative ; it was based not on demonstrating a lawyers’ skill but initiating a people’s struggle. To adopt the bourgeois way meant creating Left disruption against Right disruption, not avoiding a split but creating a split and rendering a struggle itself more difficult thereby."

"With the outbreak of the war, the world seems to have turned upside down, slogans changed sides, friends became foes and so on. Ours is a colonial slave country. The fundamental contradiction is between imperialism on the one hand and the entire nation on the other. The very outbreak of the war deepens this antagonism. National struggle becomes a practical proposal. But it is an explosive struggle with gloves off. The division between the Indian people becomes between those that stand for struggle and those that don’t. We do not have a national struggle because the bourgeoise is at the top of the national movement. The obvious course would be to free the national front from the influence of bourgeois reformism and develop the political strength of the proletariat within the common front so as to develop the forces of struggle in a manner so as to make a national struggle inevitable and overw’helm and isolate the cowardly bourgeoisie. ”"

"“ Left nationalism, organised under the Forward Bloc, was born as an independent political force five months before the war. Five months of rapidly marching events after the outbreak have turned it into its very opposite and left it neither as genuine leftism nor good nationalism. It acts not as a progressive but as a retrogressive force. Its words are Left, its practice is anti-struggle, anti-unity, its aim remains settlement with imperialism."

"“ For a national struggle, Bose wants another Congress. In the name of struggle he disrupts the very organ of struggle and thereby renders struggle itself impossible. He only scatters to winds the achievements of the past struggles—the national unity they created and which is today embodied in the Congress. To raise the slogan of another Congress is not to be pro-struggle but just a disruptor, pure and simple. The slogan of another Congress is not only a cover for an anti-struggle policy, is not only disruptive of national unity but is an alternative road to compromise."

"“ After the appointment of the Ad Hoc Committee the B.P.C.C. had to choose its course of action finally. The Forward Bloc sought an agreement with us. We agreed to defy the Ad Hoc Committee provided the existing B.P.C.C. launched a struggle for Civil Liberties beginning from 26 th January—Independence Day. No preparations for struggle were made. The Central Council of Action was hardly functioning."

"“ What would we say of a Congress leadership that attacks the Working Committee for being anti-struggle and does not itself launch a struggle ? Is it actual struggle or a paper resolution that related an immediate struggle to the ultimate struggle? To refuse to launch an immediate struggle when it would have brought the ultimate struggle itself nearer is to refuse to be serious about any struggle at all. Promise of struggle in the future and immediate disruption. Bourgeois politics produces the same result—whether it works its way from the Right or the Left."

"“ We would whole-heartedly participate in any call for satyagraha given by the Congress. We would oppose, if it ever gave, the Forward Bloc call of satyagraha for Swaraj because it would be qualitatively a different thing. Workers, peasants, students have already adopted the proletarian technique of struggle—mass action. They have already come under the influence of Socialism. The effort of the Forward Bloc to win over these movements for its satyagraha or political policy has to be resisted as the infiltration of bourgeois influence over the masses. Before the working class, Kisan and student workers, the Forward Bloc has to be opposed not as being too Left but as being the disruptive agency of the bourgeoisie. In fact the Forward Bloc exactly does what the Right wants done—remove their fear of the growing unity of the working class and kisan movements with the Congress."

"Hitler’s aggression against the USSR immediately upset the balance of forces in the Allied camp; the isolation of the Soviet Union was replaced by the Anglo-Soviet and the American-Soviet alliance (p. 42)."

"We called it a transformation in the situation and not a mere change of degree. We said that the war which was so far an imperialist war now became a people’s war because of the changed re-grouping of forces, changed prospects before the world (P- 49)."

"“ The national leadership did not pursue the path of struggle but of settlement. The Working Committee would not give a call for struggle. ‘Let us demand a national struggle from the national leadership’, said the Forward Bloc, ‘but we must be prepared to start a struggle on our own.’"

"“ There was surging atmosphere of struggle. Left had been campaigning for a nation-wide struggle, under the Congress, for achievement of national freedom. When war broke out, the question of national struggle became an immediate issue, a practical question."

"“ The Communists argued that a national struggle today was a practical possibility only through the Congress. The Congress had to be led into action. To think otherwise was to be blind. The course of action the communists suggested was an immediate organisation of local mass struggles against the economic and political effects of the war. The Congress must unify all these struggles as people’s united organisation for an immediate national struggle. Through struggles to a national struggle. This was our line."

"P. C. Joshi issues a statement on August 27, 1945, “ on the reported death of Subhash Chandra Bose. ” He said: “ It is the British overlordship of our country that creates a Bose. But much worse has happened. The severity of post-August repression and the continued denial of power to the people has to-day led a great majority of our political leaders and the press to glorify Bose as a patriot and martyr ; some, of course, qualify by stating that he was misguided. To think only of his motives and forget the pro-fascist policy that he pursued is to lose the confidence and respect of the democratic elements abroad for the Indian freedom movement. Our differences with Bose and his Forward Bloc have been political. But we are against a foreign Government keeping them in prison. We demand and support the campaign for the release of his followers. ” (Communist Reply to Congress Working Committee Charges, p. 298)."

"Joshi warned : “ In the world of to-day, with the great political awakening in India the British imperialists dare not directly and openly deny Indian freedom. Their present-day strategy is based on their firm belief that Indian parties will never come together and they will be able to impose their own plan for the future constitution of India. It is against this danger that our Party will rouse the people. In the extremely critical and difficult period that is coming ahead, we will ceaselessy work for CongressLeague unity as also for Congress-Communist united front inside one joint front for India’s freedom. ”"

"“ From its very inception Forward Bloc as an organisation was a flop. To support Bose politically tens of thousand came. Inside his organisation were a handful of disgruntled elements from Dr. Kar’s supporters to renegade communists like N. Dutta Mazumdar. Coming events were casting their shadows before."

"“ The situation in Bengal since the very outbreak of war had become intolerable. Huq through an ordinance of his own had sought to make Bengal proof against struggle. A province-wide mass struggle in Bengal would have transformed the situation. Bengal Congress was under Left leadership and a struggle through Bengal Congress would have shown the path of struggle to millions of Congressmen. A province-wide struggle in Bengal would have rendered a national struggle inevitable. These were the great possibilities. Their successful realisation depended particularly upon Bose. He was the unquestioned leader of Bengal Congress and the Forward Bloc was the strongest single group inside Bengal Congress. Bengal was the strongest sector of people’s front of struggle. Exactly for the same reason Bengal invited the wrath and special attention of the anti-struggle national leadership."

"P. C. Joshi wrote in People’s War dated July 18, 1943 : “ The Axis Radio reports that Bose is no more in Berlin but has reached Singapore. On July 6, Bose himself announced that he has been appointed the ‘Commander-inChief of ‘Indian Independence Army’ and is coming with the Jap invasion force. The arch-traitor to India’s freedom and independence calls upon Indian patriots to open a ‘Second Front’ against British, to intensify ‘struggle’ and start a ‘Revolution’ in India while he, the ‘Commander in-Chief with Tojo’s grace, marches in with Japanese invading forces to ‘liberate’ India. But his lieutenants here in India know that here is no ‘struggle’ to be intensified and so they are making a trial start for this game on August 9. Their programme for August 9 must be looked upon as a dress rehearsal for the ‘Revolution’ which has to be started when ‘Commander-in Chief Bose comes to liberate India with the Jap Army. It will be suicidal blindness to celebrate August 9 th as we do any protest anniversary, e.g. Jallianwalah Bagh Day. ”"

"Addressing the ‘patriots’ Joshi appealed : “ August 9 is coming again. Memory inevitably goes back to August 9 last year. Shame overwhelms one when one remembers that from that day the fifth-column spoke and acted in name of the Congress. To celebrate August 9 is to hand over the initiative to the fifth-column. Subhash Bose is already in Singapore, the Japs have made him Commander-in-Chief of their ‘Indian Independence Army.’ ‘Marshal’ Bose is looking to India to see what happens on August 9. It is for him a test of the mobilising capacities of his own gang and its links with the patriotic masses. If any widespread demonstrations take place or any serious disturbances start, ‘Marshal’ Bose will report to Tojo, his master, that India is rotten ripe for invasion. There is no time to lose. Last August Bose was in Berlin. This time he is much nearer, at Singapore. The traitor Bose will never touch the golden soil of Bengal if we make up our mind about August 9.”"

"Let no Indian patriot ignore Bose as an adventurer. His adventure can become India’s ruin. Let us set our own house in order before Bose sets it afire. All patriots! Rush aid to Bengal now, it has to fight Bose tomorrow. Let every Bengali feel that every Indian is behind him while Bose is coming with rice which is not food for the people but snare for Jap slavery. All ! Help the Indian and Allied armies to hold the front. They will hurl back Bose’s puppet army. ”"

"‘We are the Indian Party of Lenin and Stalin, the great leaders of the people whose teaching and work finds living expression in the epic resistance of the Soviet people which the peoples of the world seek to emulate in their own lands’."

"“As a part of their general drive against the Left, they imposed the three years ban on Bose. The first reaction of the Forward Bloc was to defy it. We counselled against it on the ground that a defiance of the Working Committee on the organisational issue would be playing into its hands. Then came the trouble over the Election Tribunal. Once again we took our stand against those who suggested a revolt. Blows from the right came raining in."

"On our young shoulders to-day has fallen the great task of upholding the noble heritage of the Congress. It is the policy of our national leadership which would break this up and scatter it away. ”"

"“ The defeat of Nazis at Stalingrad had made it clear that Hitler could not come to India. In May-June 1943, Subhash Chandra Bose left Berlin and came to Singapore (p. 158). We discussed the new situation. We called for fight against sabotage. We named the Congress Socialists, the Forward Bloc and the Trotskyites as groups that made the fifth-column, the agents of the Jap invader (p. 159). ”"

"The Boseites stood isolated as unscrupulous disruptors inside the national movement ; to-day they are coming back as ‘honest patriots’. The hidden Jap agents dared not show their faces ; to-day they are active among the patriots !”"

"In People’s War dated August 23, 1942 Joshi came out with an editorial appeal-Tsolate the Fifth Columnists : “ True to their black role, the Fifth-columnists suggest blows that help their masters. The Boseites who till yesterday with their ‘nation wide struggle’ and ‘non-compromise’ slogans were the objects of every Congressman’s contempt as national disruptors, find that the present situation means half their job done. How are we to isolate and nail down this black crewl For isolate and nail them down, we must. Keep the peace. Isolate the Fifth-columnist as the arch goonda that trades on people’s blood. ” Joshi was too thick-headed to understand that the one and only Fifth-column, the Communist Party of India, had already been isolated, though elsewhere in the same issue of the People’s War he had admitted: “ The Boseites stood isolated as unscrupulous disruptors inside the national movement ; to-day they are coming back as ‘honest patriots’. The hidden Jap agents dared not show their faces ; to-day they are active among the patriots !” Of course, the Russian agent could see nothing but agents all around himself !"

"Joshi wrote editorially : “ The Army is the one instrument that stands between our unarmed nation and the Fascist invaders. Fraternal relationship between the Army and the people, in all threatened zones, is the need of the hour. To-morrow, when actual invasion begins, the army will have to reap the harvest ; it will find that the apathy of the kisan has turned to hostility, his patriotic will to resist broken by defeatist Gandhian phrase-mongers, the flames of his grievances fanned by the Fifth-Columnists, by the traitor Forward Blocists. ”"

"We, therefore, quote from Joshi’s pamphlet. The Government circular stated: “ In the Party Congress held in Bombay from May 23 rd to June 1 st , 1943, there was an attack on the negative policy of the Congress and the resolution openly identified for the first time the Congress Socialists and Forward Bloc with the fifth-column elements who are accused of taking advantage of the Congress resolution of August 1942 to lead the country to the brink of disaster. Not only are the Communists almost the only Party which fought for victory; they alone have criticised the Congress defeatism from a political point of view as opposed, for instance, to the fundamentally communal criticism of the Congress policy by the Muslim League etc., and have openly attacked as traitors the off-shoots of Congress, the Forward Bloc and the Congress Socialists Party."

"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 now invite to address you, “The Merchant of Death.” The “merchant of death” to terrorism, the “merchant of death” to corruption, the “merchant of death” to nepotism, the “merchant of death” to official inefficiency, the “merchant of death” to bureaucratic negligence, the “merchant of death” to poverty and ignorance, the “merchant of death” to darkness and despair."

"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."

"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."

"Those who speak aggressively on upholding Sanatana Dharma and Hindutva are not Hindus. They project themselves as contractors of Hindutva. We must tell them that they are speaking for furthering their political ill-intentions. People must understand it and I hope they will."

""If she comes to the city again we will kill her," added Muqtada Afsar Khan, one of the three MIM legislators who attacked the writer at a book release function at the Press Club."

"Such relationships are very common in western nations but this evil is fast spreading in our society also and the consequences are horrible. Recently, the case of Shraddha (Walkar) and Aftab (Poonawala) had come to light in which both were in a live-in relationship."

"Resignations should be sought from those who have morals. If he had any shame, he would have resigned after the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat. This is a shame."

"Now in all this, if somebody wants to become a Rambo and claims that he alone in a span of two days during a trip of disaster tourism brought out 15,000 people, I am afraid for the lack of a better word, it just reflects rank opportunism and sheer desperation to try and politicise and even milk a tragedy for political reasons."

"I'm going to ask Mr Bachchan a direct question. I want to ask him as the brand ambassador of Gujarat, does he condemn the role of Narendra Modi and his government in the pogrom that took place in 2002 or does he endorse it?....what does he say about the Gujarat massacre and fake encounters that took place since Modi took over."

"Pakistan is the Somalia of South Asia and Imran Khan and the JeM chief are in bed together."

"In this day and age you need a mobile army, a younger army. You need more expenditure on technology and weaponry. That's not going to happen if you have a very big footprint on the ground."

"I don’t know whether they committed the crime or not. But their conduct was good; the activity of the family was very good. They are Brahmins. Their sanskar (values) were very good."

"Razvi, of the fiery eyes and passionate oratory, was a fanatic with a single-track mind. He believed himself to be a heaven-appointed leader whose mission it was to liberate the Muslims of the Deccan from the Indian Union. But this was only the first step. The next was to be the annexation of the Cirears, the east coast districts of the Province of Madras, to Hyderabad. His Muslim crusaders were then to march to Delhi to replant the Asafia flag on the Red Port of the Moghuls, and never were they to rest till 'the waves of the Bay of Bengal washed the feet of our sovereign’. He insisted on the right of the Muslims to enslave the Hindu, who was none but a ‘kafir’ and ‘a worshipper of stone and monkey’; ‘who drinks cows’ urine and eats cow-dung in the name of religion’; who is ‘a barbarian in every sense of the word’, On the other hand, to be a Muslim was to invite danger; ‘a Muslim is one who would set at naught all the earthly pow¬ ers and make the whole world his enemy’."

"Hyderabad is an Islamic State. The Indian Union is trying to wipe out this Muslim rule from the Deccan. Remember that there are four-and-a-half crores of Muslims in the Dominion, looking to us to raise the banner of this Islamic State. "Ittehad expects every Muslim to do his duty. I am glad that Muslim women are also coming forward to help the Razakars, 1 appeal to my Muslim sisters to support whole-heartedly this movement, and, if possible to train themselves in the art of self-defence. The time is not far off when we have to throw our entire weight to maintain the integrity of this Islamic State. "We have been ruling the Deccan for the last 800 years and we shall rule it whether the Indian Union likes it or not. "Power has come to the hands of the Indian Union after one thousand years. They are not capable of ruling. That is the reason why they lost it to the Muslims. Now, when that power has come to them, they think they can browbeat us and terrorise us by bullying and blustering… "When … the Indian Union makes any aggression on us, remember the 4 1/2 crores of Muslims will raise the banner of revolt. We will give back in the same coin and speak to them in the same language that they will understand… "I know every one of you is imbued with the spirit of Jehad. Remember Karbala. A Muslim is a warrior. He is a first-class fighting man. Indeed, Indian History is full of glorious epi­sodes of the heroism of the Muslims. If India is free to-day, remember, it was due to the sword and arms of the Muslims. A Muslim is a born fighter and a protector of the weak.His one central ambition is to fight for a right and just cause. He will be guided by the great tenets of Quran. "Now, my Muslim bro­thers, march onward! Never put back your sword into the sheath till your object is achieved. Stop not till you reach your goal [this was greeted by boisterous shouts of “Delhi Chalo!”]. Hound out the enemy. Do not spare him. Mind not your troubles. We believe in Allah. We have no other friends except Allah, who has created this Islamic State and who shall never let us down. Quran is in one hand and the sword is in the other, let us march forward; cut our enemies to pieces; establish our Islamic supremacy! "I know the helplessness of our Muslim brothers in the Indian Union. Let us by our example of unsurpassed heroism, courage and vision, extend the much-needed succour to them. "They will be our ‘Fifth Columnists’ in the Union. Now the Union is thinking of a ‘Fifth Column’ among us. We shall turn the tables and they will understand the character of the Mussulman. A Hindu who is a Kafir, a worshipper of stone and monkey [crowd laughs uproariously], who drinks cow’s urine and eats cow dung in the name of religion [renewed laughter], and who is a barbarian, in every sense of the word, wants to rule us! What an ambition and what a day-dream! "My heart is bleeding. The Hindus want to repeat the same holocaust that they had staged at Delhi. Their methods of coer­cing Hyderabad to be a mere vassal is the typical example of the ‘Bania’ rule. The only answer to them is the naked sword. "I may he here to-day, and perhaps not tomorrow. But I can assure you, my brethren, if you want to see Kasim Razvi in the midst of our life and death struggle, look for him not in the palatial buildings of Banjara, or in pleasant tea parties, but in the midst of the battle-fields [loud cries of ”Allah Ho Akbar!” and “Siddique-Deecan Zindabad!” erupt in the crowd]. You will see me slaying or being slain with sword in my hand and the Quran in my body. "I repeat to you the couplet of our immortal poet Allama Iqbal: ‘What’s it in life, life is only the means to the end, the eternal end; to lay it down in the cause of Islam.’ Now I bid you god­ speed; protect your Islamic State; protect your blood brothers in the Indian Union and your Islamic rule." Seven decades later, variants of Kasim Razvi’s speech would echo in the same city — it would be delivered by his ideological inheritor, Akbaruddin Owaisi, who infamously thundered that “25 crore Muslims would easily take on 100 crore Hindus if police are removed for 15 minutes.”"