Bharatiya Janata Party Politicians

"It is a win-win situation for us — no harm to janitors by way of daily exposure to chemicals, and cows will be valued more."

"Money through trade of slaughtered animals goes into terrorism, therefore goes into killing us, why are we allowing this?"

"We are changing the law and I am personally working on it to bring 16-year-olds into the purview. According to the police, 50 per cent of the crimes are committed by 16-year-olds who know the Juvenile Justice Act. But now for premeditated murder, rape, if we bring them into the purview of the adult world, then it will scare them."

"Just see how well the Jains and the Marwaris do in life. It cannot be a co-incidence that they are so well educated and affluent. It is because of their way of life which involves least harm to a living being."

"When I was studying in Bangalore, temperature would be around 21 degree and now it is 31 degree. The drastic increase in the level of temperature is due to industrialisation."

"Let me clarify at the outset that this decision to permit hunting of wild boars and blue bull in the wild is not taken for the sake of farmers, but to benefit those private forest lodge operators who have clients from Middle East and other countries."

"On the positive side, at least we know now what to stock up with in case of a nuclear war. Also filmstars might consider injecting liquidized McD into their faces to halt the ageing process."

"Meat can no longer be protected as a personal choice. If your meat is going to destroy my health and our environment, you ought to have to pay for it."

"While I respect culture, this bull-killing ritual causes extreme suffering to an innocent creature and has no place in the modern world. Tradition is not an excuse for cruelty, and many societies have ended or are working to end ‘traditional’ practices—such as slavery, cannibalism, infanticide, female circumcision, foot-binding, bullfighting, and fox hunting—that cause animals or humans to suffer."

"We are already into the crisis. It will accelerate in the next five years. There will come a time in the next 10 years when it will be irrelevant which party comes to power. The word democracy will be irrelevant when people rush to grab whatever available resources are left."

"In all cases that have been investigated, the only time a state government gives permission for nilgai and wild boar shooting is when it is requested by vips, hotel and tourism people or friends of politicians."

"If there are 500 tigers left in India, I'd be surprised. They are even skinning the tigers in Indian zoos."

"Can we afford to let Laloo, whose knowledge of anything except caste structures is non-existent, damage the rural economy further? The long-suffering railway ministry, which has by now lost its ability to resist any absurd decision by any of their ministers, has agreed to budget Rs 250 crore a year to buy kulhars. While all that money comes from your pocket, where will it actually go?"

"If men get injured, it is another reason to ban jallikattu. Anyway, it is not a sport, but a torture to make the animal do an unnatural act. This is being practiced by a bunch of drunken youngsters."

"One problem is the destruction of the habitat, and the second is this constant catching of elephants for training, for tourism or logging. And this training that we are doing is the most brutal, primitive and stupid in the whole world."

"It is so naturally high in fat that it leads to obesity, the cause of all modern disease. Ayurveda actually lists milk as one of the five white poisons."

"Among a certain class this winter, there wasn't a party in Delhi that didn't have cocaine."

"Whether they serve lamb or vegetable burgers is irrelevant. McDonald's is the largest killer of cows in the world."

"The movement I have initiated against the entry of junk food has already resulted in the reduction of sales of KFC in Bangalore to a record low."

"For many years, the country has believed these pesticides are vital to keeping away starvation, to advance the green revolution. The main concern was food production and disease control - not public health safety. Some of us believe this must change, but it . . . will take some time."

"Has prostitution come to an end because of warnings against it?"

"In India, no power plant runs beyond 58 per cent of its capacity. I believe instead of making yet another plant which is really disastrous, what you should do first is to go in for conservation - that is increase your 58 per cent to 90 per cent. Your power problem would be solved right there."

"I mean, winning an election is no big deal. It's what you do with the power afterward that matters. And, well, for me anyway, it's proving you can do something entirely on your own, entirely your own way and for a commitment that is larger than yourself."

"Three years ago, I came to you as a bride. Today, I come as a widow who, with a small child, was thrown out of her mother-in-law's house."

"In Uttar Pradesh, caste politics is deep-rooted. But there is a negative side of it. When something is deep-rooted, it takes time for people to realise its ill effects, that’s natural. When a political culture takes shape, it takes time for it to fail."

"But the only encounter killings Congress has taken to heart are those that led to killing of known terrorists like Sohrabuddin, Javed Sheikh, Zeeshan Johar, and Amjad Ali Rana who have been openly owned up by Pakistani terror outfits. The Congress is alleged to have provided the best of lawyers to the families of these terrorists, while at the same time gunning for Amit Shah, under whose tenure as home minister these encounter killings took place. The real target is Modi, not Shah because the Congress has built a case that these allegedly false encounter killings were ordered by Modi. This despite the fact that the killings took place with the active involvement of the Intelligence Bureau of the Government of India which provided inputs to the Gujarat police that these people were on a terror mission to the state. Never before in India, has a home minister been jailed for encounter killings of criminals or terrorists by the police, as was Amit Shah. This is not at all to justify false encounter killings even of dreaded terrorists. When a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court to demand that all the cases of encounter killings that had reached the National Human Rights Commission be reopened and examined like the six allegedly false encounter killings of Gujarat in Modi’s regime, the UPA government filed an affidavit in court blocking the move on the ground that it would “compromise national security!” Recently, when the CBI, the famed ‘caged parrot’ of UPA government demonstrated small signs of independence and gave a clean chit to Amit Shah saying the Congress would have been happy had Amit Shah been implicated, Congress politicians charged the CBI of having been bought over by Modi!"

"Amitbhai provided us more than double (Lok Sabha) seats in Uttar Pradesh. BJP won more seats in UP than what Congress secured in all states put together. This is the best example of what a Gujarati can do if given responsibility."

"To say that he is one of the most controversial figures in contemporary Indian politics is an understatement... Shah is a past master at setting up and running election campaigns. Shah has been L K Advani’s polling agent in many elections. In a businesslike manner he uses party funds to set the election machinery... In one sentence it can be said that Shah will ask his party to go for covert Hindutva and adopt the development plank overtly. Modi’s name and photograph is enough for Shah to tell UP voters what his mentor’s politics is all about."

"Therefore, an environment against caste-based politics was created and the BJP wave along with Mr[.] Modi’s candidature as the prime ministerial candidate helped in creating a favourable environment for the BJP and making our foundation strong. It helped in creating votes for us and our political strategy helped in converting these votes into parliamentary seats."

"But I think [the] Uttar Pradesh electorate was fed up of this caste-based politics as the state has hardly seen any development, [the] [law-and-order] situation has deteriorated, investment, employment, women’s safety, rural and agriculture development, these areas hardly saw any development."

"While the door-to-door campaign was already on, we made sure that each and every person and every household in each and every village, town and city gets our party and Narendra Modi’s message. Around 33 per cent of Uttar Pradesh is a dark area, in the sense that there are no newspapers, no TV, nothing."

"I had prayed before Lord Ram that I wish with the help of every section of the society the temple will be constructed as soon as possible."

"My image is the creation of the media."

"I am in politics since the last 35 years, not once have I faced a charge of corruption. In last 35 years I have never ever changed my political track. I have always been what my party stands for. In last 35 years of public life wherever I have gone, whether it is the Ahmedabad district bank, the Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation or in the government, I have tried to bring in reforms, new policies and able administration. I have a record of governance behind me."

"I have never seen economic deprivation. I was born in a rich family and brought up that way too. I have not seen a cash crunch. But, I firmly believe that whether you come from a traditionally rich family or poor family, what matters more for one's progress in politics is your sentiments for the people, your talent and a constant belief in your convictions."

"I became a member of the RSS in my childhood days then joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (The BJP’s student’s wing). I am a science graduate. Till I was elected as an MLA I was a businessman. After getting into politics, I gave away my business and factory to my partners. After becoming an MLA, I am not doing any business. I have my savings and investments. I have inherited some investments in stocks and shares and I earn my living out of it."

"All the Hindu population that decreased in Pakistan and Bangladesh, many of them took refuge in India. And the Muslim population that increased in India wasn’t due to fertility; it was because many Muslims infiltrated into the country.. In 1951, Hindus were 84% and Muslims 9.8% of the population. By 1971, Hindus were 82% and Muslims 11%. In 1991, Hindus were 81% and Muslims 12.21%. And by 2011, Hindus made up 79% while Muslims rose to 14.2%...‘Congress failed minorities under Nehru-Liaquat Pact’... “Dividing this country in the name of religion was a huge mistake; by doing so, they cut off the arms of Bharat Mata and made the British conspiracy successful,”... “Pandit Nehru had promised citizenship to refugees but later went back on that promise,” ...“When Modi Ji’s government came to power with a full majority, we fulfilled that promise through the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” he added. ‘Refugees and infiltrators are not the same’ ...“A refugee comes to India to save their religion, but an infiltrator crosses the border illegally for economic or other reasons. They do not come here due to religious persecution.” ... “CAA is not about taking away anyone’s citizenship. There is no provision in the Act to deprive Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, or anyone of their citizenship. Its sole purpose is to give citizenship to refugees,... When the basis of voting is not the nation’s interest, democracy can never succeed."

"I remember one morning during breakfast, I saw Salman Khurshid crying on the TV. He was coming out of Sonia Gandhi's residence... He said that Sonia Gandhi was sobbing at the Batla House incident. She should have cried for Shaheed Mohan Sharma instead of the terrorists of the Batla house..."

"We overcame a dark chapter like the Emergency because our nation never bows to dictatorship.... Forgetting an event like the Emergency, which shook our democracy, would be harmful to the nation....Today, India is the world’s largest democracy because we overcame that dark chapter. Our nation never bows to dictatorship. The world witnessed the birth of democracy on this soil—India is the mother of democracy... It is hard to capture the Emergency in a single sentence, but I define it as the conspiracy to turn a vibrant multi-party democracy into a dictatorship... During the Emergency, such drastic changes were made that it was called a ‘mini-Constitution.’ From altering the Preamble to undermining the Basic Structure, everything was changed. The judiciary became submissive, and democratic rights were suspended. The nation must never forget this. That is why PM Modi declared June 25 as Samvidhan Hatya Divas—to ensure the country remembers the price of dictatorship....I believe Samvidhan Hatya Divas should be observed collectively and consciously so that the youth never forget how the Constitution was once silenced.... They said the Emergency was to protect the nation, but the truth is, it was to protect their own power."

"This government will not allow Waqf to be used as a political tool anymore."

"Congress and its allies have shamed democracy once again. Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV & Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom and the 4th pillar of democracy. It reminds us of the Emergency. This attack on free press must be and WILL BE OPPOSED."

"I have made five to six visits to Karnataka and after meeting people I have been able to understand the feeling of Karnataka. The feeling of the people of Karnataka is that he (Siddaramaiah) is not an AHINDA leader, but an Ahindu (anti-Hindu) leader."

"The Congress made an attempt to defame the entire country in the name of Hindu terror. This is a country where we feed even ants that bite us. They created a false case and booked sadhus and sadhvis. I want to ask: everyone has been acquitted in the Samjhauta case. The court has said that there is no evidence. Shouldn’t The Indian Express ask for accountability of the real accused being left out? Look how they compromised national security for their vote bank politics. CBI (agencies) had arrested them. Where are they? Isn’t it an issue for the country? Those who were caught, even American agencies had said that it was a Lashkar act, Indian agencies certified it. But to certify Hindu terror, saffron terror, you created false cases. Case after case collapsed in courts. But the media is sitting silent. Seculars are silent. The Indian Express is also silent. Why are you silent? At least you should ask about those accused. I think this is a big issue that needs to be in public debate."

"India is not a piece of land, but a living entity."

"This, my friends, is the Jaziya that non-Muslims pay in "free" India, one governed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Hajpayee."

"Vajpayee is as wishy-washy as Nehru was. I don't think he has any ideology."

"Few people have noticed that there have been no communal riots in India since Vajpayee became prime minister. Remember the Congress' record of one major communal riot every few months? Meerut, Maliana, Bhagalpur, Moradabad, Mumbai. Riot after riot after riot. Nobody punished. No action taken against policemen and officials guilty of criminal administrative failure. So the absence of communal violence should have gone in Vajpayee's favour. It did not again - because perceptions have been more important than reality."

"It was the Congress leaders who instigated mobs in 1984 and got more than 3000 people killed. I must give due credit to RSS and the BJP for showing courage and protecting helpless Sikhs during those difficult days. No less a person than Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself intervened at a couple of places to help poor taxi drivers."

"He was a person who could bring out the best in others. There are some leaders who bring out the worst in others. He brought out the best."

"I believe he has a sense of integrity...Relatively speaking he has a cleaner record than most politicians in office."