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Interviews

May 22, 2012
There was a coterie at work against me: Gen V K Singh
Army Chief General V K Singh speaks to Kalyani Shankar about the age row, the Tatra issue, the letter leak, and his future plans in this two-part freewheeling interview, which was partly broadcast on All India Radio.
May 09, 2012
Why Odisha negotiates with the Maoists
Orissa MP Jay Panda defends his state's anti-Maoist record.
May 07, 2012
'Horse-trading' behind RS defeat in Jharkhand: Ahluwalia
After losing the Rajya Sabha election in Jharkhand by three votes, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader SS Ahluwalia hinted that horse-trading led to his defeat.
April 24, 2012
'In Tamil Nadu, the administration targets people'
'It is like, all crimes are done by north Indians and it is difficult to track them, so get their details. This sort of profiling, I have not seen anywhere.' Chennai activist Madhumita Dutta speaks out!
April 05, 2012
'LeT has never had to deal with loss of leadership'
Stephen Tankel, author of the book Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba, says that the bounty announcement validates India's repeated assertions that the LeT is a dangerous group and that Saeed plays a strategic role in guiding it.
April 04, 2012
Exclusive! $20 bn Rafale deal was manipulated, says MP
'There is an evaluation committee which is involved in these matters. The committee comprises six persons and there are persons from the armed forces and also the finance wing. My information suggests that two persons in this committee have allegedly manipulated this deal,' MV Mysura Reddy, member of the parliamentary defence standing committee, tells Vicky Nanjappa
April 03, 2012
'Koodankulam is safer, more modern than Kalpakkam'
Dr Suresh Moses Lee, who was one of the members of the panel of experts constituted by the Centre to examine the reactors of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project, talks to rediff.com's about the safety aspects of the controversial plant.
March 19, 2012
MIT grad, IIM professor... and UP's new face
India needs well-educated and competent politicians, says Abhishek Mishra, who resigned from his job as a professor at IIM-Ahmedabad to join the Samajwadi Party. Now appointed UP's minister of state for protocol, he tells why he has great hopes for the future.
March 04, 2012
EXCLUSIVE: 'This was one of the toughest elections for us'
Having completed a grueling election campaign across Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav is now back in Lucknow eagerly awaiting the verdict of the people. In an exclusive interview with rediff.com's , he shares his strategy and outlines the factors that went in favour of his party in this election
March 02, 2012
Will Jayant Chaudhary emerge as kingmaker of UP?
Union Minister Ajit Singh's 33-year-old son Jayant Chaudhary could emerge as a candidate for the deputy chief ministership, says Neerja Chowdhury.
February 29, 2012
'India's growth will be determined by UP and Bihar'
'Many estimates by international agencies suggest that the 21st century will be ruled by three industries -- agriculture, food processing and textiles. And in these three critical industries, UP, surely, has more advantages than any other location in the world -- this is the Gangetic belt,' says Professor Arvind Mohan, who is bullish about the Uttar Pradesh economy.
February 22, 2012
'MNS is not against any community'
Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has been in the news for its aggressive stance against 'outsiders,' who the MNS says, deny employment opportunities to Maharashtrians. "We are not opposed to other communities, this is a wrong perception about us," MNS leader Nitin Sardesai insists in an exclusive interview with Rediff.com
February 10, 2012
'Unfair to blame teachers, students are aggressive now'
Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, one of the well known psychiatrists in Chennai and the founder-trustee of Sneha, a voluntary centre for suicide prevention, answers some of these questions raised by the murder of a teacher by a student in Chennai.
February 06, 2012
'Ordinary Christians are being used as pawns'
Did the controversial report on church attacks exaggerate the number of such instances in Karnataka? Were the figures put out for some ulterior motive? Minorities Commission member P N Benjamin responds
All this seems fishy: G Madhavan Nair
A panel of the Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday indicted former ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair and three other scientists for acts of commission in the $ 300 million spectrum deal between commercial arm of the ISRO, Antrix and Devas Multimedia Ltd. In an interview with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Nair slammed the panel report and claimed that his name will soon be cleared.
January 30, 2012
'For investigators, arresting young Muslims easy way out'
'Had the ATS not wasted its time and resources in rounding up innocent Muslims, we would have uncovered the forces trying to destroy India,' Kashif-ul-Huda, executive editor, TwoCircles.net, tells Vicky Nanjappa.
January 27, 2012
I had to leave India to be safe: Amitava Kumar
Writer Amitava Kumar speaks to Aseem Chhabra about life after he read from The Satanic Verses at the Jaipur Literary Festival.
January 24, 2012
If someone tries to shut you up, talk louder: Rushdie
The raging controversy over author Salman Rushdie's visit to the Jaipur literary festival and the abrupt cancellation of a video link with the writer at the last minute on Tuesday evening refuses to die down. We reproduce an interview with Rushdie, when he visited India in 2000.
January 23, 2012
'I don't need to READ The Satanic Verses to oppose it'
Mohammed Saleem Engineer is the National Secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind, the hardline Islamic organisation that has its headquarters in New Delhi. The organisation is an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami party whose objective it is to establish an Islamic state in Pakistan that is ruled by the Shariah law.
January 20, 2012
Exclusive: 'Mayawati only believes in minting money'
As his old adversary Mayawati confronts the anti-incumbency factor in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Mulayam Singh Yadav expects a fresh lease of political life as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. An exclusive interview!
January 16, 2012
'There is nothing illegal in evangelisation'
n an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Dr John Dayal, member of the national monitoring committee for minority education, Government of India, and secretary general of the All India Christian Council, says that the Constitution gives the community the right to practice, profess and propagate its faith.
In Memoriam: Homai Vyrawalla, India's first woman photographer
Homai Vyrawalla is 97 and shares her rich treasure trove of anecdotes about India's tallest leaders with Rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya.
January 13, 2012
'Only Election Commission can decide on online voting for NRIs'
After the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Priyanka asks Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi the tough questions about voting rights, investments, and other issues faced by Non-resident Indians.
December 22, 2011
'Hinduism gives you the freedom to deny God'
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev believes we should have 1.2 billion Gods and Goddesses. It is, he says, the surefire way to reduce conflict in India. A fascinating interview with the maverick guru.
'Making Gita a national book is paying lip service'
'Many have read them. Many know the verses. May hear the interpretations. But few actually get it. If you get it, you will be at peace even in the midst of war. You will not be outraged,' says Devdutt Pattanaik about the Bhagavad Gita
December 13, 2011
'The Parliament attack did not raise enough national concern'
C D Sahay, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, spoke of the events that led up to the Parliament attack.
December 09, 2011
Arvind Kejriwal: 'No one is born corrupt, system makes you so'
Last week Sheela Bhatt spoke to Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal about the government's Lokpal bill in the first part of an interview. On Friday, as the parliamentary standing committee submitted its report to Parliament, we bring you the second part of the interview with Kejriwal.
December 03, 2011
'Govt can't act if its every policy is voted over in Parliament'
Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni spoke to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt briefly on the current logjam in Parliament over the government's decision allowing 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail trade.
November 28, 2011
'We need an intelligence czar in the country'
Intelligence veteran Anil Choudhary gives insight into why NTRO, which reports to the prime minister's office, failed to come up to expectations. He also suggests how India could tighten its security apparatus.
November 25, 2011
'We tried telling the terrorists to surrender, but they refused'
J K Dutt, who led the NSG's 26/11 operation, considers it to be one of the toughest that he has undertaken. Today however, he wishes there was a government negotiator who could have forced at least a couple of terrorists to surrender themselves.
November 17, 2011
'NIA can't be only agency probing terror'
Post 26/11, the National Investigation Agency was set up to probe all terror-related cases in India. Over the past three years, the NIA has had its share of hits and misses. But there's a long way to go before it emerges as India's premier investigating agency to combat terror.
November 14, 2011
'Is minority reservation the only way out?'
Wajahat Habibullah, chairperson, National Commission for Minorities, speaks to Kavita Chowdhury on reservation for Muslims, the RTI Act and the controversy over withdrawal of AFSPA in Kashmir.
November 10, 2011
'Do you think the Christians will not fight back?'
If religious fanaticism in Afghanistan is being treated as an act of terror, then I do not see any reason why attacks on churches should not come under the same purview, says Justice M F Saldanha
October 12, 2011
'I do not know any Anna Hazare, have no comments on him'
Dr Ashok Ganguly, former chairman of Hindustan Lever and a Rajya Sabha MP, and one of the signatories to the recent open letter to the government by a group of 14 eminent people, speaks about the issues raised in the letter.
October 11, 2011
'We will fight tooth and nail to keep Andhra Pradesh united'
In an interview with rediff.com's , Keshav explains his stand on the issue and says that the best way to solve the problem is to educate the people of Telangana about the benefits they would have if they remained in Andhra Pradesh.
October 10, 2011
'We are not ready to call Hyderabad a Union Territory'
In an interview to rediff.com's , K T Rama Rao speaks about the ongoing agitation and on possibility of shaking hands with the Congress once Telangana is formed.
September 26, 2011
'Selection of information commissioners is arbitrary'
In this freewheeling interview with rediff.com's Priyanka, IC Gandhi says that appellants must understand that law describes 'information' as something which 'exists', and only those can be given out.
September 09, 2011
'India's police force is pathetic': Fareed Zakaria
As yet another blast in Delhi High Court coincides with a decade of the 9/11 terror strike in the United States, in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN's Deputy Editor Sagarika Ghose, Fareed Zakaria, Editor-at-Large, TIME Magazine talks about the lessons for India from American experience and the terror threat to the world.
September 08, 2011
Kejriwal: 'I will not compromise with corruption'
Arvind Kerjriwal, the leader Team Anna, explains his motivations and his methods in a fascinating interview with Sheela Bhatt.
September 06, 2011
'CBI flouted normal procedures in arresting Reddy'
In this exclusive interview to rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, senior advocate Nagesh explains the case of Janardhan Reddy and also what their strategy would be in the days to come.
August 25, 2011
'Anna should allow doctors to administer a drip'
Rediff.com's Toral Varia, who has been covering Anna Hazare's fast at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, spoke to prominent civil society member Swami Agnivesh on the way ahead for the team Anna. Hype over Lokpal stir has blinded Team Anna: Aruna
Aruna Roy, prominent member of civil society, chairman of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, and an alternative voice in the ongoing debate on the Lokpal Bill, speaks to Rediff.com
August 24, 2011
'Without Sonia Gandhi this government is in coma'
The second part of lawyer and brain behind the Anna Hazare campaign, Prashant Bhushan's interview to rediff.com's .
August 23, 2011
'Arundhati Roy doesn't know anything about Hazare'
Prashant Bhushan is a lawyer and one of the senior leaders and brains behind the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement for a stronger Lokpal bill. The movement is set to add a historic, new chapter in India's parliamentary democracy.
August 22, 2011
'Madrassas in India are not schools of hate'
Dr Arshad Alam, who teaches at the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies at the Jamia Millia Islamia, it is essential that madrassas are brought under the control of the state so that education imparted there is modernised
August 19, 2011
'Lokpal is no magical bullet against corruption'
Nandan Nilekani, the chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India and former Infosys CEO, has said that activist Anna Hazare's protest was unjustified when the Lokpal Bill was before Parliament for consideration.
August 05, 2011
Desi young man eyes US Congress
Rickey Gill, the young US Republican Congressional hopeful from California, speaks to Ritu Jha
August 04, 2011
Exclusive: Gowda's first interview as K'taka CM
Sadananda Gowda, who assumed charge as Karnataka chief minister on Thursday, has a tough task ahead. Ironically, that task is not the administration of the state, but to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party flock in Karnataka together. Exclusive! Sadananda Gowda's first interview
'I have faced many hurdles in the past and with the support of the party workers and my colleagues I have managed to get away with it. But all of you will have to give me some time before I figure things out, but rest assured, everything will fall into place.' Sadananda Gowda speaks to Vicky Nanjappa ahead of his swearing-in as Karnataka chief minister 'Pakistan must stop wasting water, blaming India'
Gitanjali Bakshi, who recently authored a report titled 'The Indus Equation' for the Strategic Foresight Group, states that water shortage problems in Pakistan are not a case of obstruction by external forces but rather a case of wastage and unequal distribution by internal forces.
August 03, 2011
'Dalits still live as the wretched of the earth'
Mumbai-based Anand Teltumbde is a leading scholar-activist who has written extensively on issues related to caste, class, imperialism and globalisation. In an interview with Yoginder Sikand, he reflects on the Dalit movement in the era of globalisation.
August 02, 2011
'Most Dalit groups remain fixated on reservations'
Mumbai-based Anand Teltumbde is a leading scholar-activist who has written extensively on issues related to caste, class, imperialism and globalisation. In an interview with Yoginder Sikand, he reflects on the Dalit movement in the era of globalisation.
August 01, 2011
'Bengalis committed atrocities during 1971 war'
Sarmila Bose's book on the 1971 Bangladesh War -- Dead Reckoning -- has triggered a heated debate about the myths and realities of the conflict that had engulfed East Pakistan, West Pakistan and India.
July 26, 2011
We politicians have let India down: Jaswant Singh
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh tells Aditi Phadnis about his fears for India, various policies and stance taken by the government and the global environment.
July 13, 2011
'Human lives are not important in India'
In an interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, consumer rights activist S Pushpavanam talks about the spate of rail accidents in the last few days and what the civil society can do about this.
July 12, 2011
'Human lives are not important in India'
In an interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, consumer rights activist S Pushpavanam talks about the spate of rail accidents in the last few days and what the civil society can do about this. 'Treasure belongs to the temple and nobody else'
In this interview to rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, Professor MG Sashibhushan goes back centuries to trace how the riches reached the erstwhile Travancore Royal family and the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. 'Treasure belongs to the temple and nobody else'
In this interview to rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, Professor MG Sashibhushan goes back centuries to trace how the riches reached the erstwhile Travancore Royal family and the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple.
July 08, 2011
'The themes of my novel are universal'
Debutante novelist Kamala Nair speaks to .
July 07, 2011
'India and the US may never be allies'
In an exclusive interview, Strobe Talbott, a key protagonist in resurrecting the United States-India relationship after India's nuclear tests in May 1998, talks about the US-India relations, Iran and the Pakistan situation to Rediff.com's .
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