'We were in a heavily nuclearised environment. China had tested for Pakistan in the 1980s and helped their missile programme stay just one step behind us.'
Recalling the incident, Sarangi said, "It happened when we (BJP MPs) were standing near an entry gate, peacefully protesting against the insult of Dr. Ambedkar, holding placards."
When Pankaj Tripathi agrees to play a towering leader like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, here's what happens.
Today even those who support Prime Minister Modi feel there is a certain sense of listlessness in this government. What is it intending to achieve? This is not easy to say, notes Aakar Patel.
Vajpayee had resigned just 13 days after being in power due to lack of numbers.
Indications are that the DMK combine will win more seats than the AIADMK and BJP, but is facing a tough fight in about half a dozen from the rest, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy of the electoral contest in Tamil Nadu.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma on Tuesday drew comparisons between Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying that the BJP strongman is a good administrator but lacks secular credentials unlike the erstwhile Prime Minister.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is "humble" like Atal Behari Vajpayee and BJP wants both Chouhan and Narendra Modi "play a major role" in securing India an important place in the world, senior party leader L K Advani said.
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
"There is a need to apply balm to the wounds of Kashmiri people," she said.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, BJP patriarch L K Advani tells CNN-IBN why he thinks former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should be awarded a Bharat Ratna
Firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party leader Umar Bharti maintained on Monday that the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi does not have the oratorical skills of (former prime minister) Atal Bihar Vajpayee, but said the Gujarat chief minister was a "unique person" who draws massive crowd.
"Leaders like Vajpayee, Advani treated me with respect," the JD-U leader said.
Atalji witnessed many lows in his life. With these, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf, come lessons that can help you in your life.
'This is what Hindu Rashtra looks like, which has been enabled by conditions of democracy.'
'The BJP has shown signs lately of returning to its trader mindset.' 'Several strong emotions get meshed in this: Nationalism, protectionism, mercantilism, and arrogance,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Only when China treats India as an equal can we consider them real friends.'
'The Vajpayee personae is so mirrored in Modi's initiatives that one wonders if the similarities are merely a coincidence or a divine design,' says RSS ideologue Tarun Vijay.
Known to be close and loyal to Bharatiya Janata Party veteran and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior BJP leader and four time MP Lal Muni Choubey on Monday announced that he would contest as an independent from Buxar.
'He knows India is going nowhere.' 'India will never let go of Kashmir, so he wants to settle with India.' 'Settle honourably with peace, dignity and justice.'
'I hope he will continue to be what he is. And doing so, he won't be much different from those whose example he is being given right now,' says Utkarsh Mishra.
Jaswant Singh may have fallen to political designs within his party. But his lack of connect with his voters is bound to make the Barmer contest tougher for him to win.
'The BJP is no longer the BJP. It has become the Bharatiya Janata Poaching Party.' 'They talk of black money and here they are ready to pay Rs 100 crore to MLAs.'
'We aren't so unreasonable as to demand that he should have fully reversed Indira Gandhi's worst economic legacy, bank nationalisation.' 'But he could have made a beginning by selling off the two most stressed small public sector banks, and then announced that each year for the next 10, one government bank with the most messed-up balance sheet will be sold.' 'It would have electrified the markets, shocked his other banks into better behaviour, and marked his name among the great reformers,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
In an interview to television channel CNN-IBN, the Nationalist Congress Party chief said that the BJP will not be able to reap any benefits across the country by having Modi as its PM mascot.
'So complete is Modi's takeover of the foreign ministry, that Swaraj today is less important than a minister of state for secularism in Modi's government!'
While many praised Narendra Modi's US Congress address, Syed Firdaus Ashraf had only two words to say: SO WHAT?
During a joint press conference with the Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, the home minister also said that there is no future for India without Kashmir.
From France to Canada, from Japan to South Korea, all of Modi's barbs came in front of an NRI audience. Over the last one year, with 19 foreign visits, Modi has tried to use diplomacy as a PR event and foreign policy as a means to shore up his image back at home, says Shehzad Poonawalla.
'The Congress era was already over anyway! The real question is: Has India opened a new, post-coalition era and I'm very doubtful about that,' Christophe Jaffrelot, author of several books on Indian politics, tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com, analysing Mandate 2014.
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