Shobha Warrier has extensively covered the Sabarimala issue for Rediff.com. She is the author of His Days with Bapu: Gandhi's Personal Secretary Recalls among several books. You can e-mail the author at shobhaw@rediff.co.in
'The presence of Rahul Gandhi and his campaigning for the Congress will make a general difference, but whether it will make a saving difference, not sure.'
'The top 11 billionaires in India added so much to their wealth during the pandemic that it would have sustained MNREGA for 10 years or the ministry of health for 10 years.'
'Inequality has been growing in the world. The virus has only amplified it.'
'If you talk about any kind of equality, you are under attack.'
'When you talk badly of the country and project a bad image of the country to the rest of the world, is it not sedition?'
'My joining the BJP will definitely result in a landslide migration of votes to the BJP.'
'The only reason why these troubling developments are taking place is because of a certain arrogance of power displayed by this government that hopes to clamp down on those voices which have repeatedly pointed out that their bloated rhetoric and grandstanding are not matched by their insipid and tepid response in matters of governance.'
'How ironic that a party that seeks to arrogate the mantle of nationalism to itself is actually behaving like the imperial oppressors.'
'What do the moves towards protectionism suggest?' 'That we do not have Aatmavishwas.' 'If you have self-confidence, confidence in your ability to compete with the best in the world, why do you need protectionism?'
'We still need a certain number of large public sector banks for financial inclusion and stability purposes.'
'This is happening regardless of the Budget.'
'We have been telling the government that we need handholding.' So, we sent a series of recommendations to the government, but nothing happened.' 'And the condition of industry became worse.'
'How does it matter to me if a foreigner comes, starts an industry and makes India a $5 trillion economy when I am dead?'
'Our technology is going to help Indian agriculture the way the White Revolution helped milk production.'
'The government has realised that the finances of the government are in a precarious state.' 'We are borrowing to fund the ever-burgeoning revenue deficit.' 'Then you are paying interest on the fresh borrowing.' 'For the first time, the government has realised that this cannot go on.'
'There is good indication that the economy is bouncing back, but the problem is, we should look at the eight quarters preceding March 2020.' 'The growth had fallen below 3.1% before March 2020.' 'So, the governments must realise that even if you transform the best of green shoots into banyan trees, you see only 3.1% growth.'
'Since we have to stop the pandemic, we have to use the vaccines now and that is why the emergency-use approval is justifiable.'
'If we take such an approach, we may find ourselves in a tough situation.' 'COVID-19 doesn't spread through water or air or mosquito; it only spreads from person to person.' 'We should make wearing a mask as part of our life.'
'We are rolling out a vaccine when we don't even have the phase 2 trial results; forget about phase 3 trial results.' 'Why are we playing with people's lives?'
'It will be only in fiscal year 2023 when the size of the Indian economy will be bigger than what it was in 2020, you will see demand and employment rising.'
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