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
''This chief minister is so obstinate that he is ready to use the police to attain his goal.' 'Had he been more mature rather than obstinate, Kerala would not have reached a boiling point.'
'This government has huge respect for the Supreme Court and when there is going to be a hearing on the review petition, it is appropriate to refrain from taking any action till then.'
'Life will not improve overnight; it will happen in a gradual manner.'
'Sometime back, there was not much empathy for communal sentiments or traditions in Kerala.' 'The situation is totally different now.' 'The forces which were not so powerful earlier are getting more powerful now.'
'In India, we are paying a price for not managing water as we are not willing to pay the cost for it.'
'In the last 4, 5 years, ever since online companies started online shopping in a big way with heavy discounts, our sales are affected badly.' 'As there is no control over the way the online companies operate, they were able to destroy the domestic retail market to a great extent.'
'Hindu unity is possible without any external forces playing any role if their faith is questioned.'
'The government made a mess.' 'When there is a director, how can you have an in-charge director?' 'Then, they shifted all the 14 officers who were working on the Asthana case which has never happened in the history of the CBI.'
'The accident happened because the railway track was at the same level as the ground, so the people walked over it.'
'It is wrong to assume that it is only after 1991 that we started following this ritual.' 'Ayyappan himself instructed where the temple had to be built, the rituals that had to followed and the route that had to be taken by devotees to the temple.'
'The first time a ban on women aged between 10 and 50 entering Sabarimala came was in 1991 and was by a high court judgment.' 'So, it is only a 27-year-old ban.' 'The high court can fix customs and the Supreme Court can overturn it.' 'I don't see this as an attack on religious freedom or the practice of a religion.'
'I had always felt he was on par with international musicians.' 'Everybody realised his worth as a musician only after he left us.'
'The Supreme Court should not have come out with this kind of order and in my opinion, the court should correct it.'
'I told him, "Balu, you have to get out of the hospital. We have to do a lot of programmes together".' 'When I kissed him on his forehead, tears started rolling from his eyes.' 'I wiped the tears away and prayed.' 'I didn't know that was the last time I was going to see my friend alive.'
'The common belief in political circles is that if you provide reservation to somebody, s/he will automatically come up.' 'This is a very faulty understanding.'
'Every person has two identities in India, that of his caste and nation.' 'It is understandable in a multi-caste, multi-religious society and I don't mind this.' 'What I mind is the State has failed in doing enough to melt these two identities in such a way that everybody has access to citizenship which is more important than your caste.' 'That is why people remain in the narrow identities of his caste or religion.'
'When the Americans are talking about colonising Mars by 2030, India cannot be lagging behind.'
'Everything will be decided by the Centre.' 'Universities will have no autonomy to start a new course or introduce a new syllabus.'
'The entire rescue operation was very dangerous, and something we have not experienced before.' 'It was different from what we experience on the seas.'
'The rivers that caused the maximum problem were the ones that had dams built on them.'
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