'There is no acceptable definition of what terrorism is and who a terrorist is.'
'In a part of the world where the government tells people what not to eat and what slogans to shout and not shout, it is beneficial to develop a mentality that is science minded and therefore open-minded.' 'That is possibly why the space programme has always had support from all sides of the political divide,' says Aakar Patel.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
'There is no meritocracy or at least there is none that is visible and transparent.' 'The Congress has two opportunities to change this,' says Aakar Patel.
'The party will keep to the script that its core supporter understands: temples, statues, Muslims and cows.'
India should do what we can to ensure that our two friends do not get into a confrontation that is meaningless and ultimately damaging to everyone including us.
'Modi personally provides the higher direction of the ministry and the minister then works with bureaucrats on implementation,' points out Aakar Patel.
'How will someone who has stood on Mars and looked at Earth, only a tiny blue dot in space, then see the idea of nations and religions and all of our divisions?' says Aakar Patel.
'Random displays of anger will end in punishment from the IOC and the loss of points in the World Cup, without achieving what we seek,' says Aakar Patel.
'It is only because of the Congress that we became a secular republic.' 'As we enter a period where another political force has became dominant, it will be interesting to see if this legacy of Nehru and the Congress is sustained or we are taken in a new direction,' says Aakar Patel.
2019 will be 'a match between the old caste politics and something new which we have not fully understood in UP,' says Aakar Patel.
'Once the prime minister and the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana pushed for this in 2014 and 2015, we have been trapped in a cycle of violence that gives India a bad name around the world,' says Aakar Patel.
'We can make all the noise we want to about being a tolerant society, but the reality is in front of us.'
'One goal of the Congress would surely have been to rebuild its organisation so that it begins to match that of the BJP.' 'However, this has not happened, though Rahul Gandhi has been in the party for 15 years now,' says Aakar Patel.
'The narrative that is the ruling party is using on Pulwama is not productive.' 'I do not think Modi and the BJP will get more votes because of that incident and the response to it,' says Aakar Patel.
'The government should refrain from 'adventurism' and 'megalomania'.' 'But this should be true of reckless government action against every Indian, whether or not they are wealthy or have access to the finance minister even when he is in hospital,' says Aakar Patel.
So long as no females were allowed to pray there, the strength of emotion kept the issue burning. As more and more women do this, the matter will fade.
'We have had 27 years of liberalisation and in the same period Korea and Japan and China transformed themselves forever,' says Aakar Patel.
'We would do well to encourage all Indians to participate in democracy by contesting and laws that prevent or deter individuals and parties should be relooked at,' says Aakar Patel.
'The sentiment against immigrants and particularly against Muslims is produced by the climate of hatred and bigotry we see all around us.' 'It is produced by the politics of division and spread by a reckless media around the world including unfortunately in India,' says Aakar Patel.
Nobody understands the deep causes of defeat and victory better than the defeated. The defeated have been to all the battlefields. They have looked into the eyes of their soldiers and those of the opponents, says Aakar Patel.
'India is a strange place.' 'On the one hand we have the most advanced science working on our origins and our ancestry.' 'On the other we are at war with ourselves over a temple to a god whom our first ancestors knew nothing of,' says Aakar Patel.
'The individuals whom this government and its media call 'Urban Naxals' should not have been arrested.' 'In any civilised democracy (which India is not) this would not have happened,' argues Aakar Patel.
'The confidence of the Opposition will go up and alliances will be easier to form if it becomes apparent that the BJP is losing ground in the north of India,' says Aakar Patel.
'It is not with feelings of devotion or piety that these people are gathering.' 'It is mostly with emotions of hatred.' 'Listen to their slogans and their rhetoric and this becomes immediately clear,' says Aakar Patel.
'There will be an instant and positive change in the way Rahul Gandhi is perceived by millions if he says he is not a candidate for PM,' suggests Aakar Patel.
Unless Indians learn to speak freely and fearlessly, 'true greatness will elude this nation, no matter how brilliant the individual at the helm may be,' says Aakar Patel.
'In India, we are very far away from the per capita incomes of the West. And so the need to support many more people with much more money will come sooner in India than in other nations,' says Aakar Patel.
'Almost exclusively, their interest was in the work that we were doing that they thought of as being "anti-national". One of them even used that specific word,' says Aakar Patel.
'The same instinct that thinks that women should remain at home and not be at the workplace, objects to the dance bar.'
'When he has been retired against his will, Advani appears to have found the merits of tolerance.' 'It took his one-time pupil to teach the old man his own lesson,' says Aakar Patel.
'Revelations about his assaults on young women mean that his reputation and all that he has stood for is in tatters for all time,' says Aakar Patel.
'We have unleashed a nastiness and viciousness in ourselves that had been bottled up before.' 'This government has helped uncork it, possible forever, and to my mind that is its most significant achievement.'
'Two powerful men shaking hands with two powerful women as equals. This photograph made me very happy,' says Aakar Patel.
'If Rahul Gandhi's authority was absolute, he could have picked his man.' 'Compare this with the ease with which outsiders like Adityanath, Khattar and Fadnavis were picked.'
'What is the problem in getting the UK to extradite our citizens?' asks Aakar Patel.
'The fact that a rural Kashmiri boy was brainwashed into killing himself and others means there is an active programme that exists which does such recruiting and there will potentially be other such individuals out there,' warns Aakar Patel.
'One hopes that in his second term, Modi spends more time reading serious material even if it bores him or is against his nature,' says Aakar Patel.
'There is no shortage of material for the Opposition to develop and deploy a campaign against the government.' 'Are we seeing signs that it exists? I confess that I do not see it,' says Aakar Patel.
'We should not use and confuse the word Right to define Hindutva.' 'Doing so blurs the issue because it gives the BJP attributes that it does not have and does not even want,' says Aakar Patel.
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