'There are no multiplexes, not a single cinema hall and no malls.' 'Because the government in Delhi constantly cuts off mobile services, there is no app-based economy in Srinagar.' 'There are 403 news channels in India, but there is none in Kashmir,' notes Aakar Patel after a journey to the Kashmir valley.
'We spent Rs 59,000 crore on acquiring 36 Rafales and we do not know if we will ever use them. The chances are that we never will,' argues Aakar Patel.
'Azim Premji has given away about one-and-a-half lakh crore rupees of his wealth.' 'Most of us will not even know what that sum actually means.' 'To put it into context, it can fund India's health budget and education budget,' points out Aakar Patel.
'Space is dangerous and there will be many failed attempts as we try to use mankind's ingenuity to take the next evolutionary step.'
'As a nation we are tearing ourselves apart through decisions we have deliberately chosen to take,' argues Aakar Patel.
'If Indians are as smart as their counterparts in university, and have equal opportunity, then what is the reason that we cannot produce inventions of quality that are recognised by the world?'
'In Pakistan there has been no problem about the installation of the statues of these men, unlike the Jinnah portrait or other controversies that seem to be present in India these days quite regularly,' says Aakar Patel.
'The intensity with which we are focussed on Pakistan, particularly our government and our media, ultimately harms us and reduces our greatness,' argues Aakar Patel.
'The goal is achievable. What is stopping us from getting there?' asks Aakar Patel.
'We have not been able to use the potential of our location in the region and the world and our strength as a nation and an economy to establish an EU-like structure in South Asia,' points out Aakar Patel.
'The party will keep to the script that its core supporter understands: temples, statues, Muslims and cows.'
'There will be millions of us who will feel fear and insecurity because of the menace of majoritarian ideology.' 'It is for the wellbeing and security of those of my fellow Indians, who are affected and who I care for, that I have voted,' says Aakar Patel.
ially powerful ones, usually find themselves surrounded by people who will not oppose them. 'This is because those who are cautious and of a different view will not find satisfaction serving an individual so different from them, producing results they do not agree with,' says Aakar Patel.
'More members of the Indian Armed Forces have died in Kashmir, North East and Naxal areas than in the 1962 and 1971 wars against Pakistan combined. These deaths are the result of political failure and not war.'
'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.
'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.
'There is no acceptable definition of what terrorism is and who a terrorist is.'
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.
'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.
'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.
'Modi personally provides the higher direction of the ministry and the minister then works with bureaucrats on implementation,' points out 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.
'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.
'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.
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.
'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.
'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.
'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.
'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.
'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.
'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.
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.
'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.
'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.
'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.'
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