'In our media and general population the idea of 'strong posture' was successfully sold by Modi. This is now a liability for him, as he has discovered,' says Aakar Patel.
'The only forum for resistance and dissent has become the university.' 'Free thinking is the right our brave students have been demanding.' 'As another round of violence and hatred against 'anti-nationals' begins, all of us, whether or not we agree with their views, should support and defend them,' says Aakar Patel.
'The problem of a Hindu rashtra is that it has no text which can be adapted to the modern world.' 'The most prominent element of the Hindu way of organising society and the State is through caste.' 'This is not acceptable to most Hindus.' 'Because a Hindu rashtra also erodes the power and the rights of the majority of Hindus, we can be assured that this is not something that the BJP, or any other force can do,' argues Aakar Patel.
'When it vanishes as a national force (meaning when it can no longer get sufficient votes to hold onto its symbol, the hand) it will not have been the first large Indian party to die,' says Aakar Patel.
'Afzal Guru was convicted of supporting the attack on India's Parliament. The Supreme Court said "the collective conscience of society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded" to Guru.' 'Till we can think up similar justifications for hanging non-Muslims, I do not think we can delink terrorism from religion in our minds,' argues Aakar Patel.
'It will be a fine day when we can claim to have institutions in civil society as influential and as popular as ACLU, which is a strong body only because millions of Americans support its values.' 'When Indians take offence at how other Indians are treated, when we take injustice to others personally, we will begin to make India great,' says Aakar Patel.
'There is an insistence that the government bring about reforms if India is to succeed. The fact is that many nations have done reforms, but are not Great Powers,' says Aakar Patel.
'One glance at the Indians on the field compared to these visiting South Africans, and you know something is very wrong or very different. One side (not our side) looks like athletes do,' says Aakar Patel.
In any institution that has a passionate ideology, the moderate is always vulnerable to the person who is more extreme, because that is what the supporters want.
What has changed to make our team so much more lethal, asks Aakar Patel.
'In Bollywood, the power is disproportionately in the hands of a few men, whether they are actors or producers or directors.' 'The woman who makes an allegation against them can forget working in the industry again.'
'We are in the middle of the biggest self created crisis of this government.' 'A crisis which involves and includes citizens and affects the way we go about our lives.' 'It is a crisis that is being managed poorly by the government and, it is absolutely clear, even more shoddily by the Opposition,' says Aakar Patel.
'I got to know the men accused of the blasts regularly meeting them in court and jail. Some of them, like Dutt, are back in jail. Others, like Mohammed Jindran, a quiet and well spoken middle class man, were killed. And now of course Yakub is ready to be hanged. The first in the case to do so,' says Aakar Patel.
'In a nation where safety standards are the lowest in the world, why make compliance expensive?' asks Aakar Patel.
'Many fresh faces have come before him on both sides, and every sort of individual -- liberal, conservative, hardliner, dictator -- has come and gone.' 'I think we just seem to be happier when we hate one another,' says Aakar Patel.
'The defence minister should concentrate on acquiring a bigger stick, rather than brag of using terrorists as State policy.'
'Why do visas require the intervention of India's Union ministers? Does any civilised nation assure visas like this over Twitter?'
'The BJP has bent. Pakistan has not changed a single thing. It is the BJP and its supporters who have changed. And this is a very good thing,' says Aakar Patel.
'Why exclude those who are curious about our faith but not born into it, to experience the temple?'
'Those who were first at the site of Gauri Lankesh's murder scene noticed that the place was still open for people to casually walk in and out.' 'No forensic evidence of value can remain in such places,' points out Aakar Patel.
'Few practitioners of yoga doing the Surya Namaskar, including lakhs of Americans and Europeans, see it as a form of worshipping the sun. They do it because it is good exercise.' 'In my view Muslim groups need to be more flexible on such things and not present their problem in terms that are confrontational.' 'Having said that, are they over-reacting? The history and the background of the government and its ministers would lead us to believe otherwise,' says Aakar Patel.
It is a difficult question to answer. This problem will remain with us for a very long time because we are the only major nation whose elite speaks a language that is a foreign tongue, says Aakar Patel.
'To love all Indians is to love India in reality.' 'To love the lines on a map is to love a symbol,' says Aakar Patel.
''We have a very difficult period ahead of us.' 'Fortunately we have a popular government and a popular leader who is ideally placed to take us into confidence,' says Aakar Patel.
'There appears to be no relation between a government with a majority and GDP growth as the stock market and its analysts seem to fear.'
'Gujaratis, among all Indians, are supposed to be born businessmen, but if more than 80% of them do not have the ability to do basic arithmetic, the future is grim.' 'The big issues are in society and they cannot be changed by an HRD minister no matter how brilliant she may be or think of herself as being,' says Aakar Patel.
'What does the nation get out of the CBI's fabulous infrastructure? Very little that is useful.'
'It doesn't really matter ultimately what individual commentators say or write about Modi. So long as he continues the BJP's march towards greater vote share, a bigger geographic spread and a crushing of the Congress, he is a success,' says Aakar Patel.
'Our priority cannot be better cities. Since real change is not possible, we must satisfy ourselves with a change in name,' says Aakar Patel.
'In Bastar, as in Delhi, being branded 'anti-national' in the eyes of the government now seems to have acquired new meaning,' says Aakar Patel.
'Our passionate love for our nation as seen in our anger at slogan shouters does not extend to caring for the nation in other ways. We are one of the dirtiest people on earth and even our holiest river the Ganga can only be cleaned if the Supreme Court orders it, and even then with difficulty,' says Aakar Patel.
The human rights organisation has called for an independent inquiry into the selective leaks of information.
'The desire to force others to act according to the way we want the world to be is strong in our parts. This is particularly so because we have not fully internalised the idea of individual liberties. The fact is that our moralism will get us into trouble,' says Aakar Patel.
'This is social reform, which has to be conducted from within society and by its institutions, like religious bodies, not by public officials and ministers. That is why I think the big change Modi seeks is actually not in his power to bring about,' says Aakar Patel.
'I have been a court reporter for many years and have not seen such blatant suppression of those who are fighting for human rights, suppression of freedom of expression, and linking it to terrorism.'
Police had sought an extension of Zubair's custody by five days.
'Ashok the Great did not slaughter foreigners or Muslims when he conquered Kalinga. It was Oriya- speaking Hindus whom he butchered by the tens of thousands. But Ashok is called Great, and his lion emblem is the official symbol of the Republic of India.' 'Why do we honour Ashoka and not Tipu, when both men are accused of the same crime?' asks Aakar Patel.
It is the voter who has corrupted politics, not the politician, says Aakar Patel.
'Till today, the RSS only speaks of Hindu Rashtra but never explains what it means. It cannot, because it would be unacceptable to even a majority of Hindus, forget the Indian Muslims and Christians,' says Aakar Patel.
'I am only slightly puzzled by why the childishness has not left the minister. It is easy to be prejudiced and closed-minded when one is in one's teens. But adults should view the world as adults, not as squabbling and petty schoolchildren,' says Aakar Patel.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances