'They will be in prison all their life and they will understand what suffering means to Reuben's and Keenan's families.'
'I approached the ministries for a response, but they did not respond on time, so I had to approach the court.'
'If you post on social media on an issue like power cuts in Tral, the police will come to your home and tell you to remove your social media post.' 'If you don't, then the local police threaten you that they will book you under PSA.' 'This is happening all the time in Kashmir.'
No one can make the audience laugh like Govinda, raves Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'The BJP has 106 MLAs and Eknath Shinde claims the support of 40 MLAs. So why are they both not forming the government right now in Mumbai? Why the delay?' Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf reports.
'Every Congressman in Rajasthan is in Ashok Gehlot's pocket.'
'His biggest contribution as defence minister was to change the rules of bringing martyred soldiers' bodies home.'
'In low-profile cases, if there's a small quantity (of drugs involved), you get bail on the first day.' 'In high-profile cases, it depends on the judge.'
'The Constitution of India defeated the BJP.'
'They just say we agree to your demands in the meetings, which is lip service. But on the ground they do not implement anything.'
If Govinda wants to give Bollywood's filmmakers a wake up call, he needs to do a film that showcases his acting talent, writes Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'I'm talking about that predator in your house, and how one should protect one's children from him.'
'Assam is not a dumping ground for Bangladeshi Hindu refugees,' says Assamese actor Ravi Sharma who joined the BJP in August and quit the party on December 10 in protest against the Citizenship Act.
'It is a frightening situation as the most threatening aspect is the development and growth of society.' 'Once our society comes into perpetual violent mode, then investments will drop.'
Sanju is a repeat of Munnabhai, feels Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'The Maoists have weakened considerably in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh after Milind Teltumbde's death.'
'The first duty of the government is to learn lessons from a bad experience and course correct. It's a pity that the government is making policy without looking at evidence and differentiating between immediate and urgent.'
'He only promotes those leaders who will never show any resistance to him in future.'
Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha's tenures in the Rajya Sabha end this month.
'Government supplied public services are less likely to be found in neighbourhoods with high numbers of Scheduled Castes and Muslims.'
'The Opposition thinks since the ruling party is following Savarkar's Hindutva philosophy, they want to regain their lost political mileage (by attacking Savarkar).' 'By doing so, they think they will get their power back.'
'We cannot leave our entire unorganised sector to the vagaries of market forces.'
'It is not his doing, but Rahul Gandhi is forced by circumstances.' 'In taking political decisions, everything has to get his clearance.'
'Rahul Gandhi should have prevented Nitish Kumar from going.' 'He must pacify Mamata Banerjee if he has a cause of Mohabbat Ki Dukaan.' 'He should bring this Mohabbat Ki Dukaan on the political canvas.'
'The tragedy with Indian Muslims is that they do politics from the heart, not from the head.'
After watching Uri: The Surgical Strike, Syed Firdaus Ashraf gets the feeling that Modi has added another tool to help him win the 2019 Lok Sabha election: Hindi cinema...
'The consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya has demoralised them.' 'And, now it is reflecting in their individual reactions as they are losing hope to take on the BJP in 2024.'
Indians waiting patiently in serpentine queues outside Mumbai banks tell Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf they are ready to suffer for the larger good of the country.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf applauds The Kapil Sharma Show's reincarnation.
'The buildings all around had caved in or were damaged. The trees were all uprooted. Things were very scary.'
'Yogi was there, but ultimately the BJP got extremely worried and therefore Modi pitched in.'
'We are very close to become a theocratic State where Hinduism is the official religion of the government.'
'There is no law or Article in the Constitution that says the prime minister must inaugurate the new Parliament, but Article 79 of the Constitution says the President of India is the competent person.'
'Modi is now the biggest messiah of OBCs and Dalits as V P Singh once was.'
'We request the Indian government that they send some buses urgently so that we can travel in groups and reach safety.'
Hamid Nihal Ansari, a software engineer from Mumbai, returned to India in December 2018 after spending six years in a Pakistani jail for illegally entering the neighbouring country from Afghanistan, reportedly to meet a girl he had befriended online. He was arrested in 2012 and lodged at Peshawar jail after Pakistan had slapped espionage charges against him. The decision to release him was on account of relentless pressure from New Delhi and Sushma Swaraj, who was the external affairs minister and was personally monitoring the case. Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, Ansari recalls the time he spent with her and says that if it wasn't for her efforts, he would still be rotting away in a Pakistani cell.
'A stable and strong Pakistan with an anti-India mindset and hatred is not good for us.'
'They know that if they do not tie up with the Congress, then the minorities will move to the Congress.'
'Till today, we don't know how many people died of Covid in India.' 'How many migrated from cities to villages during the Covid pandemic?' 'How many corporates contributed to PM Cares?'
So worried is Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde of desertions that he is asking rebel MLAs in Guwahati to sign affidavits affirming that they won't go back on supporting the 'cause of Hindutva' after reaching Mumbai.
