'We had to respect the sentiments of the people of Jammu as our party was elected from Jammu.'
'This is total fraud. You are showing me the slip of my vote but not counting it so this is fraud.'
'Modi is now the biggest messiah of OBCs and Dalits as V P Singh once was.'
'Israelis not only harassed Palestine Muslims, but also Christians.' 'Palestinians have been telling Israel that this will blow up the situation, but they would not listen to us.'
'If he gets bail, he will bounce back.'
As Narendra Modi and his ministers vigorously campaign for a shift to a cashless society, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf reports on what is really happening on the ground.
'There was a statement by a minister that 30,000 Kashmiri Pandits have come back to the Kashmir Valley after the abrogation of Article 370, it is all b.......t and a white lie.' 'Nobody has come back.'
'Yogi was there, but ultimately the BJP got extremely worried and therefore Modi pitched in.'
'We request the Indian government that they send some buses urgently so that we can travel in groups and reach safety.'
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
'Every Congressman in Rajasthan is in Ashok Gehlot's pocket.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf tries to escape the Mumbai heat in the hills of Uttarakhand and discovers the aftermath of climate change and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
'We are a country of amazing ability and the way we have responded to the pandemic is evidence.'
'Modi warned China, therefore they have come to the talks.' 'Nothing will come out of these talks.'
'As far as I know, Sachin Pilotji is not going to the BJP.'
'Subodh Singh had a key role as the investigating officer in the Akhlaq murder case.' 'He was the first key witness from the government side in the case.'
Where did the rasgulla originate from? Is the dish originally from Odisha or West Bengal?
'Where was the armed police?' 'Did you see armed constables around him?' 'There was deep negligence by the UP police and this was a deep conspiracy.'
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.
'People will feel cheated as they always felt a part of India. We want to be with India and we want people of India to accept us.' Laway tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'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.'
Chandrashekhar Sawant halted the train by applying the emergency brake when he saw the debris falling as the train was approaching the collapsing bridge.
'Mamata Didi is the only politician who can take on the might of Modi.'
Within four years of winning a single party majority in the Lok Sabha with 282 seats -- the first time it has happened in 30 years -- the BJP has lost it.
'Government supplied public services are less likely to be found in neighbourhoods with high numbers of Scheduled Castes and Muslims.'
'Every traffic police station in the city has a policeman designated unofficially as the 'cashier.' 'His job is to collect the bribes and, at the end of every month, distribute this money among the cops according to rank.'
'The Constitution of India defeated the BJP.'
'We cannot leave our entire unorganised sector to the vagaries of market forces.'
'They just say we agree to your demands in the meetings, which is lip service. But on the ground they do not implement anything.'
'They did not spare the girls or teachers; they beat all of them.' 'We kept calling the police, but no one came.'
'The Congress may have made mistakes, but their ideology is not wrong. India will not function if you do not believe in unity in diversity,' declares filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com reports from Lucknow.
'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.'
'He was provided sustenance by the British.' 'Many times he wrote to the British that he needed an increase in pension.'
'I was not there at the spot and I don't know who was driving the car.' 'It is a matter that needs to be investigated by the police and it is their job,' says the father of the journalist who was killed in Lakhimpur Kheri.
'I'm talking about that predator in your house, and how one should protect one's children from him.'
'The buildings all around had caved in or were damaged. The trees were all uprooted. Things were very scary.'
The hits and misses of the week.
'A stable and strong Pakistan with an anti-India mindset and hatred is not good for us.'
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