'Our movement was not about putting any flag on the Red Fort, but it is to secure our livelihood.'
'On January 22, when the last round of talks took place, the farmer leaders were told by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar that the government is also prepared.' 'And they did this.'
'Since I was held at gunpoint I had no option but to give them the car keys.' 'They took the car and drove away.'
She could not believe how much India had changed since the last time she experienced it first hand.
'If Israel had stuck to the peace accords, Hamas would have had no one to fight.'
'The government is saying that essential commodities are exempted, but on the ground there is no competent officer from the government who can say which is an essential commodity and which is not.'
'Right now, only religious groups of Hindus and Muslims are working on the ground.' 'The government is missing.'
'It was Maulana Azad's foresight which created the IITs, UGC, science academies across the country.'
'We cannot accept that this incident was not in the knowledge of the home ministry.' 'If they had no knowledge about this incident, then it is a big intelligence failure as the Union home ministry has no idea what is going on in Manipur and what the state police is doing.'
'They are trying to make the situation bad for Indian Railways so that they can hand it over to private companies.'
'The message they want to send to the country is that they can do anything by hook or crook'
'BJP takes Lingayat support and later on they throw them out, ditch them and humiliate them.' After months of speculation Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa resigned from the chief minister's post. A powerful Lingayat community leader, Yediyurappa could not even complete his term, owing to the internal politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party. So how does Lingayat community view his exit? Congress working president, Karnataka state and Lingayat leader Eshwar Khandre speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, said, "The community which voted him and felt that they will lead the government are now disenchanted."
Why 'anti-Romeo'? Why not 'anti-loafer' squad? Or 'anti-Majnu' squad?' wonders Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'When the Babri Masjid was demolished, we didn't take permission from anyone.'
'Today in Uttar Pradesh all big parties like Samajwadi Party, BJP or even Bahujan Samaj Party are out to woo smaller parties as they know the Hindu votes are getting divided.'
With Union Minister Kiren Rijiju stoking a controversy by saying that the Hindu population was falling while minorities are flourishing, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf studied the 2001 and 2011 census data to track the demographic changes in the northeast.
As the Aam Aadmi Party heads for a resounding win in Delhi, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists the reasons behind Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's triumph.
'Upper castes who complain against reservations are fighting only for their own castes.'
'The Naxals started firing indiscriminately.' 'The whole jungle echoed with the sound of bullets.' 'The only thing I heard from that side was 'Chhodna kisi ko nahi (don't let anyone escape)'.'
'The mindset of people needs to change.' 'We still believe in accepting cash when we can do business with digital money as well.'
'These atheist people wanted to finish the progress of Sabrimala temple devotees and now they are using this (the Supreme Court verdict) as a weapon to destroy the believers.'
'If you want proof, visit any bank in Mumbai and you will find the poor standing in bank queues.' 'They are queuing up from midnight outside the banks.'
Hours after the government banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Indians are facing an acute shortage of change.
'Military operations demand the highest degree of secrecy.' 'Those who are demanding transparency in military operations must understand what military operations are all about.'
'Gehlot is right now doing things, which are not appreciated by the Gandhis.' 'The Gandhis have realised that their writ does not run in Rajasthan, therefore they have deflected the issue to Kharge.'
Less than half the ministers in Team Yogi are not long-term BJP members. Many old-timers have been dropped.
'Use of the word 'genocide' for Kashmiri Pandits is absolutely wrong.'
'Priyanka did draw huge crowds and eventually all of those ended up voting for the Samajwadi Party.' 'The voters today are smart enough to vote for the party which they know is going to win or they know this party will come second, but no way will they vote for a party which will come third or fourth.'
'You need a leader whom India can identify with and I cannot think of any other leader except Sachin Pilot in the Congress party.'
'One cannot avoid speculating whether there was something else at play that led to the uncovering of this saga.'
'If Mayawati had performed better, then the BJP would have had a much tougher time to win UP.' 'The present gap in number of seats between the BJP and SP would have got reduced.'
Glimpses of the CWC meeting, which was meant to formulate a plan to revive the party from the death throes of electoral irrelevance, but...
'I wrote to the PMO to know who has written the slogan. but did not get an answer.'
'Had the Congress made Sidhu its CM face, they would have won 80 out of 117 seats.'
When Syed Firdaus Ashraf received messages last weekend, asking him to boycott Chinese goods, he laughed.
'I support Udta Punjab because we must show the reality of Punjab.' 'If there is a problem, it should be highlighted, not hidden.' 'The truth must come out and people must know the harmful effects of drugs.'
'The right wing has worked for 70-80 years at the grass roots before it burst onto social media.' 'Social media is an extension of its formidable work in society.' 'If you think you can fight them on social media, forget it. You can't.'
'Putin has set aside all the rules and now he is deciding the rules.'
