'Even if the BJP does not come to power, the system has changed.'
'The Scindias betrayed Jhansi ki Rani and now the Congress party.' 'So this is nothing new as he is repeating the history of his family.'
'He had 6 billion names to choose from and he chose the Pope who is the religious head of the Catholic community in the whole world.'
'The PM of India was 20 km away from the Pakistan border and he is one of the persons under extreme threat from that country and they put his life in danger.'
'In IIT, most faculty members have a bias against SC/ST students.' 'SC/ST and OBC students have no idea whom to approach for support.'
'This country is not of one culture. We must live together and we must respect each other.'
'Maharashtra governor did not do anything that was contrary to the Supreme Court's decision.'
'O P Sharma pulled me down to the ground and started punching and kicking me.' 'The Delhi police, instead of arresting Sharma and the others, detained me for five hours after this incident.'
'When there is so much anxiety, the Government of India should assure people on the vaccine issue and help the states demanding more supply that they will be provided the required quantities.' 'Any Centre-state conflict at this point of time is counter-productive and enhances people's anxieties that should be avoided.'
'People are questioning these highways and expressways in UP because ultimately, they want to get bread and butter first.'
'It is not happening in the same manner as it was happening during the time of the Peshwas.' 'Whatever happened during the Peshwas cannot happen now.'
'Delhi is regretting its decision of electing Arvind Kejriwal.'
'If a politician asks the policeman to do something which is not correct, then why blame the politician?' 'If you do it, then you are equally liable.'
'We were expecting at least they would be held guilty, but instead they have gone scot-free'
'Crony capitalism will gain due to these Acts.'
'In 2021, assembly elections are going to be held in Assam. The BJP, sitting in Delhi, is thinking everything is hunky-dory in Assam. But that is not the case.' 'People of Assam are no longer with the BJP.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com tracks Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's project-launching spree with just about three months to go for the assembly election in India's most populous state.
'I will try to make sure everything runs smoothly from now on.' Is Gajendra Chauhan having the last laugh?
'If Modi-Shah had not changed the leadership, one section would have parted ways with the BJP for sure.'
'Two years ago I told Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that we have traitors in the Congress.'
'PM Modi is not taking Kashmir's stance as far as the Naga issue is concerned.'
'The test of true secularism in India is when a girl in your family decides to marry someone from another religion. If you accept her decision happily, then you are truly secular. If you don't, it means your secularism is fake,' argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'Releasing dam water for a holy bath is the most unholiest thing. No religion propagates polluting or squandering resources.' Professor Hiralal Desarda explains why he went to court against release of water for the Shahi Snan at the Kumbh Mela in Nashik.
'Had these three farm laws existed it would have become a huge election issue.'
Some police encounters that stunned India.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf walks the streets of Mahim, where Yakub Memon grew up and lived till the day before the serial blasts in 1993, on the day Yakub was hanged and discovers an undercurrent of unease and restrained anger.
'He was a nobody then.' 'And whatever little his contribution was there, it was restricted to Gujarat.'
'I don't believe that it beholds democracies like us who claim to be the largest democracy in the world, to have such a thin skin about the possibility of foreign commentary.'
'It was disappointing on two counts. One is on the leadership issue and second is how the Congress must win elections.'
When Amitabh Bachchan bounced back at 60, why can't Shah Rukh Khan at 51? Picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost, assures Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
It may be 2017, but the 'uska baap kaun hai, maloom hai kya' still dominates India.
'The BJP has been tinkering with the Indian Constitution every now and then.' 'Instead of celebrating November 26 as Constitution Day, the BJP was more interested in (the VHP's) Dharam Sabha which was called that day.' 'This shows they believe more in the Ram mandir than in the Constitution.'
On November 7, which marks 100 years of the Russian Revolution, Syed Firdaus Ashraf recalls a conversation he once had on Communism.
'Valmiki has not written anything about Hanuman's caste.' 'I want to clarify that Hanuman was not a Vanar, but an Adivasi.'
'The most serious issue is that of shooting a lawyer in the chest. That news has been buried.'
Sudhir Kumar Ojha from Muzaffarpur, an advocate known for his penchant to file cases against the high and mighty, has fired a legal salvo at the irrepressible cricketer-turned-politician.
'These officers should have sat together and sorted things out.' 'And if things were not working out amicably then the other organisations which control the CBI -- be it the CVC or the prime minister's office or even the home ministry -- someone should have gone ahead and solved these problems rather than reducing it to this farcical situation.'
'Salman Khan should be booked under the National Security Act as he is destroying Indian culture.'
Amjed Ullah Khan, who carried out investigations of his own and helped rescue 15 women from Hyderabad, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com how the women get trapped in an underground slave market that 'sells' them to employers who force them to work for less or no pay and often under inhuman conditions.
'South movies have the perfect script, the perfect action and the perfect romance.' 'That's why these films are running in theatres.'
