We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
'According to CMIE data, employment in manufacturing saw a reduction from 51 million in the country in 2016 to 27 million in 2021. 'That is, it has halved in just 5 years. 'At the same time, the national lockdown resulted in reverse migration to rural areas, and an increase in the number of workers in agriculture. 'It also means joblessness has increased in agriculture because there are too many workers; the number of workers went up from 200 million to 232 million.'
'You will see more laws that treat Hindus and non-Hindus, especially Muslims, quite unequally.' 'Once you see this kind of erosion of secularism, it will be very hard to get it back.'
'The way discrimination against Muslims has become almost normalised is very upsetting.'
'The Constitution of India is a stumbling block. So, they want a Presidential mode of election.' 'This is the sole purpose of the BJP to go for one nation, one election.'
'Since the party is at a stage when things are very bad, this is the best time to experiment.'
'I have saved your name on my phone, but I cannot read or pronounce it.' 'I am able to recognise my wife's name today because after seeing it for so long, it has been imprinted in my mind as a picture and not the letters.'
'Ram Sene or Bajrang Dal were supposed to be fringe elements, but with the BJP in power, they have become mainstream elements.' 'The government is either keeping quiet or indirectly supporting them.'
'I don't think there will be any problem for Hindus to accept Adityanath as the leader, since they have already chosen Modi.'
'A climate of impunity is created when the fascistic hate-mongers reckon they can get away with anything because 'this is our regime' and this is going to be a 'Hindu Rashtra'.'
'The State uses identity politics as part of divide and rule; the militant groups too use identity politics and civil society groups are also divided along ethnic groups.'
'We have lived through 10% plus inflation in India and we are aware of the economic pitfall.' 'With the RBI now having formally adopted an inflation target range, they cannot turn a blind eye to the impending risks.'
'Welfare schemes are not a necessary evil, they are a necessary good.'
'80% of the rural and urban population don't have enough purchasing power.'
'We are a national party that wants to remind people about Bharatiya sanskruti, which, at the moment, is being remote-controlled by an Italian lady and her agents,' says former Union minister O Rajagopal, the BJP candidate from Thiruvananthapuram who will challenge Shashi Tharoor.
'It is so gratifying that I was able to help donate 130 eyes to those who needed them.'
'The approach today is, instead of giving loans to 100 MSMEs, let us give one loan to a big-ticket corporate.' 'And so many of these big fish deceived the banks and the banks are in the doldrums now with high NPAs.'
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'Why was Yeddyurappa taken back by the BJP ? Because his community is very strong in Karnataka and if he is back, the BJP thinks it will get more seats.' The government should stop all reservations based on caste, Gandhian Salem Velu Gandhi -- who recently asked the Supreme Court to include a new caste in the list of India's castes, for the children of inter-caste marriages -- tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
'What The Kerala Story is trying to do is take the fake hate propaganda which we saw earlier only on WhatsApp to the big screen now.'
'In his first speech in Parliament, Modi spoke about the slavery of 1,400 years, and though he didn't say in so many words, the meaning was that he had come to re-establish a Hindu Rashtra.'
'The regime -- and particularly the home ministry under Amit Shah -- have sought to suppress and destroy these struggles through intimidation, bullying, threats, through false cases, arrests, custodial torture, the use of draconian laws like the UAPA.'
'If you look at this Budget, except for the Rs 2 increase in petrol and diesel, there is no positive or negative impact from the Budget for the common man.'
'Every Congressperson is disillusioned in different degrees.'
'Dr Kalam never felt or behaved like a President during his entire tenure of five years as the President.' 'Not even a single day, he felt he was the first citizen of India, or someone different from the others, or the President of India.'
'He always used to say, 'I have taken up this post to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and I will do it during the time I am here'.'
'A delay of two years has happened, but stretching it to 2024 is a bit too far.' 'And we do not know about 2024 also.'
'She will forever be remembered for being a disrupter - a disrupter in a positive sense - as she disrupted the hierarchies that existed in society!'
'It taught me how to be resilient, how to be strong and how to be courageous.'
'Such a struggle at Kalakshetra is unprecedented.'
'Whether it will create an impact or not, only time will tell.'
'When I saw my name in the list, it was unbelievable.'
'The others have been looting the people all these years. If you don't do that, you can do a lot for the people,' says Tamil star politician Vijayakanth.
'We hope to make parents aware that it takes only a few minutes in a day to be with your children so that they feel they are the most important person at that time.'
'This society discriminates against a girl from the time she is born, in school, at home, everywhere,' young lawyer Anima Muyarath, who was suspended by the local bar association for a post on her Facebook page, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
'To lead the Congress party, you need experience.' 'You should have held some positions which give you the experience of running the party at any level.' 'Tharoor doesn't have any such experience.'
'This is about children caring for their parents and helping them with assistance.'
'Why does a State that sees a national security issue at every turn not recognise the seriousness of the data from sensitive databases being breached?'
'We want to make sustainability affordable.' 'We tell everyone, don't just recycle, Craste it!'
'What the government should do is to use the vaccine judiciously, not just to prevent a third wave alone, but to stop the number of deaths happening in the interim.'
'After the 4th of May we can expect thunderstorms, dust storms and some rain over a large area of north India.'
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