'While they were respectful of the PM, it was clear that as ministers, they owed their positions as much, if not more, to Mrs Gandhi.' 'When attacks were mounted on the PM, there was very little coordinated effort by the Congress, UPA ministers or other politicians to speak up in his favour and strongly defend him.' B K Chaturvedi, Cabinet Secretary during the early years of UPA1, reveals how the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi equation worked. A riveting excerpt from Chaturvedi's memoir, Challenges Of Governance: An Insider's View
'What he says, he does.' 'People say if Khargesahab has said something, it will be set in stone.'
The Emergency greatly influenced the RSS' makeover from a fringe force in the Indian political imagination to one that could have its own man sworn in as prime minister in two decades' time. A riveting excerpt from Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil's India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977.
'The Congress president gets into samurai mode only when there is a direct attack on her and her family.' 'Is being the president of the oldest and one of the most respected parties in India only about personal reputation and survival?' asks Sudhir Bisht.
Several leaders, including many MPs, wrote to Sonia Gandhi, either calling for her to continue or urging Rahul Gandhi to take charge.
'Walking is the loudest statement.' 'When someone says, I control everything and no one can oppose me, there are thousands of people on the streets saying no, we oppose you -- this is a very bold statement.'
'During the Emergency, it boiled down to two people: Mrs Gandhi and her younger son.' 'But today, the cancer is spreading all over.'
'When I realised that I was to take the pictures of Pandit Nehru, I was very nervous and scared.'
'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.'
The Indian government refused to permit the release of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's passport because of concerns with respect to her personal security and keeping confidential the methods used to protect her. George Joseph reports from New York
'When an individual becomes authoritarian, you can overthrow the individual easily. 'When the system becomes authoritarian, whoever challenges the system will be called a criminal or an anti-national.'
Michel, who was extradited from Dubai recently, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on December 22 and sent to a seven-day custody of the agency over money-laundering charges in the scam by a court.
Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who served as press secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure, salutes the statesman and political legend, who passed into the ages on Monday.
Will a time come when people will look beyond what they see as Modi'S strengths and begin to wonder why they have got poorer or sicker under his rule, asks Vir Sanghvi.
'Crucial intelligence was obtained by a R&AW operative from a couple of moles inside the camps four days before the Balakot operation.'
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
Would Ukraine be such a pushover if it had that nuclear stockpile?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'New Delhi's rulers should be alert to lighting a dangerous tinderbox,' warns Sunil Sethi.
'I don't think such a meeting ever happened... I don't see how it is even possible without people coming to know immediately,' says Julio Ribeiro.
Countering Sonia Gandhi's charges that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's promises were "hollow and false", Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the Congress president saying she was "spreading lies" against his government.
Varsha Bhosle salutes that effervescent icon of Indian cinema, Dev Anand.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde asked senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for PIL petitioners Shashank Shekhar Jha and journalist Savio Rodrigues, to withdraw the plea and approach the high court.
"I apologise for the inconvenience", United States astronaut Neil Armstrong told Indira Gandhi when informed that the Indian prime minister had kept awake till 4:30 am to watch him land on the moon on July 20, 1969.
Social activist Aruna Roy in a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi expressed her displeasure over the arrests of Medha Patkar and other campaigners and over the violation of right to peaceful protest. Here's the full text of the letter.
'Should you give a man fish, or teach him how to fish?' 'Lurking hidden in the new bout of welfarism seems to be an admission that the State can't deliver for the poor anything other than cash,' notes T N Ninan.
'To keep laughing is the most important thing in life.'
Expressing his resentment at the recent smear campaign against civil society members by certain elements, including some within the Congress and the government, to derail the fight against corruption, social activist Anna Hazare shot off a strongly-worded letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
An opposition party in Sri Lanka on Monday accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi of 'gross interference' in the country's internal affairs for seeking constitutional amendments to fulfil the political aspirations of the ethnic Tamil community in Colombo."Mrs Gandhi has said that there must be constitutional changes to address Sri Lankan Tamil issues. This is a gross interference in our internal affairs," said Tilwin Silva, general secretary of JVP.
In this event, it is the IAF that showed true professionalism, telling the boss they weren't going to fly in that weather. You can see what professionalism and moral courage it takes to say no to your prime minister. Only things like that can keep him safe, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'Being authoritative is one thing -- Nehru was that -- but being authoritarian is quite another -- the current prime minister is clearly one.'
As Pranab Mukherjee passes away, we remember the man, the politician, the Rashtrapati.
'In the world she was being described as a dictator and she wanted to prove she wasn't,' says Mohan Dharia, the former minister who she jailed during the Emergency.
Say hello to the cast of The Accidental Prime Minister.
'R N Kao was a spymaster, an institution builder and a gentleman.'
'In my view, she was the greatest prime minister India has had until today'
'Till today, we don't know what PM Modi discussed with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, but we have been told that the relations have been reset.' 'We have no evidence from China to show that anything has changed, even though India had made several gestures in preparation for Wuhan,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Gandhi underwent a surgery on her left shoulder on August 3 and doctors said she almost recovered from the injury.
Jaswant Singh, former external affairs in the National Democratic Alliance government, while taking a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for telling American president George Bush how much Indians loved him, said that none of the preceeding prime ministers had ever made such a comment.
Filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra talks about his biopic on Sonia Gandhi and other forthcoming movies.
Her medical condition was stable and she has been advised rest.