I believe that democracy is the best guarantor for peace and cooperation among nations.
— Atal Bihari Vajpayee
India has a legitimate right to becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
There can be no compromise regarding corruption.
My message to the people and rulers of Pakistan is, 'As neighbours, we want peace and friendship and cooperation with you so that together we can change the face of South Asia.'
Let me make one thing clear. I have never considered mere survival in power as any achievement, just as I have never seen coming to power as an achievement in itself.
Our nuclear scientists and engineers have done a splendid job, and naturally, the entire nation has risen to salute their professional excellence, discipline, and patriotism. They have had the benefit of having been led in the past by great men like Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai.
India and the United States have taken a decisive step, away from the past. The dawn of the new century has marked a new beginning in our relations. Let us work to fulfil this promise and the hope of today. Let us remove the shadow of agitation that lies between us and our joint vision.
This power of democracy is a matter of pride for our country, something which we must always cherish, preserve and further strengthen.
No guns but only brotherhood can resolve the problems.
It is true that of all the states in India, Nagaland has a unique history. We are sensitive to this historical fact. But this uniqueness has in no way diminished the spirit of patriotism among the Naga people.
If Pakistan claims to be a crucial partner in the international coalition against terrorism, how can it continue to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy against India?
Empowering the individual means empowering the nation. And empowerment is best served through rapid economic growth with rapid social change.
I am often accused of colluding with the British during the freedom struggle. I want to ask, how?
Our aim should be to make India a global R&D hub.
For the Bharatiya Janata Party, Gandhian socialism is what we want to achieve and make society free of exploitation and full of opportunities.
We used to fight with Pakistan with bombs. Now we are fighting with them on the playing ground.
The spending in science and technology need to be to increased.
I try to indulge my muse whenever I am able to get away from it all.
Population needs to be stabilised for sustainable development.
The BJP is not a party dependent on a single individual, nor is it tied to the apron strings of a family.
India is a proud and sovereign country. We do not take any decisions under pressure from the U.S. or any other power.
India has the sanction of her own past glory and future vision to become strong - in every sense of the term.
Indian democracy's greatest strength is that we have always put the nation above politics.
While accepting donations, no one looks at the colour of money.
Victory and defeat are a part of life, which are to be viewed with equanimity.
I believe the gun is no solution to problems.
The BJP decides its own policies.
If the elections are a mere fraud, why are terrorists being trained and infiltrated into India at the command of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency of Pakistan to kill election candidates and to intimidate voters?
We are unnecessarily wasting our precious resources in wars... if we must wage war, we have to do it on unemployment, disease, poverty, and backwardness.
During the 1942 Quit India Movement, I was a student at Gwalior High School. I was arrested by the British for participating in the movement. My parents then sent me off to my village where, again, I jumped into the movement.
Labour reforms are not anti-worker.
The regional parties have emerged as a strong force, and they, too, deserve a place in national politics.
India helped Bangladesh to achieve independence. The Bangladeshis should remain happy inside the territory of their own country.
It is a matter of concern that science departments in India's vast university system have suffered greatly due to lack of investments, both material and in terms of faculty.
People want government to deliver - here and now.
My poet's heart gives me strength to face political problems, particularly those which have a bearing on my conscience.
The prime minister's office is not something that one enjoys.
For me, power was never an attraction.
India has never played politics with national security.
Our aim may be as high as the endless sky, but we should have a resolve in our minds to walk ahead, hand-in-hand, for victory will be ours.
We have given up office, but not our responsibility to serve the nation. We have lost an election, but not our determination.
If Pakistan had not accepted the demand to stop cross-border infiltration and the United States had not conveyed to us Pakistan's guarantee to do so, then nothing could have stopped a war.
Who can forget that in critical times of war in 1962, 1965 and 1971, Naga underground organisations did not fire on the Indian Army? They showed restraint.
Whatever understanding is reached with Pakistan has to be followed honestly, and everybody will have to rise above party politics and be actively committed to make India prosperous.
It requires an effort of logical acrobatics to believe that carnage of innocents is an instrument for freedom and elections are a symbol of deception and repression!
If Advaniji did not want, I would never have been Prime Minister.
I have never been a traitor. I am not an informer; I never betrayed my nation.
If India is not secular, then India is not India at all.
No one can be considered untouchable on political grounds.
We have ended hunger, but now we have to end famine.
