'Putin is just flexing his muscles. He is not going to do anything. He is not that crazy.'

'He is not that crazy.' 'He is driven by a deep sense of Russian power have been diminished.'

'My belief that I could protect the Himalayas was shattered.'

In the last five years, 37 bridges have collapsed in Uttarakhand. Another 27 bridges are on the brink of collapse. 'Our politicians don't view these bridge collapses as a setback.' 'Rather they see them as an opportunity to make more money.'

'The day the power shifts, they will run across to the other side.'

'Instead of developing the capacity, capability and strength to fight our external enemies, we are turning our own people against each other.'

'From environmental impact assessment to forest clearances, this has turned out to be an unscientific road-widening project with catastrophic consequences.'

'This is probably why the late General Bipin Rawat, who hails from the Garhwal Himalaya, said that the existing roads are fine with the army.'

'We have not had one discussion on the border incursions or the subsequent report of the building of Chinese villages on Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.'

'After Uri, the current government took public ownership of surgical strikes.' 'The question they need to ask themselves is did this bring about a change in Pakistan's behaviour towards us? The answer is no.' 'If there had been a change, then Pulwama would not have happened.'

'What prevents infection are masks, physical distancing and good ventilation.'

'The bureaucracy in J&K feel completely disowned by the Centre.' 'The majority of officers under the scanner have not committed any irregularities and the Centre knows that.'

'I had emphasised this during our meeting with the PM.' 'Given our location, I had warned that there is a sensitivity involved as this is a frontier state.' 'The atmosphere around us is not conducive. But who listens?'

'Why wouldn't so strategically-minded an adversary, such as China, not militarily exploit to the maximum Indian timidity, stupidity, and cupidity all along the LAC and legitimate, as it has done so often in the past, the fait accompli of incremental territorial grabs which, by the way, is its strategy and policy as implemented on the ground?'

'Xi is keen that the remaining three territories still outside the Chinese ambit -- Taiwan, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Senkaku Islands in the East Sea -- be absorbed by the Communist regime by the time the centenary of the revolution rolls around in 2049.'

'The threat of ceding space to China in Afghanistan appears to be one factor propelling our government to get a bit more active now.'

'It was always anticipated that the return of the Taliban would embolden armed Islamists including anti-India groups like the Lashkar and Jaish.'

'He wants people who say only yes.'

'They will be able to ride over this immediate crisis and carry on, but they need to take corrective steps and these will have to be long term measures which must include working closely with state governments.'

'The present government swears by Hinduism. But we lost three of our sants during earlier BJP regimes.'