Shobha Warrier has extensively covered the Sabarimala issue for Rediff.com. She is the author of His Days with Bapu: Gandhi's Personal Secretary Recalls among several books. You can e-mail the author at shobhaw@rediff.co.in
'We want to be in kids' learning like what Disney is to kids' entertainment.'
'Forget Asthana. Forget Alok Verma. It is this government that has done the greatest damage.' 'My biggest worry is that they have made the CBI a puppet of the government.' 'They want the CBI director to act as per the wishes of the government.'
'Women all over India want a safer atmosphere at the place where they go to pray or meditate.'
'You can't take jobs to people, you have to take people to jobs.'
'When there is no middle ground possible between the government and the governor, the governor has to go.'
'We just cannot accept the interference of the government in matters concerning religion and faith.'
'It is true that we changed our opinion.' 'I feel the BJP or any other political party is guilty of not understanding the real mood of the people.'
'The controversy created by a Gujarat minister was totally unnecessary and unwanted.' 'It is a disgrace that a person who happened to be Gujarat's finance minister, spoke this kind of rubbish.'
''This chief minister is so obstinate that he is ready to use the police to attain his goal.' 'Had he been more mature rather than obstinate, Kerala would not have reached a boiling point.'
'This government has huge respect for the Supreme Court and when there is going to be a hearing on the review petition, it is appropriate to refrain from taking any action till then.'
'Life will not improve overnight; it will happen in a gradual manner.'
'Sometime back, there was not much empathy for communal sentiments or traditions in Kerala.' 'The situation is totally different now.' 'The forces which were not so powerful earlier are getting more powerful now.'
'In India, we are paying a price for not managing water as we are not willing to pay the cost for it.'
'In the last 4, 5 years, ever since online companies started online shopping in a big way with heavy discounts, our sales are affected badly.' 'As there is no control over the way the online companies operate, they were able to destroy the domestic retail market to a great extent.'
'Hindu unity is possible without any external forces playing any role if their faith is questioned.'
'The government made a mess.' 'When there is a director, how can you have an in-charge director?' 'Then, they shifted all the 14 officers who were working on the Asthana case which has never happened in the history of the CBI.'
'The accident happened because the railway track was at the same level as the ground, so the people walked over it.'
'It is wrong to assume that it is only after 1991 that we started following this ritual.' 'Ayyappan himself instructed where the temple had to be built, the rituals that had to followed and the route that had to be taken by devotees to the temple.'
'The first time a ban on women aged between 10 and 50 entering Sabarimala came was in 1991 and was by a high court judgment.' 'So, it is only a 27-year-old ban.' 'The high court can fix customs and the Supreme Court can overturn it.' 'I don't see this as an attack on religious freedom or the practice of a religion.'
'I had always felt he was on par with international musicians.' 'Everybody realised his worth as a musician only after he left us.'
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