Atal Bihari Vajpayee

“In Indonesia, Malaysia, wherever Muslims are living, they don't want to live in harmony.”

“If Advaniji did not want, I would never have been Prime Minister.”

“India is a proud and sovereign country. We do not take any decisions under pressure from the U.S. or any other power.”

“India helped Bangladesh to achieve independence. The Bangladeshis should remain happy inside the territory of their own country.”

“We hope the world will act in the spirit of enlightened self-interest.”

“We used to fight with Pakistan with bombs. Now we are fighting with them on the playing ground.”

“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?”

“Our aim should be to make India a global R&D hub.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The prime minister's office is not something that one enjoys.”

“I have a vision of India: an India free of hunger and fear, an India free of illiteracy and want.”

“India has the sanction of her own past glory and future vision to become strong - in every sense of the term.”

“We have ended hunger, but now we have to end famine.”

“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.”

“The Bio-diversity Convention has not yielded any tangible benefits to the world's poor.”

“Global interdependence today means that economic disasters in developing countries could create a backlash on developed countries.”

“There can be no compromise regarding corruption.”