“This is a victory for the people of Bihar. The people had a clear choice: do they want development or do they want Bihar to return to its old days… The people have decided… we want development. Development has won in Bihar.”
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after the JD(U)-BJP alliance won a landslide victory in the state legislative assembly elections (November 24)
“The Congress has never spared anyone indulging in corrupt practices because we know that corruption is the worst malady facing our nation and is, therefore, also the biggest hurdle in the path of our development. We have zero tolerance towards corruption.”
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at a rally in Allahabad on November 24
‘Reforms in the police and criminal justice system have been studiously resisted for decades by all parties on account of the criminalisation of politics and the politicisation of crime.”
B.G. Verghese, former editor, author and columnist (The Indian Express, November 26)
“What do you want me to tell them (the Congress)? Tell me. Ill talk to them.”
Television journalist Barkha Dutt to corporate lobbyist Nira Radia — excerpt from tapped telephone line of Radia (Outlook, November 29)
“Weve made a basic offer, if Karunanidhi responds to us and tells us hed like to respond directly, hed like to talk to Mrs. Gandhi, wed be happy.”
Celebrity editor Vir Sanghvi in conversation with Nira Radia — ibid
“If both could bring themselves to admitting they crossed a line, apologise and declare it wont happen again, the entire journalist community would breathe easier and hold its head up a little higher.”
Unsolicited advice of T.N. Ninan, editor Business Standard, to journalists Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi (BS, November 27)
“Our official foreign policy is not set through these messages, but here in Washington.”
US state secretary Hillary Clinton on the Wikileaks tapes (November 30)