Pranab Mukherjee Quotations

The young people of India will build a strong and powerful nation, a nation that is politically mature and economically strong, a nation whose people enjoy both a high quality of life as well as justice.

Teaching was my transition from student life to working life. In those days, our system of education was a little different. The number of students in each class was huge. I think in political science general, which I taught, it was around 100.

I am comfortable at the height where destiny has put me.

We are all equal children before our mother; and India asks each one of us, in whatsoever role we play in the complex drama of nation-building, to do our duty with integrity, commitment and unflinching loyalty to the values enshrined in our Constitution.

The government of India and the government of Jammu and Kashmir are determined to ensure that every Kashmiri lives with dignity having equal rights and equal opportunities.

I come from a political family. My father was a freedom fighter. He was a prominent leader of the locality and member of the Congress party. He spent 10 years in British prisons. In the evening, in our living room, the only subject we used to discuss was politics. So politics was not unfamiliar to me.

Of course, running a coalition government in a country like India is a difficult task. More so when Congress leads the coalition, since most of the political parties were anti-Congress. To have a coalition, to run a coalition government, you require a lot of adjustments, a lot of flexibility.

In the 1980s, we were advised, why don't you follow Reaganomics or Thatcherite economics. We said, yes, there are good points, let's see how we can fit them in the Indian economy. Every country has its own way of moving forward.

As Indians, we must of course learn from the past; but we must remain focused on the future. In my view, education is the true alchemy that can bring India its next golden age.

There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger.

Propelled by freedom of faith, gender equality and economic justice for all, India will become a modern nation. Minor blemishes cannot cloak the fact that India is becoming such a modern nation: no faith is in danger in our country, and the continuing commitment to gender equality is one of the great narratives of our times.

India is a land of plenty inhibited by poverty; India has an enthralling, uplifting civilization that sparkles not only in our magnificent art, but also in the enormous creativity and humanity of our daily life in city and village.

I feel that when the reforms in UN take place and the Security Council will be expanded in the permanent membership category, India will have a place, I hope so, but first it is to be expanded.

I personally believe that the office of the President of India is not to be sought. It is to be offered.

Indian president does not determine policy. Here President is not the policy maker. In the name of the president, the cabinet takes the policy decision.

No problems are ever resolved by violence. It only aggravates the pain and the hurt on every side.

If the rise of European colonisation began in 18th century India, then the rallying cry of 'Jai Hind!' also signalled its end in 1947.

I have seen vast, perhaps unbelievable, changes during the journey that has brought me from the flicker of a lamp in a small Bengal village to the chandeliers of Delhi.

Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India.

In our generation, the role models were Gandhi and Nehru. We revered them. They were venerated personalities. I read almost every speech of Nehru.

Our federal Constitution embodies the idea of modern India: it defines not only India but also modernity.

India is content with itself, and driven by the will to sit on the high table of prosperity. It will not be deflected in its mission by noxious practitioners of terror.

Let Jammu and Kashmir lead the way in the building of a new future for India. Let it set an example to the rest of India and the world by showing how the entire region can be transformed into a zone of peace, stability and prosperity.

We must recognise that in a globalised world, we cannot remain insulated from external developments. India's trade performance in the current year has been robust, surpassing pre-crisis export levels and pre-crisis export growth trends. We have diversified our export baskets and our export destinations.

We are not apologetic of appointing a committee to look into the economic, social, education and cultural conditions of the single largest minority group.

Militants have made about five infiltration attempts since the October 8 earthquake, including two on a single day,

It is not withdrawal but redeployment of forces from Jammu and Kashmir to the northeast as the violence level has come down.

It is open. It will remain secular and apolitical.

Pakistan's point of view is when we have agreed to withdraw ... what is the relevance (of this) after the withdrawal agreement is signed,

Redeployment is a regular exercise undertaken after a review of the situation in the state. Last year we reduced troops voluntarily.

Some of them wanted to take advantage of the disturbed situation.

The armed forces are professional, apolitical, and secular and the most disciplined force the country has today... We would not like to include (the armed forces) in such a type of survey, (but) in the case of other departments and ministries such a study will continue.

We have agreed. They (Pakistan) have agreed to withdraw troops from the present positions. There is no two opinion about it, both sides have agreed

We are keeping a close watch as Nepal is of vital interest to India.

Trading would definitely benefit people on both sides of the border and this could be termed as a strategic partnership,

There is prima facie evidence of violation of clauses relating to use of undue influence and agents/agency commission, as contained in the contracts of Anti-Material Rifles (AMR) signed in 2002,

There are actually three French companies, one of them in the public sector, from which we are buying the submarines and not two.

Every political party has the right to demonstrate, but at the same time I have requested the state government to provide requisite security,

The time frame for consular services would be made available within three months,

Russia is a perfect partner in this direction.

Now after arrest, within three months, the consular services will have to be made available.

The Cabinet has given the approval for promulgation of National Commission for Minority Education.

They (Left Front government) have destroyed democratic institutions in the state. Parliamentary democracy becomes strong when there is an independent police, administration and judiciary.

If the plane lands, it will be obstructed from taking off. We will also intercept it in the sky to prevent it from leaving Indian airspace,

As Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, had said in Shakespeare's immortal words, 'I must be cruel only to be kind.

The invention of the concept of sustainable human development and that of so-called human security, as opposed to territorial security of nation- states, and its promotion by the UN is in clear contradiction to all that we, the Group of 77, and the UN Charter itself consider inalienable, namely national sovereignty and security.

The door for discussions is still open. Only you can say whether it (possibilities of a grand alliance) is a closed chapter.