Subramanian Swamy

"The best economy for India is when the Government functions more like an umpire in a football match rather than a participant, unfortunately the Government is the umpire, the goalkeeper and the centre forward..."

"Im in politics because I want to be the prime minister some day. At 41, Im old enough to run the country, though young enough to wait."

"Raj Narain is a liability anywhere. When out of power, he behaves like a wrestler, which he is. Its martial art for its own sake, not for the sake of achieving an objective. And when in power, I dont trust this man at all. His conduct after he was thrown out of the Cabinet is all on record now. Like a worm, he crawled to Sanjay Gandhi to conspire against the prime minister. He was called a bar by Sanjay Gandhi, yet he smiled. Its unprecedented shamelessness."

"I will accept money from anybody as long as it is Indian. As a good Brahmin it is my right to accept money. When I ask a businessman to give me money I speak as if I am demanding it. I collect money for the party. I have collected money for the Lok Dal(A), for the Janata Party elections and there is no secret about it. But my personal life has not been aggrandised by it."

"Sanjay Gandhi admired me for my guts. We got along very well. In the case of Rajiv Gandhi, I will be frank, I find the vibes right. I cant not like him. I will not deny I find his company pleasant. He is very, very well behaved with me. I have met him in his office five times in the last year, in connection with China."

"The operation Blue Star was supported by the BJP."

"If I can persuade Rajiv Gandhi and Chandra Shekhar to come together, I have sufficient self-confidence to make the prime minister Chandra Shekhar accommodate this concept of liberalism."

"My mission has been to liquidate the Janata Dal. It is an illegitimate organisation."

"The US wants only 51 per cent adherence as against 100 per cent adherence demanded by Russia."

"V. P. Singh participated in the whole thing of Bofors. He and Arun Nehru were in cahoots. They misled the people. V. P. Singh held talks with Bofors and Swedish government officials in Stockholm on June 10 1985."

"I was later called by Morarji Desai who said I should not press the matter as it was in the national interest that the basement be kept sealed. The government has something to hide and the issue should be thoroughly investigated."

"I do not fear a threat of war from Pakistan. We (India) are ten times bigger. If Pakistan were to attack us, we will smash them."