Top 22 P. Chidambaram Quotes

The police force cannot be completely independent of the executive government.

We cannot afford to leave the poor behind.

Unfortunately, terror is now linked to immigration, and anyone with dark skin or a beard or a Muslim name is suspect. Russia, France, then the United Kingdom, and now even Germany have no qualms about going far beyond their borders to strike at the enemies of their countries.

I think preaching equality among unequals is the worst form of discrimination.

Independence is a very subjective assessment.

A government can do only what is feasible given the political and economic context.

I belong to the Congress. My party has always supported prohibition, though it may not have been successful in implementing prohibition in many states.

People are wiser than we are willing to attribute to them.

Once the war of words begins, truth is the casualty.

I don’t think we should label budgets even before the budget is presented.

Not all ideas will be accepted, but every idea deserves its own space, and every idea deserves to be expressed.

Two successive commissioners in London police were fired by the mayor that came into office. That doesn’t mean the police in London is not independent and does not exercise powers. Ultimately it is the political executive that has to answer.

Evidence points out that if you raise tariffs too much it will increase smuggling.

Corruption is not the sole test of your worthiness to form the government.

I respect the view of a rating agency, but I do not make a budget for the rating agency. I make a budget for the people of India.

‘Big business’ was a bad phrase in India. To be accused of being big business was the worst accusation you could make. All that has gone now. The whole mindset has changed.

The voter does not vote only on one issue, the voter votes on a multiplicity of issues.

Criticism of a policy is welcome. But in the garb of criticizing a policy, if you allege that the policy was made for corrupt purposes, I reject it.

I think people respect governments that take decisions and act decisively.

When I came back to India after Harvard Business School, I started as a lawyer and as a trade union leader.

Police can only act on intelligence.

I don’t think anyone has qualms in saying victory to the people of India. But when a political party appropriates such a slogan and says this is the definition of patriotism, those who say it are patriotic and those who don’t are not patriotic, then I reject that definition.