His life was a unique case of a public figure who rose from the chairmanship of a village panchayat to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. He rose literally fro… - Basappa Danappa Jatti

Religious he was but bigot, he was not. Some of us in the family turned into Shirdi Saibaba devotees and he did not demur.

I now come to external relations. My government will honour all the commitments made by the previous government. It stands for friendship with all our neighbours and other nations of the world on the basis of equality and reciprocity and will follow a path of genuine non-alignment.

The General Election just concluded has effectively and decisively demonstrated the power of the people, the vitality of the democratic process in India and the deep root that it has taken. The people have given a clear verdict in favour of individual freedom, democracy, and the rule of law and against executive arbitrariness, the emergence of a personality cult and extra-constitutional centres of power. The election marks an important milestone in the evolution of our democratic polity into a healthy two-party system.