The fact that Nehru had risked his life to save a single Moslem had a profound effect far beyond New Delhi. Many thousands of Moslems who had intende… - Shashi Tharoor

Between opponents who will not physically fight, a punch line is equivalent to a punch.

...It seems to me that this allegation should have been seriously investigated. And it is not too late. Because on such an important matter, the nation has every right to know what really happened... He further said, "The matter is extremely serious. Our concern is that when the LoP points to something which is an allegation that has been in the public domain for some time and which featured in a book by the former IG of police, Mushrif, who said that the bullets found in Karkare's body could not have been fired by the Ajmal Kasab and that it could have been fired by a police revolver, it seems to me that this allegation should have been seriously investigated. And it is not too late. Because on such an important matter, the nation has every right to know what really happened...We are not saying that the allegation is definitely true. We are saying it should be investigated."

Joseph Conrad, no radical himself, described colonialism as ‘a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly’. As he wrote in 1902, ‘The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.’ Rabindranath Tagore put it gently to a Western audience in New York in 1930: ‘A great portion of the world suffers from your civilisation.’ Mahatma Gandhi was blunter: asked what he thought of Western civilization, he replied, ‘It would be a good idea’.