Top quotes of the day—November 17

Pratap Bhanu Mehta in The Indian Express

...The perfidy of the few can justify imposing hardship on all. We are all criminals, who through this process of this dialysis, by the mere act of standing in lines, will come out patriots...the state may want our patriotism. But it still does not trust us...it is not an accident that we are reintroducing indelible ink marks on those who try and withdraw even their own money more than once...”

Sartaj Aziz, Adviser on Foreign Affairs to Pakistan’s PM

“Unlike India, which sabotaged the SAARC Summit by pulling out, Pakistan will participate in the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan being held in India in December.”

Kamalendra Kanwar in an op-ed piece in The Indian Express

“We have in Modi a man for whom the country is his family, and for whom money is no lure. He works tirelessly without making a show of it. Yet Rahul Gandhi has the temerity to say he was laughing when people in queues were dying for a paltry sum of their own money in banks.”

Chaitanya Kalbag in The Economic Times

“The rich do not seem to be overtly in panic. Here in India, when the going gets tough, the corrupt get going. The adroit Indian is Mr Fixit: he quickly conjures up ways to cope...”

Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar addressing a ‘Chetna Sabha’ in Madhubani

“I support demonetisation. I am always for it. In fact I also want a crack down on ‘benami’ property. Honest people like farmers, teachers and others work hard, but those dealing in black, enjoy life.”