"Whereas RSS spokesmen can easily be put on the defensive with hostile questions, Thackeray is more clever. His approach is: if journalists call you "communal", "Hitlerian" or any other name, just accept it, and don't start spending your energy on trying to prove that you re a nice secularist whom the interviewer could respect. If you try to live up to his standards, you will never be able to satisfy him, so instead you should show that you don't care for his approval."

"I think this is a very dirty question . On one hand, no one is above the law. Suppose there is an allegation against Narendra Modi, and suppose tomorrow Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister, then …"

"Some people, myself included, advocated foreign intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo while opposing our adventure in Iraq. Sam Moyn might find this inconsistent, but it is the world that is inconsistent,…"

"We can consider cellular energy conversions—like all other energy conversions—in the context of the laws of thermodynamics."

"The second category of personal questions would be more relevant when I finally call it a day and find myself in a reminiscent or atavistic frame of mind. As it is, I am still on the move -- and inten…"