“Step by step, brick by brick, the edifice of India’s legislature is being destroyed... With the manner in which encroachment of legislative and executive authority by India’s judiciary is taking place, probably financial power and budget making is the last power that you have left.”
Arun Jaitley, Union finance minister, speaking in the Rajya Sabha urging MPs not to concede budgetary and taxation powers to the judiciary (May 12)
“It is essential that our parliamentarians come together for a day of discussions focused exclusively on the need to protect and prioritise our children. It is not too much to ask.”
Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace prize winner, appealing to the prime minister to launch child-centric drought relief measures (Times of India, May 16)
“It’s disgusting. Even the colonial British extended support to get the BHU and AMU Acts passed. But the BJP says that Parliament has no power to pass Acts incorporating minority universities.”
Faizan Mustafa, vice chancellor Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad criticising the ruling NDA/BJP government’s stand that Aligarh Muslim University is not a minority institution (Outlook, May 16)
“When life sucks you under, you can kick against the bottom, break the surface and breathe again.”
Sherly Sandberg, Facebook COO, during a commencement address at UC, Berkeley, on coping with the death of her husband (Time, May 30)
“He is the son of a bus driver and it makes an important point about our country: in one generation someone who is a proud Muslim, a proud Brit can become the Mayor of the greatest city on earth.”
David Cameron, prime minister of Britain, on the election of Sadiq Khan as mayor of London (May 30)
“The tragic murder of a student from Congo on a street in Delhi by three Indian men is a reminder of a malaise in our national psyche — colour bias and racism.”
Sreeram Chaulia, professor at O.P. Jindal University, on the spate of attacks on African students (Deccan Chronicle, May 30)