The best quotes from 2012

If 2012 was a year of memorable events, it was also a year of memorable quotes. Firstpost has put together a collection of some howlers, some quotes to learn from and some that are downright ridiculous. Have we missed any? If you think we have, use the comments option to make this collection richer. “The middle class is more beauty-conscious than health-conscious—that is a challenge,” he said. “If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, they’ll have a fight—she’ll tell her mother, ‘I won’t drink milk. I’ll get fat.’ Narendra Modi “Seven out of 10 youth in Punjab have drug problems." Rahul Gandhi “It is my misfortune. Had I any idea of the state’s financial condition, would I have taken up this position? Oh my God! This is a dangerous place. A few of us are struggling against all odds. I believe if we auctioned West Bengal, there would be no buyers.” Mamata Banerjee “It is not a cartoon. We love the cartoon. Cartoon is a different thing. He is a CPI-M man, He misused the e-mail of his society people without their consent. He forwarded it to 60 people.” Mamata Banerjee “What is this nonsense going on? Maoists people are here. They are Maoist students. I cannot answer the Maoists’ questions and CPM questions”. Mamata Banerjee [caption id=“attachment_571228” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A combination of photos shows Rahul Gandhi and  Narendra Modi. AFP[/caption] “Increase or decrease in rape cases could not be attributed to policing. Women in villages are turning fashionable, wearing salwar kameez which tends to provoke men.” Dinesh Reddy, DGP, Andhra Pradesh. “She should have assessed the situation before getting into the bus. Though it was a minor incident, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was gracious enough to intervene and hold negotiations with the protestors to bring the situation under control.” Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana “To my understanding, consumption of fast food contributes to such incidents. Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts." Jitender Chhatar, a resident of Jind’s Chhatar village and khap panchayat leader “Mango people in banana republic.” Robert Vadra “I have been made the law minister and asked to work with the pen. I will work with the pen but also with blood.Let them come and visit Farrukhabad. But let him also return from Farrukhabad." Salman Khurshid “He is dreaming. What can I say on that?" Anna Hazare, on being told that Kejriwal feels that Hazare will return when he knows that he is on right path. “Theek hai?" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the end of his just-over-a-minute-long address to the nation this morning asking people to maintain peace after Sunday’s violence during the protests in Delhi against the rape of a student. Obviously meant to be only for the people recording Dr Singh’s address to the nation, the words, were aired on television. “If the government has to walk alone to face the challenge of growth, then we will walk alone.”  P Chidambaram on the RBI “Latest victories and new marriages have something unique about them…As the years pass and the wife becomes older that amount of fun also doesn’t remain in the marriage.” Sriprakash Jaiswal “As per psychology if we can compare the IQ level of Swami Vivekananda and that of Dawood Ibrahim, then it could have been the same. But Vivekananda used it in nation building, brotherhood and spiritualism while Dawood used that in excelling in crime world.” Nitin Gadkari “You should be your own person, you should take your own call and you should decide what you want to do." Ratan Tata ‘‘I have decided to retire from the one-day format of the game.” Sachin Tendulkar “Finally I would like to thank the Indian cricket fan, both here and across the world. The game is lucky to have you and I have been lucky to play before you. To represent India, and thus to represent you, has been a privilege and one which I have always taken seriously." Rahul Dravid “It was emotional during the past 4-5 hours while talking to my colleagues with whom I’ve shared the dressing room. I have not been able to get in touch with ‘MS’ as he is very hard to reach."  VVS Laxman “Boys and girls should be married by the time they turn 16 year old, so that they do not stray… this will decrease the incidents of rape." Sube Singh, a Khap representative. “The panchayat has imposed a ban on the usage of mobile phones by unmarried girls to prevent them from eloping with young boys against the wishes of their parents." Rajender Malick, panchayat spokesman. “There is no need to give phones to women and children. It distracts them and is useless. Why do women need phones? My mother, wife and sister never had mobile phones. They survived without one.” BSP leader Rajpal Saini “We decided many years ago, decades ago we will not do business where we have to deal with the government. We don’t manufacture, we don’t buy things for the government…We are in motorcycles, the financial services … We do not want to have anything to do with their (the government’s) bidding process.” Rahul Bajaj at a conference in New Delhi. “Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ki girlfriend?” (What a girlfriend/ Have you ever seen a 50-crore girlfriend?)  Narendra Modi, in an apparent attack on Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar.