Our words, actions, and diplomatic efforts should be aimed at trying to achieve pragmatic goals rather than creating rhetorical effect.
It requires an effort of logical acrobatics to believe that carnage of innocents is an instrument for freedom and elections are a symbol of deception and repression!
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the paradoxes of justifying violence for the sake of freedom and how elections may mask true oppression.
In this quote, Atal Bihari Vajpayee highlights the irony and cognitive dissonance involved in believing that violence against innocents can be justified as a means to achieve freedom. He calls into question the integrity of elections, suggesting that they may be more about deception and repression rather than genuine representation or liberation, thus provoking a deeper reflection on the ethics of political actions and the true nature of democratic processes.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, one might use this quote to illustrate the moral complexities involved in justifying war.
More from Atal Bihari Vajpayee
All quotes βTerrorism has become a festering wound. It is an enemy of humanity.
Whatever understanding is reached with Pakistan has to be followed honestly, and everybody will have to rise above party politics and be actively committed to make India prosperous.
Our frequent initiatives to normalise relations with Pakistan are not a sign of our weakness; rather, they are an indication of our commitment to peace.
No guns but only brotherhood can resolve the problems.
We believe in resolving all disputes peacefully.
Similar quotes
One time, I was given an essay topic: to describe a perfect horse, whom the mere sight of the rider's whip would make obedient. I depicted this perfect horse throwing his rider at the sight of the whip.
I am in truth the Steppenwolf that I often call myself; that beast astray that finds neither home nor joy nor nourishment in a world that is strange and incomprehensible to him.
Statistics are easy to remove ourselves from. A story, you are implicated in, and you have to choose what side you are going to be on.
Even great men are only truly recognized and honored once they are dead. Why? Because those who praise them need to feel themselves somehow superior to the person praised, they need to feel they are making some concession.
We don't even know what our desire is. We ask other people to tell us our desires. We would like our desires to come from our deepest selves, our personal depths - but if it did, it would not be desire. Desire is always for something we feel we lack.
In quitting this strange world he has once again preceded me by a little. That doesn't mean anything. For those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however tenacious.