Francois Gautier, who has lived in India for 30 years and is married to an Indian, is a French journalist, the correspondent in South Asia for Le Figaro, France's largest circulated newspaper. He has published Rewriting Indian History (Vikas) and Arise O India (Har Anand). Readers can find more about his views in an interview with Rajeev Srinivasan.

The Lessons of Agra
'For the first time an Indian government stood firm and did not succumb to Pakistani blackmail, as Nehru, Shastri, and Indira Gandhi had done before. The Pakistanis had to go home empty handed. '

Lagaan vs Gadar
Gadar is a wonderful film. While Lagaan, shows more than two hours of cricket and a predictable result, Gadar has a real theme.'

The genius and innocence of the Indian voter
'Voting with the heart is a unique quality and it is this innocence in the rural Indian which make the greatness of India. What has to be changed is the system which allows power-hungry politicians to exploit this purity of heart of the rural voter.'

The genocide beyond the Hindu Kush
'Nothing symbolizes more the absoluteness of Muslim belligerence towards Hindus than the Hindu Kush. Why does not the Government of India tell Indian children about the Hindu Kush genocide?'

The last cry of the secularists?
'The hue and cry about the National Film Awards made by the Marxists on the panel shows how much the secularists realize they are in the process of losing their iron grip on this country's intellectuals. Are we then hearing the last cry of the Hindu negationists?

Why the cynicism about Indian gurus?
'The spitefulness that Indian journalists sometimes display towards the saints, sadhus and gurus of India seems a little bit unfair. For however much poverty there is, however many problems it is facing, India's gift to the world in the 21st century will be its spirituality, this eternal knowledge which alone She has preserved.'

The MahaKumbh: A freak fair?
'Western journalism, when it is applied to India, harps on the anecdotal, the superfluous, the derogatory, deforms everything and transforms what is beautiful and noble into a show of freaks and fanatics.'

Buddhism makes a comeback in India
'While the Vipassana technique is a wonderful instrument, it should not be used to promote a new religion. Will Goenka's meditators slowly come into positions of power and give again to India the passive, weak, non-violent turn of mind which already in the past did so much harm to Her?'

Will Hinduism survive the Christian offensive?
'It is necessary Indians become more aware of the danger their culture and unique civilisation faces at the hands of missionaries sponsored by foreign money.'

• Hindus are cowards
'Everywhere in the world, Hindus are hounded, humiliated and routed. And what happens when there is one man in India -- Bal Thackeray, whatever his faults, quirks and excesses -- who calls a spade a spade and is ready to stand up for his opinions? Not only is he attacked by Christians and Muslims, but he is also hounded by secular Hindus, human rights activists, the media, the police, everybody.'

• 'Gandhi was a misfit in India'
'Gandhi in the name of non-violence put his foot down and the Cripps proposal was rejected. Had it been accepted, history might have been changed, Partition and its terrible bloodshed would have been avoided.'

• 'Nationalism is not a mere political programme; nationalism is a religion.'
'True Hinduism was for Sri Aurobindo the basis for India's past greatness, it was also the essence of nationalism and the means of liberating India. Unfortunately, the leaders of the Indian National Congress did not have the same vision.'

• The truth about India's Independence
'Those who have least contributed to India's Independence occupy a place of honour in history books, while those who worked with dedication for a true, wholesome Independence, are in the shadow and have been waylaid by historians.'

• Hindi Chini Bye Bye
'Once more, China has duped India. At the moment, because of its problems with Muslim fundamentalism in Sinkiang, China wants Pakistan and India to enter into a ceasefire in Kashmir. But there is no reason why Beijing should not continue to contain India by arming Islamabad.'

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