Is the vicious equating of Muslims with Pakistanis, especially by prominent spokespersons of Hindutva, going to get terminated? It is time to sound again the bugle of secular fundamentalism. We need to revert to the language of Rajiv Gandhi when in the Lok Sabha on May 3, 1989, he began his speech in a debate on communalism with the ringing proclamation, “A secular India alone is an India that can survive. Each in his or her own way “discovered” that India was fundamentally a secular nation and reflected in their “Idea of India” the aspiration of Indians through the “trackless centuries” to live in a secular country. For seven decades, independent India proudly refuted that proposition by remaining a secular nation despite breakaway Pakistan becoming a Muslim nation.

Source: Indian Express June 03, 2019 18:45 UTC