Editor,
Indeed Hindu youths never ride bikes without helmets; Hanuman/Shiva temples of various shapes and sizes do not spring upon the pavements and even infringe upon the roads in urban India and eardrum-shattering bhajans and holy chants never get played from loudspeakers in the highest decibel possible by making a mockery all norms of law.
Beards certainly never get sported by the Hindu men and perhaps this is the reason that the Indian cricket team can easily beat Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh hands down in terms of possession of beards.
Apart from the generous showering of ‘Mian’ and ‘Shehzada’ upon late Ahmed Patel and Rahul Gandhi respectively, we must never forget that late Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee were/are nothing but maulana/’begum.
Even if a community comprises only 0.1 percent of the Indian population, their democratic and humanitarian rights in this country wouldn’t have been an iota lesser than even any staunchest Hindutva-fomenting nationalist – at least the Constitution, which has placed all Indians upon an equal pedestal, says so. Those who hold no respect for the Constitutional ethos and can’t tolerate the diversity of the country must leave for any chosen country of theirs, instead of directing particular communities and ‘sickulars’ to go to Pakistan.
It is a matter of a bit of relief to note that in this highly communally and polarised environment, certain well-meaning individuals still find time, energy and courage to fly the flag of the Idea of India and expose these insensitive hypocritical talks based on sheer intolerance and blatant falsehood.
Kajal Chatterjee,
D-2/403,
Peerless Nagar, Kolkata