http://pakteahouse.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/minorities-have-played-a-... August 12, 2009...10:41 am “Minorities have played a vital role in the creation and then development of Pakistan,” Minister Bhatti Jump to Comments By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent  KARACHI –  Only three days to its 62nd birthday, Pakistan is celebrating on Tuesday, August 11, Minorities Day, a move many see as part of the South Asian Muslim country’s efforts to polish its image after a recent bloody attack on Christians. “The decision has been taken not only to show solidarity with all minorities, including Christians, who are the equal citizens of Pakistan, but also to highlight their role in the creation and development of the country,” Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti told IslamOnline.net. Different programs, including rallies, seminars and conferences have been chalked out by the government and NGOs to express solidarity with minorities nationwide. Jammat-e-Islami, the country’s largest religious party, is going to hold an interfaith dialogue, which will be attended by Muslim, Christian, and Hindu leaders, to promote interfaith harmony. “Minorities have played a vital role in the creation and then development of Pakistan,” insists Bhatti, a Christian. “And they are proud of their services.” Christians make up 3 percent of Pakistan’s 170 million population, followed by Hindus who make up 2 percent. A majority of Christians, who are mainly involved in education, health and sanitary sectors, resides in Punjab, the country’s most populous and richest province. Hindus, mostly involved in businesses, are considered much richer than Christians and mostly live in the southern Sindh province, the second largest province. “We have decided to observe this day on August 11 because it has a special significance,” said Minister Bhatti. “On that day in 1947, the founder of the nation (Mohammad Ali Jinnah), while addressing the first constituent assembly of Pakistan, announced that no Pakistani would be discriminated against on the basis of religion, sect, race, caste or creed,” recalled the minister. “They all will be equal Pakistanis.” Messages “I never felt myself vulnerable here. This is my own country, where my forefathers were born and are buried,” Vijay, a Christian, told IOL. Bhatti, also a central leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), asserted that the Minorities Day will send several messages. “This will give a message to the perpetrators and masterminds of Gojra incident, that there is no place for religious hatred in Pakistan.” Six Christians were killed last week by a violent mob over a reported desecration of the Quran. “The government will fully protect the lives and properties of minorities, and will not allow any group or individual to use religious sentiments to hurt them.” The minister said dedicating a special day for minorities also promotes the image of Pakistan. “By observing this day, we want to give a clear message to the world that the Pakistani society is _base_d on religious harmony, social justice, and human equality.” Though shaken by the Gojra incident, members of religious minorities generally feel protected and comfortable with their Muslim countrymen. “It was, no doubt, a horrible incident, but I would say it was the act of some sick individuals,” Vijay Dravid, who works as a sanitary worker at a local club, told IOL. “It is a matter of satisfaction for us that the majority of Muslims, including religious scholars, not merely condemned that attack but also helped the victims.” Vijay and his family live with seven Muslim neighbors, who too are employees of the same club. “I never felt myself vulnerable here. This is my own country, where my forefathers were born and are buried.” Amr Lal, who works as a peon at a local firm, agrees. “Hundreds of Muslims were killed in Indian Gujrat a few years back, but not even a single Hindu was killed in Pakistan,” he said referring to the killing of some 2000 Muslims, many hacked and burned to death, by Hindu extremists a few years ago. “Being a Hindu, I remember the last anti- Hindu violence in Pakistan in 1992, following the demolition of Babri Mosque in India,” recalled Lal. “Since that, there has been no violence against Hindus.” Lal, however, calls for more development funds and scholarships for minorities. “We don’t have access to quality education, though most of the prestigious schools and colleges have been set up by Hindus and Christians before partition (in 1947). Therefore, the government should provide more educational facilities to the minorities.” ...and I am Sid Harth

http://pakteahouse.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/5448/August 12, 2009...11:19 am We are Sorry Mr. Jinnah By Adil Najam (Courtesy All Things Pakistan) Today is August 11. Sixty-two years ago, on this day, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Founder of Pakistan, made one of the most important speeches of his – and of Pakistan’s – life. A speech in which he laid out – in the most unambiguous terms – his vision for Pakistan and the rationale for that vision. In this speech Mr. Jinnah laid out a detailed case for his argument and famously proclaimed: …in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the [Pakistan]. Read full text and a detailed analysis of the speech here. Today is August 11. Barely ten days ago in Gojra, in Mr. Jinnah’s Pakistan, over 50 houses belonging to Pakistani Christians were burnt down by a mob and at least half a dozen Pakistani Christians were murdered for still unproven charges under a draconian law neither whose intent nor whose vigilante implementation Mr. Jinnah could ever have tolerated. Today is August 11. Our government has declared today to be ‘Minorities Day,’ but neither our government nor we as a people are willing to repeal the draconian laws that enable the bigots amongst us to persecute the vulnerable and the marginalized amongst us. Today is August 11. Today, once again, we will shower platitudes on Mr. Jinnah’s vision of a tolerant Pakistan and then conveniently ignore that vision. A Pakistan for all Pakistanis, irrespective of, as he would say, “caste and creed.” A Pakistan where neither Mr. Jinnah’s vision nor our Pakistaniat would be high-jacked by the sanctimonious custodians of righteousness, the self-_style_d gate-keepers of morality, and the arrogant arbiters of patriotism. We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah. We are sorry that we have not been able to actualize the Pakistan of your vision. At least, not yet. Cursed by the very intolerance that you had warned us of, we have not only failed to bridge the divisions that existed already, we have worked hard to create new divisions. We have not only failed the minorities that were, we have created new ones by legislating exclusion. We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah. We are sorry for being so drunk in intolerance that we made ourselves the arbiters of who was Muslim enough to be Muslim, or Pakistani enough to be Pakistani. We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah. We are sorry not only for the Gojra that happened ten days ago. We are sorry for the Gojra that happens every day in the Pakistan you created. http://pakteahouse.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/my-country-too/ August 12, 2009...10:19 am My Country Too By Abhijay Patel Pakistan’s religious minorities have shared equal status with majority Muslims and allocation of special funds by the present government bespeaks of its resolve to minorities uplift.Living with native communities, the minorities enjoyed all kind of freedom and ensured on their part that they contribute to socio-economic development and prosperity of the country.To live with this spirit, the minority communities and the government would renew their commitment for a prosperous Pakistan when they will observe the Minorities’ Day on August 11. In line with the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, minorities articularly, Christians have been playing vital role in country’s progress. One can also not forget their active role in creation of Pakistan and extending full support to the Muslim League and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. “We took pride in our role to create Pakistan and its our national duty to continue working for its solidarity and integrity,” said Karamat Gill, a retired government official. Pakistani minorities have lived in complete peace and harmony with their Muslim brethren despite scattered incidents by vested interests and enemies of the state to create a rift among them. The tragic incident in Gojra is a stark reminder of such nefarious designs when some anti-state elements created disharmony by killing Christians and burning their properties in the name of desecration of the Holy Quran. The government has already ordered a high-level inquiry to probe the incident and has expressed its resolve to bring to justice the people behind the gory incident. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani visited Gojra and announced Rs. 100 million for the rehabilitation of the affected people. While demanding punishment for the culprits, the Christian community remains committed to avoid recurrence of such unfortunate incidents, also reiterating to promote harmony, following the footsteps of Christian leaders who fought along their Muslims colleagues for an independent Pakistan. This reminds us of Dewan Bahadur S P Sangha who played a pivotal role in making Christians to vote for Muslim League. There were certain areas in the undivided India where Hindus would have gained majority vote had the Christians not voted for the Muslim League Party. After Independence of Pakistan, Sangha made the first Urdu movie “Teri Yaad Main” (In your memory). Christians served Pakistan in different areas and also laid down their lives fighting for the country as army personnel. Hats off to brave Christians like Squadron Leader Peter Christie who embraced “shahadat” in the Pakistan-India war in 1971. Cecil Chaudhry is another brave Pakistan Air Force pilot who fought for the country in 1971 war and currently is the Principal of St. Mary’s Academy, a prestigious Christian institution in Rawalpindi that has produced many notable persons for the country. Former Chief Justice A. R. Cornelius stands as a distinguished figure, when it comes to the judicial history of Pakistan and there are many others who will be long remembered for their immense contribution in the field of health and education. While the government has acknowledged the contribution of Christians in the development and progress of Pakistan, still there are many who have been ignored and not duly honored. “Streets and roads have been named after many martyrs, though none yet has been named after any Christians hero like Peter Chrisite, who laid down his life for the country,” said Dr. David John, a prominent Christian leader in Rawalpindi. But, there had been several good news for minorities in recent years like annulment of separate electorate and re-introduction of joint electorate system for minorities, to help them bring into mainstream. Allocation of five percent jobs quota for minorities by the present government has fulfilled their long-standing demand. Christian community has hailed this decision and the contribution of Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, with hopes that the decision is implemented in letter and spirit. “We hope that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will take personal interest to ensure that the decision of five percent quota for minorities is implemented in letter and spirit,” Dr. John said. Dr John also demanded to introduce job quota at provincial level and said, it would help promote inter-faith harmony. The minority communities appreciate all these measures though they are apprehensive of the blasphemy law as they describe it a discriminatory law towards minorities. They refer to various incidents where blasphemy cases were _frame_d but the sentence has never been carried out as convictions have always been overturned by higher courts for lack of evidence. However, these leaders were worried about killing of minority members by mob in the name of blasphemy. “This should be stopped to further promote the present harmony among followers of all religions and provide them space to fearlessly contribute towards nation building.” ...and I am Sid Harth

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/08/14/news0708.htm Habib Tanvir: Citizen of the world Sudhanva Deshpande (From previous issue) Mitti ki Gaadi, his Chhattisgarhi adaptation of Sudrak's Sanskrit classic, was done in 1977; Bahadur Kalarin, an oral rural Oedipal tale, followed soon after. Shajapur ki Shantibai (Brecht's Good Person of Schetzuan), with the incomparable Fidabai in the lead, was done in 1978; and Lala Shohratrai (Moliere's Bourgeois Gentleman) in 1981. In other words, by about the mid-1970s, Habib Tanvir had already evolved his distinctive idiom of modern theatre, and subsequent years basically saw him elaborating this idiom, refining it, polishing it, rather than evolving a new form. Those who came to watch and love his theatre after this time tended to take this idiom, his _style_, for granted. It can, therefore, be quite easily forgotten that it took him 14 long years, from 1958 to 1972, to come to it. FROM RURAL TRADITIONS On Habib Tanvir's theatre, it is quite common to hear two views. One sees a development of the IPTA legacy in him, the other sees him as a practitioner of folk theatre. Both are incorrect. IPTA sought to build an all-India network of revolutionary cultural groups in close association with the communist movement. Habib Tanvir, after his early years with IPTA, never again did that kind of work. Certainly in his theatre practice there was not a whiff of IPTA: while IPTA used folk forms essentially as carriers of revolutionary ideology to the masses, Habib Tanvir fashioned a popular modern theatre, borrowing elements from rural dramatic traditions that have been more often than not utopic rather than revolutionary. Habib Tanvir got his first set of six rural actors in 1958. He did several plays between then and 1972, but most were, as he put it, failures . These failures led him to wonder why the rural actors are fabulous when they do Nacha in their own setting? What makes them stilted and trite when they act in his plays? He identified two main faults: mother tongue and freedom of movement . [I realised], after many years, that I was trying to apply my English training on the village actors - move diagonally, stand, speak, take this position, take that position. I had to unlearn it all. I saw that they couldn't even tell right from left on the stage and had no line sense. And I'd go on shouting: 'Don't you know the difference between the hand you eat with and the one you wash with?' . . . I realised that those who were for years responding to an audience like this [without bothering about whether the audience was on one side, or three, or four, or whether some of them were sitting on the stage] could never try to unlearn all this and rigidly follow the rules of movement and that was one reason why Thakur Ram, a great actor [one of the 1958 six] wasn't able to be natural. Another reason was the matrubhasha - he wasn't speaking in his mother tongue, so it jarred on my ears, because he was speaking bad Hindi and not Chhattisgarhi, in which he was fluent, which was so sweet. This realisation took me years - naive of me, but still it took me years. Once I realised it I used Chhattisgarhi and I improvised, allowed them the freedom and then came pouncing down upon them to crystallise the movement - there you stay. And they began to learn. That quite simply was the method I learnt. That was the method all right, but it was to be used to channelise the rural actor's energy to tell modern stories. His dramaturgy and stagecraft are also modern. His Kamdev ka Apna, Basant Ritu ka Sapna (Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream) is played on a bare stage, the only element of set being a hand-held, beautifully embroidered half-curtain which sometimes reveals, sometimes hides, and sometimes becomes a backdrop to, the action. With its simplicity, its directness and minimalism, Habib Tanvir's theatre would have been considered avant-garde had it not been so popular, and so funny. If you talk to his actors, they all, without exception, make the distinction between Nacha, where they originally trained, and theatre , that is, Habib Tanvir's theatre. His is a theatre of modern sensibilities, of modern concerns. Besides his own plays, look at the range of dramatists he has tackled. The ancient Sanskrit writers Sudrak, Bhasa, Visakhadatta and Bhavabhuti; European classics by Shakespeare, Moliere and Goldoni; modern masters Brecht, Garcia Lorca, Gogol and Gorky, and even Wilde; and Indian writers Rabindranath Tagore, Sisir Das, Asghar Wajahat, Shankar Shesh, Safdar Hashmi and Rahul Varma. He has adapted stories by Premchand, Stefan Zweig and Vijaydan Detha for the stage, besides adapting oral tales from Chhattisgarh. The stories he tells are the stories of our times, told with the simplicity and directness and energy of the rural performing traditions. Habib Tanvir, then, was a citizen of the world, borrowing, reading, soaking up influences indiscriminately, but he became, through a long, hard, creative struggle, a resident of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh is the prism that refracted his creative _expression_. He was writing his autobiography, Ek Matmaili Chadariya - a life woven with multiple threads, a life the dusty colour of earth. He was a Midas turned upside-down: whatever he touched lost its sheen, it became rough and turned to Chhattisgarhi. As Brecht once put it: True art becomes poor with the masses and grows rich with the masses. This is the man the Hindu Right has hounded since the early 1990s. To argue, as the Hindu Right did, that Habib Tanvir is anti-Hindu and, by extension, anti-Indian, is of course a reflection not on the man and his work, but on the depraved, pea-sized world view of his attackers. Yet Habib Tanvir was no revolutionary. He, along with a large number of intellectuals and artists close to the Communist Party of India (CPI), flirted for a while with the Congress (I) in the 1970s. He campaigned for the party in the 1971 elections with a play called Indira Loksabha. In what some saw as a return of the favour, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha the following year, and, to the dismay of those to the left of the CPI, he did not resign his seat when the Emergency was declared in 1975. It is only later, in the 1980s, that he became, in private conversations at least, more critical of the Congress. Habib Tanvir was an enemy of parochialism, of bigotry, of fundamentalism, and of the kind of development that crushes the poor. If Ponga Pandit critiques the caste system, superstition and priestcraft in the lively, robust manner that Habib Tanvir has perfected, the other play that he has been extensively performing attacks Muslim fundamentalism: Asghar Wajahat's Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya Voh Janmya hi Nai, the story of a Hindu woman left behind in Lahore after Partition. His last production, Raj Rakt, _base_d on Tagore's Visarjan, is also a critique of superstition. An earlier play, Moteram ka Satyagraha, _base_d on a Premchand story and written in collaboration with Safdar Hashmi, is a humorous look at what happens when religion starts meddling with politics. In the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, he produced for a Delhi group Sisir Kumar Das's Baagh, an allegory on the communal tiger on the prowl. In 1999, he wrote and directed for Jana Natya Manch Ek Aurat Hypatia Bhi Thee, on the fourth century A.D. woman mathematician from Alexandria, who was lynched on the streets by Christian bigots. Sadak, a short play, is a comic critique of development that ravages villagers, tribal people, their land and their culture. Hirma ki Amar Kahani is a more profound look at what development has meant for tribal people. An early short children's play, Gadhe, is a rip-roaring take-off on the education system that produces asses. His production of Rahul Verma's Zahareeli Hawa is a fictional recreation of the Bhopal gas tragedy. Then there is Dekh Rahe Hain Nain, perhaps his most refined play philosophically, the story of a king's futile quest for a calling that will harm no other being. This, then, was Habib Tanvir, a man who represents two great traditions of Indian theatre - the tradition of the actor-director- playwright-manager and the tradition of an active involvement, from the Left, in larger social and political causes. The first tradition is now extinct with Habib Tanvir's death. The second tradition happily survives, and some of the credit for this must go to Habib Tanvir himself, for showing the way. o (Sudhanva Deshpande has co-directed, along with Sanjay Maharishi, 'Gaon ke naon Theatre, mor naon Habib', a documentary film on Habib Tanvir and Naya Theatre.) ...and I am Sid Harth

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aia5WI8A1_dI Pakistan Hopeful of Reviving India Peace Talks, Gilani Says By Khalid Qayum Aug. 14 (Bloomberg)

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pa... PM Gilani felicitates nation on Independence Day Friday, 14 Aug, 2009 | 02:07 PM PST |    Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani waves during the flag hoisting ceremony in Islamabad on August 14, 2009, to mark the country’s Independence Day. — Photo by AFP Pakistan We are against terrorism, not religion, says Kayani AUDIO SLIDESHOW Pakistani women rise up ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday participated in the flag hoisting ceremony in Islamabad to mark the country’s Independence Day. Gilani vowed to win the war against terrorism as Pakistan celebrated its 62nd anniversary of independence with prayers, a national minute of silence and low-key festivities. Gilani later addressed a gathering during the Independence Day ceremony celebrations in Islamabad. Earlier, on the eve of Independence Day, the Prime Minister extended his warmest felicitations and best wishes to all Pakistanis. In his message, the Prime Minister said 14th August marks the culmination of a long driven struggle the Muslims of subcontinent had launched to protect their separate identity, to strengthen their society, to flourish their own culture in the broader perspective of their religious ideals and practices and to augment their own vibrant economy. He said the day reminds us of the gigantic challenges the people of Pakistan had so willingly and wilfully taken up 62 years ago. The nation had rendered unprecedented sacrifices to achieve the goal of political independence and ideological freedom, he said. The day of August 14 symbolises the leadership of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who inspired the nation to achieve what looked an insurmountable task, he added. This year, he said the Independence Day celebration is still of greater significance as we have been able to rekindle the light of democracy in Pakistan in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the nation. The process of revival of democracy could not have successfully completed without the active participation of the people. Gilani said the country and the people are confronting a serious challenge posed by terrorists and militants. However, it is heartening to note that the entire nation has stood up against these elements. The _object_ive of the people's government is to strengthen the country and to make it prosperous, he said, adding that this is the basis of our different programmes designed for the welfare of Pakistanis. To achieve this _object_ive, we are focusing on addressing and solving every problem, he added. ‘On this day of rejoicing, let us pay homage to our leaders of the independence movement who struggled with great courage and perseverance to win us a country of our own. Because of their sacrifices today, we are enjoying the fruits of freedom. It is surely an occasion for immense gratitude. It is the day for renewing our pledge to the country’, he said. ‘On this happy occasion, I wish to extend my warmest felicitations and best wishes to my Pakistani brothers and sisters at home as well as those living abroad,’ he concluded. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pa... Is Gojra our Godhra? By Murtaza Razvi Friday, 14 Aug, 2009 | 08:29 AM PST |      A lot of what is wrong today stems from the rhetoric of our rulers and their lack of action. — Photo by Reuters Pakistan This Independence Day our heads hang in shame once again. The ideologues who later sat down to chronicle the birth pangs of Pakistan mixed a good measure of indoctrination and self-righteousness as they retrospectively defined the rationale for the creation of this country. Eliminating communal violence, for one, became the rallying cry of the Pakistan Movement in its final months, which sought to safeguard India’s minority Muslims’ rights against the majority community. Had Pakistan treated its minorities with dignity, we wouldn’t be ashamed today. Though violence targeting minorities is not the norm here, the survivors of such violence will tell you it marks the end of their lives as bona fide, full citizens of the state. This is because, besides widespread social discrimination, the state by enacting laws that readily work as tools of oppression against minorities has been a partner in crime. What happened earlier this month to the Christian Almas Hameed’s family in a Punjab town, Gojra, mirrored the brutal burning alive of a Muslim baker’s family in India’s Gujarat state in 2002 at the hands of a charged-up anti-Muslim mob. Six of Hameed’s family members, mostly women and children, were burnt alive by enraged fanatics who were allegedly egged on to punish Christians for desecrating the Quran by a PML-N leader. The Indian Gujarat baker had to suffer death and destruction for the alleged burning by Muslims of a train packed with Hindu pilgrims at the Godhra station, miles away. Likewise, Hameed’s family bore the wrath of a Muslim mob for the alleged desecration of the Quran by some Christians in a nearby village. Punjab’s ruling party has responded by just suspending the membership of Qadeer Awan, a local president of the PML-N, who the party admitted was behind the anti-Christian violence. The spokesman said the PML-N was ‘embarrassed’ at his conduct. And only that. Will the brave, new, independent judiciary take note of and express its displeasure with the Hudood Ordinances, the Law of Evidence and the blasphemy laws that incriminate innocent minority members before any verdict is pronounced? Will the killers of Gojra ever be brought to justice? Will the PML-N lead a long march on Islamabad of the wronged minorities as victims of systematic brutality against them? Not a chance. It’s not just the Taliban who have their sympathies elsewhere; the so- called and perceived enlightened, educated and clean-shaven politicians who keep mum on issues of discrimination against a sizable section of society do the country no service either. But as the rights activist Asma Jahangir aptly pointed out in an interview with the BBC, 'It is not just political parties. There are radicalised individuals and supporters of militant groups within the judiciary, the education system, the bureaucracy and the police....' At 62, Pakistan is a study of what has gone wrong with a state that started out as a dream for a large section of pre-independence India’s minorities. It can be argued today that the Muslim minority that started the new country proved itself  inept at handling its own affairs — as even the initial years showed. In the new Muslim-majority country, we created political and ethnic minorities as the new bętes- noire where none had existed before. The Bengali majority was politically treated as a minority by denying it due representation in state institutions. Even as that long, sordid chapter came to an end with the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the travails of Sindhis, Pakhtuns and Baloch nationalists have continued. So who today is a Pakistani first and a Sindhi, Baloch, Pakhtun or a Punjabi next? The answer is scathing, and we all know it. A lot of what is wrong today stems from the rhetoric of our rulers — make no distinction between the elected and the dictatorial — their lack of action when it is needed and the textbooks we teach our children from. Madressah educationaside, a pumped-up majoritarian religiosity seeps through the textbooks in subjects like social studies, language teaching and even handwriting exercises, _link_ing Pakistani identity with a religious one. Pakistan Studies books take the cake with their anti non-Muslim sentiment. There is little at variance in the content and the narrow-minded thrust of textbooks taught in the public and the so-called elite English-medium schools today. This systematic social engineering is _base_d on a post-Jinnah, trumped- up ideology, which in the words of the Quaid-i-Azam himself would have served its purpose as soon as Pakistan was achieved when he declared before the first Constituent Assembly that every Pakistani thenceforth was an equal citizen of the state. The historic speech, which defined the contours of the state that should have emerged from the 1940s’ struggle by Indian Muslims for political equality, used to be part of the university syllabus. Not anymore; because the state subsequently did the exact opposite by enacting laws that discriminate against minorities. More Gojras, and the like, cannot be prevented unless they are actively taken up for prevention. Pakistan’s minorities will remain on the wrong side of the state, and a people fed on a dangerously communal rhetoric that has been reshaping the soul of the state as it were. A nation’s need for repeated reassurance is a malady. It cannot be treated by putting down all that it perceives as being alien. Exclusion of any one group, or sets of religious and ethnic minorities, only breeds contempt, at best a forced conformity. Only inclusive societies can realise the promise of achieving their collective aspirations. This, in our case, was equal opportunity for all citizens regardless of their caste, creed, gender or faith — the very fault-lines we have religiously drawn and maintained to divide ourselves along. A fragmented, motley crowd hardly makes a nation. ...and I am Sid Harth