[We are a multilingual, multi-religious, multicultural society. Communalism can split the country in the middle... Communalism is an ideology. It means a Hindu's socio-politico-cultural interests are different from a Muslim's because he is a Hindu and vice versa. Q&A: 'Communalism can grow without communal riots' TOI 1 Sep 2008, Historian Bipan Chandra]
[In a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious country like India... a better and more effective answer to rising tides of fundamentalism of any shade would be to try and enlarge the space of secular and liberal ideologies and by speaking up against all forms of communalism and sectarian and ethnic or region based violence – whether it affects one’s particular community or language group or not this time round. Apathy, Activism and the Line in Between
from Around and About by shantanu dutta ]
[India — Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census) According to www.cia.gov/library/]
Just like a schoolgirl parrots that Water is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid, we are so used to hearing the assertion that India is a multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural country. But this statement hardly reflects the reality as far as religions are concerned. Why the "socio-politico-cultural interests" of 80.5% of over 1 b. people cannot be looked after differently baffles logic. [TNM]
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