A Kerala college lecturer paid heavily for allegedly insulting the Prophet in a question paper when his hand was chopped off allegedly by activists of the extremist organisation, Popular Front of India (PFI). As the police proceed to take action against the accused, PFI has cried witch hunt but several other prominent Muslim organisations have not. Then why is the Congress following the PFI line, saying that the state government was out to demean the whole Muslim community (read the Indian Express report here)

The Congress is indulging in precisely what it criticises parties like BJP for: communalism. PFI had supported the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections last year and the party is banking on it for votes. Then, it should not surprise us that Mulayam Singh Yadav has apologised to the Muslim community for joining hands with Kalyan Singh.

Is secualrism, or to spell it out the Indian concept, equality of all religions before the state (sarva dharma samabhava), a non-negotiable absolute value or is it a tool subservient to realpolitik? Are our political leadership, the Congress in this instance, working towards the constitutional goal of more harmonious relations among the various religious communities or have they reduced secularism to something akin to booth-capturing?