But all these are matters of mere detail. The main reason for this denial, anger, frustration, the feeling of being cornered, comes from the fact that nobody had even held a conversation with them. Nobody, particularly from the Congress or the UPA, has ever tried to explain to them what happened. Nobody held out a hand of solace and comfort, to say that while terrorism has to be fought, we will never allow any profiling or isolation of 15 per cent fellow Indians, that while it is sad that these boys have been caught, they are a very, very, very minuscule minority and nobody would allow fingers to be raised at the entire community. It is hard enough for a minority to be told that some of its members may have been responsible for doing some of the most terrible things to their country. But it is cruel when the only people talking to them are the police, and that too mostly through TV channels.

You do not expect the BJP to go and do this communicating. But why has the Congress been so shy? It owes its power to the fact that Muslims and other minorities vote for it in states where it is seen as the main challenger to the BJP. Yes, Congress leaders say they are worried they may lose the Muslim vote. But are they more likely to retain it by themselves being in a state of denial? The inability, or the disinclination, of its senior leaders to hold an honest conversation with their own constituents is astounding. This is compounded by a few of them at the middle-level joining, instead, the insinuation-suspicion-denial group, driven partly by constituency pressure and partly by a strange every-man-for-himself mindset.

... contd.