True, there is a great amount of tolerance and religious latitude in Hinduism. So much so that when in 1968 Periyar E.V. Ramaswami Naiker (see there is ‘Ram’ even in his name!) burnt copies of the Ramayana all over Tamil Nadu as a part of his anti-Aryan, anti-Brahmin and anti-God agitation, there were no riots in any part of the country. Rather, there was introspection. But Hindu society has travelled quite a bit on the road of self-assertion from 1968 to 2007. How much would have been known if the UPA government had not resorted to some quick damage control by withdrawing the objectionable affidavit in the Supreme Court.

The UPA government’s fiasco over the Ram Sethu issue is a salutary lesson in why secularism must not be practiced in irreligious or anti-Hindu terms. The religious sentiments of people belonging to all faiths must be respected — without double standards.