Firaaq shows a State which is absent or on the side of the majority, which is acting illegally. That is an indictment against the Gujarat state and its Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and not the inflated charges of genocide or pogrom. It is his failure to uphold the Rule of Law—his rajadharma, as Atalji feebly tried to remind him, which is serious. This failure is absolute whether one person is injured or many, whether a hundred Hindus are killed relative to one Muslim or vice versa. It is not a calculus of numbers; it is a matter of Law.

It is this sense of Law that is lacking, despite much flurry of litigation and PIL. Legality and litigation mongering are no substitute for the simple doctrine of equality before the Law. Here another injustice deserves a mention. Maqbool Fida Hussain is 93 this month and he has been driven in exile by irresponsible litigation. Not only does such vexatious litigation clog up the courts, but it is a way of denying justice and harassing the person being sued. Again no one in a position of authority in this secular socialist democratic republic has stood up for Hussain. The issue is neither the quality and the content of his art nor his talent. It is that as a citizen of India he has rights, which have to be guaranteed as much as if he was a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu or a Muslim.

The contrast between an India that can go to the moon using the best of science and technology and an India where some petty political gangster can deny the rights of Biharis to live in Mumbai is palpable. There is a disconnect here, just as there is in our desire to have a seat at the UN Security Council and not in the top tier of Human Development ranking. We tolerate 50 per cent malnourished children as long as we can explode a nuclear device. No one can challenge our sovereign right to explode a useless and expensive device, but then no one can either ask us to feed our children properly or protect our citizens from the murderous intent of their political leaders. But that is alright. India is still the largest free market liberal democracy and also a socialist country. The poor should be grateful they are part of the rich diversity of India, that is Bharat.