... The VHP ... has expressly charged the missionaries with forcible proselytism and asked them to vacate the country ... It is unlikely they will reassure the larger community of Christians, already somewhat bewildered by the senselessness of the attacks of them ... What is at stake here is not the security of a single minority grouping, but the very character of the Indian state - till now a proudly pluralistic society glorying in the richness and diversity of its multiple traditions ... The VHP's complaint is that under guise of providing them relief and succour, the missionaries have been zealously converting the poor among the Hindus.

This can be debated endlessly. But even should Hindu bodies feel aggrieved, the only remedy available to them is to propagate their own religion. Nothing gives them the right to take the law into their own hands. For the BJP-led government at the Centre, it is doubly important that it is not seen as being held to ransom by the fringe elements in the extended sangh parivar. Surely, the BJP will remember that it had gone out of its way to woo the minorities in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. At that time the BJP had been at pains to convince them that its anti-minorities image was only a result of vicious interparty propaganda ... The BJP needs to understand the vulnerabilities of the smaller communities, to appreciate that their insecurities – whether in India or anywhere abroad - are natural. In any case, to protect the minorities is not to do them a favour; it is a right guaranteed to them by the Constitution by the international covenant on social and political rights and by the UN charter on human rights. Co-existence, apart from its intrinsic value, is also important for our image abroad. The libertarian framework of our society has done us proud again and again, especially when juxtaposed against those that are grounded in conservatism ...

Shahabuddin's Letter to The Times of India, 3 October, 1998

Your editorial "Rescuing Pluralism", while pleading for protection of religious minorities and promotion of tolerance and preservation of cultural pluralism falls far short of the demands of the situation in the rising wave of hatred and incitement leading to the tide of harassment, pinpricks and violence. The real question is the sanctity of the Constitution and the rule of law. What is in doubt is the sincerity of the central government. Otherwise why should violence at such a scale flare up during the last six months, specially in the strongholds of the Sangh Parivar?