Arif-ul-Islam's letter 'The Hidden Hindu in the Mahatma (October 16) is not only in bad taste but also misconceived. The character of nationalism in any country is determined largely - though not entirely - by its majority. The myths and symbols of nationalism are almost invariably those of the majority. Where the majority is tolerant and the minority able and clever, the overwhelming impress of the majority may be softened and diluted but it cannot be eradicated.

In the early 1920s Gandhi persuaded a large section of Hindus - even against their better judgement – to support the Muslim demand regarding Khilafat. To describe this, as Arif-ul-Islam does, as "deception" is unfair. Gandhi never made any secret of the fact that he was a Hindu. Only, his Hinduism was not a narrow creed. He interpreted it in the most liberal, Universalist terms "as the religion of humanity and including the best of all religions known to me".                                                                     (Source: The Indian Express, 30 September, 1997)