Apropos Col. R. Nanda's letter "Clarification" (13 August, 1999) Muslims do not constitute a national or even a State vote bank for any political party but tend to vote tactically for a particular candidate in a given constituency. This is the natural defensive behaviour of a minority community which, day in and day out, is asked to prove its loyalty and 'join the mainstream'. It appears to me that to Col. Nanda, only one political party constitutes the national mainstream and all others, for which Muslims vote in various constituencies, do not!

Jinnah's two-nation theory is dead. since there cannot be any territorial co-terminality between religion and state, in our multi-religious world. But the Hindutva forces are committed to the creation of a Hindu state in India and the BJP serves them as the political instrument. Logically, how can any citizen, who sees the falsity of the two-nation theory, support the BJP?

Even a cursory analysis will show that while 99% of Muslims vote for secular parties, the BJP thrives on a Hindu vote bank. (Reply to Col. R. Nanda's Letter, The Statesman,13 August, 1999)