I have read your reflection on Sarsanghchalak in the Hindustan Times of 22 October, 2000 in the course of which you have adopted the usual 'reaction' theory to explain away the wave of chauvinism, which helped the RSS-BJP to achieve their object and purpose.

We may not have consulted sympathetic friends like you but please let me know whether in your view, the Muslim community should not have taken notice of the highjacking of the Babari Masjid in broad day-light and its de-facto conversion into a temple in February, 1986! And what did it demand? It only demanded that the wheels of law move faster and the cases pending since 1949-51 be consolidated and placed before a Special Bench of the Allahabad High Court which should hold, day-to-day hearings! The cases were consolidated a year and a halt later after V.P. Singh won the Allahabad bye-election but the repeated plea for day-to-day hearing has never been conceded.

Yes, we had our hawks but 'doves' like me even offered an out-of-court settlement in February, 1986 itself leave the bare Masjid alone and take whatever else you need for a magnificent Mandir ..

No, dear Vir, you are wrong. On the Babari Masjid question, Muslim community could not have been more genteel and law-abiding.

To understand the Hindu-Muslim relations, you have to probe the Hindu psyche more deeply. The net impact of all the anti-Muslim propaganda for generations has been to make the average Hindu believe that the Muslims should pay some price for all the 'sins' committed for a thousand years and conclude that the Sangh Parivar is right in claiming only 3 shrines after all. I think this is because the RSS has succeeded in generating a Hindu sense of proprietorship over India and the propriety of settling the account of the centuries to glorify Hindu and humiliate Muslim Indians. Indeed, it is the educated, rich, upcoming Hindu middle class, which is more anti-Muslim and communal in outlook than the Hindu masses.