No words are strong enough to condemn the outrage committed by the activists of Bajrang Dal and the ABVP who recently burnt copies of the Bible and attacked a Christian missionary school at Rajkot. Two other incidents of VHP activists digging up the coffin of a Christian in Kheda district and driving out the Muslims from a village in central Gujarat in the wake of two Hindu-Muslim marriages have created a grave sense of insecurity among the minorities.

The last five months have witnessed about two dozen incidents of clashes between these self-appointed champions of Hindus and the minorities in the State. All these acts of vandalism cannot be seen in isolation. The State is apparently paying the price for the fast spreading culture of violence and lumpenisation of the front organisations of the Hindutva forces. While the Centre has pulled up the Keshubhai Patel Government for its inept handling of the communal situation, the National Commission for Minorities is sending a delegation to Gujarat to look into the recent acts of provocation against the minorities. Members of Parliament too have expressed concern over the fast deteriorating situation in Gujarat.

... Somehow the frontal organisations of the Hindutva forces have got the impression that giwen their newly acquired political clout, they can do whatever they like and get away with it. Complacency seems to have crept into the State administration after ... the last election. The Keshubhai Patel administration has failed to act against the lunatic elements and these forces have clearly been emboldened by the lax attitude of the State administration. The earlier attacks on Pepsi trucks and ice-cream parlours run by the MNCs left a similar impression of growing anarchy ...

The growing cult of intolerance needs to be viewed with serious concern. Bigotry has no place in a democracy. The attack on minorities is an attack on India's composite culture ... The BJP Government in Gujarat can remain indifferent towards the provocative acts of the stormtroopers of Hindutva only at its own peril.