There have been insinuations, suspicions, apprehensions - some of them articulated in the common man's language, others left unsaid but not unexpressed -that maybe, just may be, it is better to have a Sachin Tendulkar at the helm of the cricket team, that it is better to have an Ajay Ahuja at the frontier.

That the average Muslim with the stereotyped two-fist long beard and a cotton kurta pyjama to go with white knitted cap must be secretly rejoicing at the act of Pakistan-supported infiltrators, that there would be silent mourning in the Muslim ghettoes even as the clerics offer to go to Kargil and fight the national enemy.

That according to a senior BJP leader, PTV must not be shown in the country not merely because it indulges in lies regarding Kashmir but because "it can provoke certain sections" of the Indian society.

A question arises: why must a finger of suspicion be pointed at the Muslims whenever there is a confrontation with Pakistan be it on a cricket field or in Kargil?

As Prof. Tahir Mahmood, Chairman, National Commission for Minorities, asked "why is it thought that the minorities think differently from the majority community on an issue of national interest?" #

... Why should a section of the media and some political leaders call into question the patriotism of the minorities ... While the reported statements of the BJP leaders or the police chief may instigate some members to wear patriotism on their sleeve ... or force others to resort to token gestures of exhibitionism as the Imams did, the query remains that why should they have to prove their patriotism on every occasion, small or minor? Why should the today's generation have to carry the burden of guilt of Partition? Why cannot national issues be seen as just purely that - national issues without a tint of any colour, saffron, green or otherwise?

This subtle majoritarian tyranny as manifest in some hunches here, a few insinuations there, forces some members of the minorities to prove that they are more loyal than the others. Such a pressure can give rise to feelings of inadequacy, those at the receiving end then try to compensate through exhibitionist gestures.

Somebody once said that India-Pakistan wars are nothing but communal riots fought with armour ... (Source: The Statesman, 23 August, 1999)