Sir — This refers to Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal’s statement: “We all want India first.
let Modi first demonstrate in Gujarat that he is secular before he talks of India.” Mr Narendra Modi has thrice won the Gujarat Assembly election with an overwhelming majority, convincingly beating the anti-incumbency factor and notching spectacular wins even in the Muslim-dominated areas. Were his secular credentials in doubt, this would not have happened, or at least the minority-dominated areas would have voted against the BJP to record their disenchantment. Given this scenario, can Mr Sibal specify how he wants Mr Modi to demonstrate his ‘secular’ credentialsIJ
True, Mr Modi does not believe in minority appeasement at the cost of the larger interest, to further his and his party’s interests. This is a practice best left to the Congress and some pseudo-secularist parties.