This refers to the editorial, “Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi” (March 20). The habitual pseudo-secular (read anti-Hindu) brigade, in the media and elsewhere, has unleashed premature and mischievous speculation about the dangerous days ahead for the Muslim minority due to the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister. The contrast between some Hindi TV news channels and their English counterparts, in their thinking and reaction, is huge.
While the former were highlighting Yogi's positive and inclusive aspects, including his post-appointment statements, and views of Yogi's Muslim supporters, the latter were emphasising imagined anxieties of the minority community. It seemed sickening. They tend to forget that India is a secular country because overwhelming majority of its citizens belong to a secular faith which believes in sab dharma sam bhav — equal respect for all religions. Yogi's critics were in a terrible haste to paint him black without waiting to see how he performs in his new, constitutional role under an ever vigilant Prime Minister.