Some weeks ago a Bombay newspaper carried a series of stories about societies all over the city that turn away Muslim buyers routinely. The stories were written with some concern for this state of affairs. But several letters to the newspaper's editor followed, angrily denouncing the articles. If Hindus choose not to sell flats to Muslims, they said, that cannot be seen as evidence of communal feelings. After all, they went on, Hindus have suffered injustice at the hands of Muslims for centuries.
Some vegetarians find that repellent.
Illogic apart, the letters, the articles, the resolutions, they all show just how far we have allowed the rot to creep. Whatever that may mean, such feelings have become respectable. The people who harbour them are our neighbours. They are us. Only in such a climate could two hundred thousand louts have been persuaded that smashing a dusty mosque was an act of national pride.