Omar Khalidi's thought-provoking article on 'Is India a Secular Country?' has marshaled facts from the recent socio-political history which must make us sit up and think. I share most of Omar Khalidi's concerns about our contradictions and ambiguities. Instead of going into our usual defensive postures or offensive rhetoric, I sincerely hope that we, as patriotic and democratic citizens, would question ourselves. India needs to transform herself into a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic State in consonance with our rich and amazing socio-cultural diversity as reflected in "Laddakh to Lakshadweep, Kutchh to Kohima" – a slogan conceived by Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha in 1994. For this, a new vision of India would have to be built. If we refuse to reconstruct India into such a vision, our future as a nation is in serious jeopardy. We would have to learn to deal with the myopic fundamentalist forces in different religions and communities that prevent us from building a rational political discourse. This would be nothing less than yet another phase of our freedom movement. It is never too late to wake up and move forward.

- Anil Sadgopal

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh