Every fascist regime needs communities and groups it can demonize in order to survive and thrive. It starts with one group or two. But it never ends there. A movement built on hate can only sustain itself by continually creating fear and strife. Those of us today who feel secure because we are not Muslims or Christians are living in a fool's paradise. The Sanghi ecosystem and it's spawn the BJP are already targeting the leftist historians and "westernized" youth. It has also turned its hate on women who wear skirts, people who eat meat, drink liquor, watch foreign films, don't go on annual pilgrimages to temples, use toothpaste instead of 'danth manjan', prefer allopathic doctors to vaids, kiss or shake hands in greeting instead of shouting Jai Shri Ram. No one is safe in new India. We must realize this if we hope to keep India alive, or perhaps it's too late now. The roots of venom and bigotry have reached too deep within society.
VINAY DWIVEDI, Benaulim
