This refers to your diary “Tolerance & Nationalism” (March 10). It clearly indicates that the framers of our Constitution were well conscious of the need for politics that could change a society rooted in caste and religious tradition. Our Indian society is not yet fully secular, while the Indian state understands secularism as state neutrality towards religion combined with select interventions in the religious domain to safeguard some rights. The problem is that tolerance is an independent, individual choice and cannot be forced onto anyone. It is also a deeply patronising value. What fuels intolerance is our reservation system based on caste and religion.
Vinod C. Dixit
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
