Maybe it's time the "Hindus" themselves choose some articulate, rationale, non-fundamentalist and more convincing spokesmen for themselves. Though I very much suspect that the game is lost by positing the issue in these terms -- do we think of ourselves as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsees and Jews OR Indians OR Goans OR rationale people with a point to make?
There were times when Indian leaders were looked up to, by a large section of the world. But then we started dividing India on religious lines, and how can we expect others to buy our case? Amartya Sen turns into a "leftist fraud". Manmohan Singh is unacceptably Congress. The North Indians are unacceptable in Mumbai (hang on, we thought these guys were fighting for a Hindu cause!) Everyone else is a Ghanti for us Goans. Any surprise we have no spokesmen left? Btw, while on this topic, I think it's time we also start holding accountable those who claim to "speak for us" Christians (XXXXX fill in your community's name here), and demand that they go beyond meaningless emotive issues, and instead work on the human concerns that matter to all!
