Samir is right. This isn't about ethnicity. It is about communalism and/or fanaticism.
An interesting debate about Shivaji, which shows how complex the issue is: http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005246.html QUOTE: Secondly, Laine is arguing that though it’s wrong to read Shivaji as a kind of proto-communalist, it’s also a mistake to see him as someone who primarily espoused “tolerance and syncretism.” He was actually somewhere in between. ENDQUOTE FN 2009/10/18 Samir Kelekar <[email protected]>: > Let us avoid stereotyping at this delicate time, though it might be the first > thought that comes to one's mind. With a Patil, there was also > a Naik. Wasn't he a Goan ? We do have our Mahanands, and among the recent > killers, with Talwar, as if to balance him, there > was also a Rodrigues. Not to mention, the victims of the murders have been > not just Goans but also a family of non-Goans who moved from Sawantwadi. > Marathas have been very patriotic, and full of pride historically, but the > situation today is too complex for simplistic answers.
