Rahul should wish PM Merry Christmas

If religion holds the key in a nation of believers, the Congress president can balance his tilak, turban and Siva-bhakt talk by also visiting mosques and churches

With Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Jagran Manch activists on the rampage, it’s all the more necessary this Christmas Eve not to allow fanaticism to disrupt a festival that Indians celebrate with gusto. The answer lies in enforcing the law of the land even if the culprits reflect what K M Munshi, a Congressman who became one of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s spiritual ancestors, called India’s “Collective Subconscious”. Jawaharlal Nehru deplored it as “Hindu revivalism”.

Their exchange was over rebuilding the Somnath temple. Ignoring Nehru’s disapproval (and defying Mahatma Gandhi’s wishes), Dr Rajendra Prasad and the orthodox faction of