The apology forced out of an Australian youth for sporting a tattoo of a goddess (“All over a tattoo,” Oct. 20) was a demonstration of the spread of religious intolerance even to a tech hub as Bengaluru. Given the kind of violence being witnessed in the country, the 21-year-old Matthew Gordon from Melbourne must thank his stars as well as the bunch of bigots, for whom the tattoo on his shin was a sacrilege, for having been spared the skinning.
Such incidents in India's Silicon Valley are symptomatic of the larger social malaise of communalism and they cannot be overlooked or dismissed as ‘stray incidents’. It would be a lose-lose situation if the foreign tourists fear for their safety. The right-wing ruling dispensation cannot go on chanting the ‘development’ mantra and giving tacit support to the so-called protectors of Indian culture at the same time, masking its duplicity.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Kanyakumari
Not long ago the Australian Prime minister declared in parliament that the immigrant population must adhere to the prescribed dress codes and added that people not wanting to follow these are free to go back as Australia didn't invite them.The same should apply to an Australian national when he visits other countries. All must remember the golden quote “Your rights stop where my nose begins”.
S. Pitchumani Subramanian,
Coimbatore
We congratulate your forthright editorial condemning the unworthy and ill-conceived behaviour of the Sangh Parivar members. Why should they assume and arrogate themselves the sole guardians of India's culture? How will tourists and investors think of our country? It is not only bringing dissensions internally but also discomfiture and shame to our nation. Indian culture is multi-dimensionsal, multi-religious and multi-lingual. What these Hindu fundamentalists claim is nothing but Hindutva which stands for one religion, one language, one culture; they want to convert India into ‘Hinduia’.
K. Veeramani,
Chennai
