Multiple incidents of religious intolerance were reported in recent days, and unfortunately they attracted far less attention from the Government than they deserved. It sparked protest — first by writers, followed by artists, filmmakers, historians and scientists. At least 35 leading authors and poets have returned coveted awards; more than 100 distinguished scientists and 50 leading historians came out strongly against the government. The row took on an international dimension soon, particularly with Salman Rushdie's "thuggish violence" comment, and a section of international media made no delay in coming out with generalized views on "growing religious intolerance of the Indian society".

I think the spark could have been prevented from turning into a fire, but some ministers instead fanned it, giving comments, as reported by the media, like "manufactured dissent", "isolated incidents", " let them first stop writing", and so on. Will such blame games and quarrels do anything good? It is beyond any question that incidents like the recent ones — no matter whether they are isolated incidents or not — whether the writers' returning awards is a wrong move or not — whether the incidents took place in a BJP-ruled state or not — are severely condemnable and against the spirit of tolerance and freedom of expression. The responsibility of maintaining law and order rests with the state governments, but the Centre should pay adequate attention to the question why this nature of incidents are taking place with such regularity.

Meanwhile, Moody's Analytics, commenting on the recent political controversies, has cautioned that unless our PM reins in members of his party, India runs the risk of losing domestic and global credibility. It has also expressed concern over the belligerent provocation of various Indian minorities, adding that the controversial comments can end up stalling reforms by generating stiff opposition for the government in the Upper House where it lacks majority. Such possibilities cannot be ruled out. It is also unfortunate that the controversies have put the Modi administration, which is acclaimed globally as modernizing and progressive one, in a bad light.

"In today's India, secular liberals face a challenge: how to stay alive" — an article published recently in a leading US daily begins like this. Is the current situation really so bad! It is difficult to believe. But the fear of what might happen in the future if such incidents keep continuing to happen seems quite real, and the onus is on the government to abate this suspicion and correct the perception about itself. This can be done not by making overblown counter attacks on criticism, but by sending out an unequivocal message that all religions and religious beliefs have the same status and support from the state.

I invite your opinions.