Minority Identity and Its Discontents Syed Shahabuddin MUCH in Mushirul Hasan's analysis of the Muslim response to the evolution of the secular state in India ('Minority Identity and Its Discontents: Response and Representation' by Mushirul Hasan, EPW, February 14, 1994) is incontrovertible. However the case for secular modernists as distinct from Islamic modernists suffers from vital inaccuracies and omissions, biased judgments and preconceived notions. He has also weakened bis thesis by drawing upon the writing of little known journalists and obscure and minor papers and by not offering any evidence from the writings of the 'Muslim fundamentalists' and the islamic modernists' for condemning them or even for making out a case against Shahabuddins who enjoy, according to him (and the Sangh parivar) political backing and patronage of the state. He has come up with no evidence to support his thesis that the Islamic modernists are against the secular order or to prove that they are belligerent or fan inter- communal discord or even exploit it.
