GOVERNMENT FINANCES-Blaming the States

a scarce commodity in India for ordinary citizens. But they are generously offered by the state to fanatics of all shades- communal, chauvinist, xenophobic, obscurantist. Their 'democratic' right to propagate venomous prejudices against minority communities, indulge in all sorts of parochial caprices, and organise communal riots, is indefatigably defended by the executive, the police, the judiciary- and, on certain occasions, even by politicians of all hues. Anyone daring to exercise the constitutionally guaranteed right of expressing any opinion that may be different from that held by these fanatics is immediately hauled up by the state.