Liberal double standards

Jaipur's embargo on Salman Rushdie and Kolkata's on Taslima Nasreen have been likened to the attack on M F Husain by Hindu zealots. But even as such comparisons were being made, they raised questions regarding a real or perceived difference in the liberal response to Muslim bigotry as distinct from Hindu bigotry. Are many, if not most, Indian liberals and self-styled secularists 'softer' on displays of Muslim bigotry than they are on similar outbursts of Hindu chauvinism, be it the M F Husain case or the assaults on young people celebrating Valentine's Day, or any other of a myriad instances of brute intolerance posing as injured religious sensibility?

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