To understand the harm that extreme religious thought can cause to a community one needs to read the writing of Hamid Dalwai who was from Mumbai and had worked as a social reformer in the 70’s . He devoted his life to changing the hardened mind sets of obscurantist mullahs , populist communal politicians , husbands who treated their wives in the worst possible male chauvinist tyrannical fashion , and women suffering slavery before a purdah they dare not lift . He attributed Muslim backwardness to the communities opposition to educational reform ( the rejection of English education by the ulema of Deoband). What is thought provoking is his observation that “ it would be suicidal for the Hindu communalists attempt to answer Muslim communalism by obscurantist Hindu revivalism. Muslim Communalism will be defeated only when the Hindu achieves a greater degree of social progress and modernises himself . By making the Hindus more obscurantist – by making them more puritan and orthodox – Muslim communalism can never be eliminated ….

What is important for us in this cyber age is not to fall prey to the propaganda which is deliberately unleashed and spread with ulterior motives by obscurantist people with a medieval mindset . It is important for us to embrace modernity and progressive thought and debunk those parts of history which are being conveniently twisted and presented by those who have their own agenda .