NEW DELHI, Feb. 27 -- As a Christian and journalist in the North for the last 50 years, I never felt discriminated against. Rather, I felt privileged. I was given prestigious assignments and my 'impartiality" was counted upon when I was asked to write editorials, day after day, on the militancy in Punjab or the riots in Gujarat or elsewhere.

When Amartya Sen, who gave me a job, when I did not have one, articulated his theory of multiple identity in a book, I thought about my own identity in the national Capital. Yes, I am an Indian among other countrymen, a South Indian among other Indians, a Christian among other religionists, a Syrian Christian among other Christians, a Marthomite among other Syrian Christians and a member of St. James...