New Delhi, April 21 -- Years ago, I read Kitne Pakistan, a novel by Hindi writer Kamleshwar that articulates the fractious, discriminatory and power-hungry tendencies of Indian society. The exodus from Murshidabad following riots in the wake of the passage of Waqf Amendment Act has again forced us to ponder whether we can ever bridge this mindset of separation. Do we really want to replace the rule of the majority with majoritarianism?

The riots in Murshidabad have made the lives of Hindus, who are a minority there, miserable. Hriday Das, a tea-stall owner, and his daughter-in-law Sucharita Sarkar from Jafrabad were shaking with fear as they narrated their ordeal to Hindustan's correspondent who met them at Rajmahal on the Jharkhand-West...