India, Jan. 1 -- It is the regressive effect of religiosity that the politicos are in no position to take a stand against religious extremism and if anything, they have to maintain a facade of matching piety and sectarianism to garner popular votes

Historically there has been an unease about Pakistani Qaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's first Presidential address to the Constituent Assembly (Aug 11, 1947). Amongst many counterintuitive statements addressed to the first (and only) nation to be born in the name of religion, is Jinnah's insistence on secularism and liberality, in it. Jinnah's stand was disagreeable for those who wanted it to be the literal 'land of the pure' or a theocratic state. Tellingly the religious hardliners ensured t...