If you need to understand the shallowness of Indian political secularism, the recent fuss over Narendra Modi is an eye-opener, assuming we need one more eye-opener to acknowledge this phenomenon. Last week, Samajwadi party leader and Urdu journalist Shahid Siddiqui was declared persona non grata by his party for having the temerity to interview Modi. What would normally have been considered a coup for any journalist – for Modi rarely gives interviews – was seen as a sin in Siddiqui. He should have known what was coming. Even before the party got into the act, Teesta Setalvad, who has converted Gujarat 2002 into her life’s work, told prime-time viewers on Times Now that Siddiqui would pay a political price for his act – and this even before she had seen that interview in Nai Duniya. A Muslim interviewing Modi? God forbid. That’s communal. ‘If you need to understand the shallowness of Indian political secularism, the recent fuss over Narendra Modi ...