When a group of gay activists engaged in an angry confrontation with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who was having dinner with a major columnist in a Melbourne restaurant, the journalist noted how those demanding tolerance of diversity had shown an ugly face of extreme intolerance uncharacteristic of civil discourse in Australia.
The paradox, of a country with a rich tradition and heritage of tolerance of multiple identities becoming increasingly intolerant in the very name of reclaiming its cultural heritage, is being manifested with worrying acuteness in India.
Most of us who are of Indian origin have taken immense pride in the legacy and practice of pluralism and tolerance. I have written previously in these pages about the exemplary power-sharing arrangements and deeply entrenched culture of secularism in Indian society and politics. It is therefore painful to record the growing strains of intolerance.